Last night, Apple unveiled a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Despite being the successor to the iPad Air 2, the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is being billed as the smaller sibling of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro launched by Apple last year.

That, however, does not change the fact that the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is the most powerful 9.7-inch tablet in Apple’s current iPad lineup. Despite looking largely like its predecessor, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is a huge upgrade over its predecessor, the iPad Air 2.

Display

· The new smaller iPad Pro features the same display size as the iPad Air 2. However, it is now 40 percent less reflective, can reach higher brightness levels, and comes with a custom timing controller for variable higher refresh rate

· The display on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro features Wide Color and True Tone display for better picture clarity

Chip, Storage, Connectivity and Speakers

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro comes with Apple’s powerful A9X chip, while the iPad Air 2 features an A8X chip. The former is a dual-core chip clocked at 2GHz+, while the latter is a tri-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz

· The A8X chip inside the iPad Air 2 features an 8-core GPU, while the A9X chip features a 12-core GPU

· The Air 2 features a M8 motion co-processor, while the new iPad Pro features a M9 motion co-processor

· The A9X chip inside the 9.7-inch iPad Pro also enables it to support always-on ‘Hey Siri’ hotword detection

· Apple sells the iPad Air 2 in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB storage variants. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is available in 32GB, 128GB and 256GB storage variants

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro comes with an embedded Apple SIM

· The smaller iPad Pro supports LTE-A for higher download speeds (Up to 300Mbps), while the iPad Air 2 only supports LTE networks for download speeds of up to 150Mbps

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro supports 23 LTE bands, while the iPad Air 2 supports 20 LTE bands

· The iPad Pro features a Smart Connector that makes it possible to connect to Smart Keyboard and other such accessories

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro comes with four speakers, while the iPad Air 2 only features two speakers

Camera

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro features a 12MP f/2.2 aperture camera, while the iPad Air 2 comes with an 8MP camera with f/2.4 aperture

· The 12MP camera setup is exactly the same as the one found on the iPhone 6s, so you should be able to capture some amazing shots on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Additionally, the tablet can also record slo-mo at up to 240fps, while the iPad Air 2 can only do slo-mo at up to 120fps

· The powerful A9 chip and 12MP camera also allow the 9.7-inch iPad Pro to record and edit 4K videos, which is not possible on the iPad Air 2

· The 9.7-inch iPad Pro can shoot panoramas in up to 63MP resolution, while the iPad Air 2 can shoot panoramas in up to 43MP resolution

· The smaller iPad Pro comes with a 5MP FaceTime HD camera with Retina Flash, while the iPad Air 2 features a 1.2MP FaceTime HD camera

Price

· The powerful hardware and other improvements lead the 9.7-inch iPad Pro to be priced at $599. With the launch of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, the iPad Air 2 price has now been reduced to $399.

The Smart Keyboard, powerful hardware and speakers make the 9.7-inch iPad Pro a very tempting tablet to buy, but its high price is a deterrent in my opinion. What do you think?