We were live on the ground in Chicago at Lane Tech High School for Apple’s education-focused event, where the company unveiled its new 9.7-inch iPad. The company also announced compatible accessories for the device, along with educational tools for both students and teachers.
Here’s everything that was announced at Apple’s latest event.
Apple has announced a new 9.7-inch iPad with support for Apple Pencil. Aside from a 9.7-inch Retina display, the new iPad includes an A10 Fusion chip, front-facing HD camera, Touch ID, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p HD video, and up to 10 hours of battery life. There’s also up to 200GB of free iCloud storage for students, which is an upgrade from the previous 5GB. The new iPad has LTE options as well — with Apple SIM, customers can connect to their wireless data plans.
In terms of price, the device starts at $300 for schools and $330 for consumers. It’s available today and will start shipping this week. Read our guide to learn more about the new iPad.
In partnership with Logitech, Apple announced a third-party stylus for the iPad called Crayon. It’s a cheaper alternative to the Apple Pencil, with a $50 price tag. In addition, there will also be a Logitech Rugged Combo keyboard case for $100 with a slot for the stylus.
With support for Apple Pencil comes new features within Apple’s office suite — iWork. With Pages, users will be able to use smart annotation which allows you to add notes on to the page itself. Students will also be able to add drawings in both Pages and Keynote within their reports, along with the ability to write in Numbers to create lab reports.
Apple’s software platform known as Classkit also has Schoolwork integrated into it, where teachers will be able to easily assign an activity within an app and check on a student’s progress. The app will also allow teachers to send PDFs, include links to websites, and write notes. But all of the student’s data will be private, so that only teachers are able to access the information. With Apple Teacher, teachers will be able to work with educators to access and share their own information through the Learning Center.
Updated on March 27: Apple announces new 9.7-inch iPad, accessories, and new educational tools at its Chicago event
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage