Apple's online store is down ahead of iPad Air and iPhone SE pre-orders, which are set to begin at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time in the United States.
The new iPhone SE features the same 4.7-inch display as the current model, but now offers the toughest glass in a smartphone on the front and back — the same as on the back of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.
The device's new 12MP Wide camera system offers a range of improvements and computational photography features including Deep Fusion, Photographic Styles, Portrait Mode, and Smart HDR 4.
The new iPhone SE contains the same A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. With a 6-core CPU, the A15 Bionic means that the iPhone SE is 1.8x faster than the iPhone 8. The 16-core Neural Engine, aimed at machine learning tasks, performs 15.8 trillion operations per second, making it 26x faster than iPhone 8. The 4-core GPU delivers 2.2x faster speed than the iPhone 8.
The A15 Bionic also gives the new iPhone SE longer battery life than the previous-generation and older 4.7-inch iPhone models despite having a compact form-factor and 5G connectivity. It continues to support fast charging and be compatible with Qi-certified chargers for wireless charging.
The new iPhone SE is available in two new colors, Midnight and Starlight, alongside PRODUCT(RED). The new iPhone SE starts at $429, up from $399 on the 2020 model, and is available with 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB of storage. Preorders begin on Friday, March 11, with the first devices shipping on March 18.
Available in a new array of colors, the new iPad Air features Apple's Ultra Wide front camera with Center Stage for a more natural video conferencing experience, a USB-C port with up to 2x faster transfer speeds, and 5G on the cellular models.
In terms of the M1's pure performance, the 8-core CPU delivers up to 60% faster performance, and the 8-core GPU delivers up to 2x faster graphics performance compared to the previous iPad Air. That makes it faster than the fastest competitive tablet, and 2x as fast as the best-selling Windows laptop in its price range, according to Apple.
The USB-C port is now up to 2x faster than the previous generation, with data transfers up to 10Gbps, enabling it to support a range of USB-C accessories, including cameras, external storage, and displays with up to 6K resolution. Lastly, the new iPad Air supports the second-generation Apple Pencil.
The new iPad Air is priced from $599. It is available in 64GB and 256GB configurations, and comes in space gray, starlight, pink, purple, and blue colors. The new iPad Air is available to pre-order on Friday, March 11, and will be available from March 18.
