Apple welcomes the seventh-generation iPad

Apple is welcoming the seventh generation iPad to the family this month, joining the joins iPad mini, iPad Air and iPad Pro models.

Equipped with Apple's signature Retina Display, support for Apple Pencil 2 and a full-size smart keyboard, Apple seems to be tweaking bits and pieces without coming up with anything radically different – except that it was built to fit with Apple's iPadOS system.

The 10.2" Retina display is becoming standard on many Apple products. 3.5 million pixels and a wide viewing angle allow for sharp images, especially when using it as a 'canvas'.

The A10 Fusion chip is also becoming the standard for Apple products, so it's no surprise the latest iPad has it on board.

And finally, the iPad supports Apple Pencil 2 (available separately for NZ$159).

"Customers can now mark up and send entire webpages or documents by simply swiping Apple Pencil from the bottom corner of the screen, and a redesigned tool palette gives easier access to useful tools, colours and shapes," Apple says.

The iPadOS features a redesigned Home screen, which shows more apps on each page.  People can also add the 'Today View', which shows quick access for widgets like weather, calendar, and news.

The Files app also provides also support for external USB drives and file servers.

"Working with multiple files and documents from the same app is now easier on iPad with updates to Split View, as well as switching between multiple apps using Slide Over," Apple says.

The seventh-generation iPad will come in either a 32GB or 128GB option, in colours including silver, space grey, and gold.

The new iPad packs even more value into our most popular and affordable iPad model featuring a bigger 10.2-inch Retina display, support for Apple Pencil and for the first time, the full-size Smart Keyboard," says Apple's vice president of product marketing, Greg Joswiak.

"The new iPad was built to run iPadOS, which introduces powerful new ways to multitask, manage and mark up documents, use Apple Pencil and view more information at a glance on a redesigned Home screen. This new iPad with iPadOS takes everything people love about our most popular iPad and makes it even better for creating, learning, working and playing.

The seventh-generation iPad is available for preorder from today and in stores from 30 September. It will retail at NZ$599 for the WiFi model, and NZ$819 for the WiFi and cellular model.