Apple launches new iPad Pro and MacBook Air but customers won’t be able to queue to buy it

Apple has quietly opened preorders for a new iPad Pro, MacBook Pro and radical keyboard stand but consumers will have to buy it before trying amid store shutdowns.

Apple has launched a new iPad Pro with a second rear camera, LiDAR, and new Magic Keyboard. Picture: Supplied

Apple took the wraps off a new “floating” iPad Pro and a faster MacBook Air overnight; the first devices launched when almost all of the company’s stores are shut.

Both new products introduce never-before-seen features, including new cameras, augmented reality hardware and radical keyboard revamps, but keen users will have to purchase them from Apple’s online store without seeing them in person before they arrive in the country next week.

Apple worldwide marketing senior vice-president Phil Schiller announced the two new products in tweets overnight, avoiding a crowded launch in the US, much of which is under lockdown.

Apple launched a new Magic Keyboard stand to go with its new iPad Pro model.

Some of the biggest changes will be made available to Apple’s top model iPad, which will add an upgraded display offering more colour and faster refresh, a second, wide-angle camera back on the tablet for the first time, new microphones, and a LiDAR scanner to help make virtual objects, like furniture, appear in real-world locations.

Mr Schiller said the device would also be launched alongside a new Magic Keyboard stand that made the tablet computer appear to “float” above a desk and gave users access to a touchpad as well as a keyboard for the first time at a cost of $589.

“The new iPad Pro introduces advanced technologies never before available in mobile computing,” Mr Schiller said.

“Combining the most advanced mobile display with powerful performance, pro cameras, pro audio, the breakthrough LiDAR scanner and new Magic Keyboard with trackpad, this is another hug leap forward for iPad.”

The iPad was unveiled alongside a refreshed version of Apple’s smallest and lightest computer, the MacBook Air, that will come with a major power boost.

The computer’s quad-core chip promises to double its performance, it comes with up to two terabytes of storage, and features a redesigned keyboard following complaints about recent Mac keys.

Both devices are available for online preorders in Australia now, priced from $1329 and $1599 respectively. Despite restrictions on manufacture and freight out of China, Apple is promising delivery of MacBooks and iPad Pros by Thursday at the earliest and April 3 at the latest.

Apple has unveiled a new MacBook Air with redesigned keyboard, though its launch will happen while only stores in China are open for business.

But Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said buyers would have to take a leap of faith with the new devices, as the company’s research showed just one in four iPad purchases made in Australia were conducted online last year.

Mr Fadaghi said the decision to purchase the new gear would also be made more difficult because Apple enthusiasts would not be able to see the new screen or try the new Magic Keyboard for themselves.

“Tablets are experiential by their very nature, and this is especially true for the new keyboard that is part of this launch,” he said.

“Under the circumstances, people might be willing to be more flexible. Buying behaviour is going to dramatically change over the next six months.”

Despite the major retail changes, Mr Fadaghi said Apple’s new iPad should be well received, particularly with the addition of a new keyboard and a trackpad, as it could more easily be used to work from home.

“This device is capable of replacing a desktop or a laptop computer for some people, particularly now you can add adaptors to connect a monitor and use a trackpad,” he said.

“It will also bring the benefit of longer battery life.”

But Mr Fadaghi said the MacBook Air might be a more difficult model to sell to consumers right now, as some may hold off on buying highly portable, powerful laptops when travel was restricted.

Apple dominates the tablet market in Australia, according to recent Telsyte research, with iPads representing 48 per cent of all tablet computers sold.

By comparison, Microsoft tablets, including its Surface devices, counted for 31 per cent of the market, and Google Android tablets made up just 18 per cent of Aussie tablets.

The Telsyte Tablet Computer Market Study also found Australian consumers bought 1.57 million tablets in the last six months of 2019 but expected sales to decline following the outbreak of coronavirus, which was likely to create component shortages.

Originally published as Apple launches new iPad Pro and MacBook Air but customers won’t be able to queue to buy it