Unveiled: Apple iPad Pro

San Francisco, CA   In front of a packed Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, Apple CEO Tim Cook and CMO Phil Schiller unveiled a new addition to the company’s revolutionary iPad line of tablet computers: iPad Pro. The new tablet has a 12.9-inch, 2732 x 2048 retina display, making it the first iPad to ship with a screen larger than its 9.7-inch predecessors. The added screen area of the Pro lets it handle a full-sized onscreen keyboard, as well as take advantage of iOS 9’s new multitasking capabilities: instead of switching back and forth between apps, users can now split their screen and work with two apps side by side or with picture in picture.

The bigger screen also gives users a more cinematic feel when viewing media, so iPad Pro now has a speaker in each of its four corners. They’re connected to the device’s accelerometer and switch orientation with the screen, so no matter how you hold it, your stereo sound won’t be reversed. Under the hood is the new A9x processor, which is 1.8 times faster than the iPad Air 2 and delivers double the graphics performance. Apple even claims that you’ll be able to play up to three simultaneous 4K video streams in iMovie. Despite the additional grunt, iPad Pro boasts up to 10-hour battery life, partially made possible by the display’s variable refresh rate, which slows down during still periods to conserve power.

Schiller also announced accessories made exclusively for iPad Pro, starting with Smart Keyboard, which is  reminiscent of the Smart Cover but adds a fabric-covered keyboard with the same dome switches found in the current MacBooks. It eschews Bluetooth and batteries in favor of three pogo pins that transmit power and data between the keyboard and the iPad. Also revealed was Apple Pencil, a stylus that captures twice the data points than your finger, for greater precision. Force and tilt sensors transmit precise information to iPad Pro so artists can intuitively lay down lines of varying thickness and opacity.

Also announced today was the new iPad mini 4, which puts the A8 processor found in iPad Air 2 into the same ultraportable 7.9-inch form factor as its predecessors. Along with its accessories, iPad Pro will be available for purchase in November, with Wi-Fi and 4G LTE models in Silver, Gold, or Space Gray.