It was pretty much confirmed earlier this year that Apple would introduce a new iPad at its October event. What we didn’t expect was a new name.

Today, Apple announced its latest iPad – the iPad Air. As the name implies, this latest iPad is thinner and lighter than previous models. It’s 7.5mm thin which Apple claims is 20 percent thinner than previous models. It also weighs 1 pound, which Apple claims is the lightest full sized tablet in the world.

Despite being thinner and lighter, the iPad Air sports the same 9.7-inch retina display as the past models. The display is powered by Apple’s newest A7 chip that powers the iPhone 5S. This gives it twice the CPU and GPU performance of the previous iPad.

The iPad Air sports faster wireless communication with a MIMO Wi-Fi antennae and extended LTE support over more carriers. It also sports dual microphones.

Like the previous iPad, it still sports the same 10 hour battery life.

As for color, the iPad Air comes in silver, white, space grey and black. The 16GB Wi-Fi model will start at $499 and $629 for the LTE model.

Apple will continue to sell the iPad 2 as well at $399.

The iPad Air will ship on November 1 in over 20 countries. This will also be the first time that a new iPad launches in China alongside the other first wave launches.

[Image: Apple]