Apple has officially announced the new iPad Air 2. Just as we expected, CEO Tim Cook took to the stage and unveiled the thinner and more powerful iPad. Compared to the iPad Air, the new iPad Air 2 is 18% slimmer at just 6.1mm (that's insanely thin!). Introducing the world's thinnest tablet, the iPad Air 2.

How did Apple make such a thin slate? Well, Apple swapped the display on the iPad Air with a laminated one, which has no air gap (between the LCD, glass and touch sensor). They also added an anti-reflective coating to it which reduces reflections by 56%. Apple hasn't changed the display size (9.7-inch) or resolution.

The Apple iPad Air 2 uses the Apple A8X chipset, which is basically a beefed up version of the Apple A8 SoC that powers the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It is a 64-bit dual-core chip which packs 3 billion transistors. Apple claims that the graphics performance is 180 times better than that of the original iPad. Meanwhile, CPU performance is said to be 12 times that of the original iPad. The new iPad Air 2 also includes the M8 co-processor.

Apple's iPad Air 2 has an 8 MP iSight camera - 1.12µ pixel size, f/2.4 aperture, 1080p video recording. Apple has included an in-house developed image signal processor in the new iPad Air 2. The camera supports slow-motion recording - 720p at 120fps.

There's a new FaceTime HD camera with a larger f/2.2 aperture, which picks up 81% more light. Apple is boasting improved face detection, burst selfies, HDR videos and single-shot HDR photos as the new features of the improved front camera.

The iPad Air 2 supports WiFi 802.11ac with MIMO, which supports faster WiFi speeds of up to 866 Mbps. Apple will offer an LTE-enabled version of the tablet with support for 150 Mbps downlink and 20 LTE bands.

As many rumors had said, the iPad Air 2 includes a TouchID fingerprint reader that works just like it does on the iPhone. This means, you will be able to use Apple Pay using the new iPad Air 2.

Battery life on the new iPad Air 2 is rated for 10 hours. There has never been a better time to own an Apple slate, considering that the App Store now has 675,000 iPad optimized apps.

The iPad Air 2, running iOS 8.1, will go begin shipping next Friday. Prices start at $499 for the 16 GB WiFi variant, $599 for the 64 GB variant and $699 for the 128 GB variant. If you are looking for cellular connectivity, the iPad Air 2 will cost you $629, $729 and $829 for the 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB variants respectively. It will be available in three color schemes - Silver, Space Gray, and Gold.

Meanwhile, the iPad Air has dropped to $399 for the 16 GB WiFi variant.Apple has officially announced the new iPad Air 2. Just as we expected, CEO Tim Cook took to the stage and unveiled the thinner and more powerful iPad. Compared to the iPad Air, the new iPad Air 2 is 18% slimmer at just 6.1mm (that's insanely thin!). Introducing the world's thinnest tablet, the iPad Air 2.

How did Apple make such a thin slate? Well, Apple swapped the display on the iPad Air with a laminated one, which has no air gap (between the LCD, glass and touch sensor). They also added an anti-reflective coating to it which reduces reflections by 56%. Apple hasn't changed the display size (9.7-inch) or resolution.

The Apple iPad Air 2 uses the Apple A8X chipset, which is basically a beefed up version of the Apple A8 SoC that powers the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It is a 64-bit dual-core chip which packs 3 billion transistors. Apple claims that the graphics performance is 180 times better than that of the original iPad. Meanwhile, CPU performance is said to be 12 times that of the original iPad. The new iPad Air 2 also includes the M8 co-processor.

Apple's iPad Air 2 has an 8 MP iSight camera - 1.12µ pixel size, f/2.4 aperture, 1080p video recording. Apple has included an in-house developed image signal processor in the new iPad Air 2. The camera supports slow-motion recording - 720p at 120fps.

There's a new FaceTime HD camera with a larger f/2.2 aperture, which picks up 81% more light. Apple is boasting improved face detection, burst selfies, HDR videos and single-shot HDR photos as the new features of the improved front camera.

The iPad Air 2 supports WiFi 802.11ac with MIMO, which supports faster WiFi speeds of up to 866 Mbps. Apple will offer an LTE-enabled version of the tablet with support for 150 Mbps downlink and 20 LTE bands.

As many rumors had said, the iPad Air 2 includes a TouchID fingerprint reader that works just like it does on the iPhone. This means, you will be able to use Apple Pay using the new iPad Air 2.

Battery life on the new iPad Air 2 is rated for 10 hours. There has never been a better time to own an Apple slate, considering that the App Store now has 675,000 iPad optimized apps.

The iPad Air 2, running iOS 8.1, will go begin shipping next Friday. Prices start at $499 for the 16 GB WiFi variant, $599 for the 64 GB variant and $699 for the 128 GB variant. If you are looking for cellular connectivity, the iPad Air 2 will cost you $629, $729 and $829 for the 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB variants respectively. It will be available in three color schemes - Silver, Space Gray, and Gold.

Meanwhile, the iPad Air has dropped to $399 for the 16 GB WiFi variant.