Apple started selling the iPad Pro, its largest iPad slate, in India, and it did so in quite a discreet manner, without any official announcement.
The tablet recently appeared in the Indian retail stores of the Cupertino-based company. There are a couple of variants to choose from, too.
The most affordable is the variant of the iPad Pro featuring 32 GB of storage space, which has only Wi-Fi compatibility. Its price point is about Rs 67,900 (around $1010). For the Wi-Fi exclusive 128 GB variant, buyers in India have to shell out Rs 79,900 (approximately $1190). The most expensive iPad Pro is the one sporting 128 GB of storage space and 4G LTE connectivity, which can be bought for Rs 91,900 ($1370, give or take).
Users who want to benefit the most out of the features and functionalities of the iPad Pro may also purchase its main accessories in India: the silicon case, the Apple Pencil and the Smart Keyboard. All three are sold separately, for Rs 6,100, Rs 8,600 and Rs 14,900, respectively. This means that the case costs around $90, the Pencil is about $130 and the Smart Keyboard will set you back around $220.
The Apple Pencil is a tool that helps creative professionals who want to draft quickly and accurately on the slate. It is highly useful in design and art, or for people who want to personalize their work. The Smart Keyboard has the obvious advantage of letting you type faster and more accurately, while also doubling as a cover for the iPad Pro.
The specs of the iPad Pro show that, regardless of what storage space you choose, you get a screen of 12.9-inch capable of 2,732 x 2,048 resolution. The device is ultra-portable, as it weighs only 713 grams (25.15 ounces) and has a thickness of 6.9 millimeters (0.27 inches).
Under the elegant chassis, the tablet features an Apple A9X chipset, which can provide performances comparable to CPUs on desktops and graphics as crisp as those from consoles.
The advertised battery life is 10 hours of casual use. It should also be noted that the slate can transfer files at USB 3.0 speeds, thanks to the optimized Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader.
The direct rival of iPad Pro, the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet, will launch in India in Jan. 2016.
