Apple’s iPad Lineup Is Finally Getting Real, Official Trackpad and Mouse Support

(Bloomberg) — Apple unveiled a new version of its iPad Pro that supports laptop-like trackpads as a new means of controlling the tablet, as well as upgraded cameras and microphones.

The company has also released a new MacBook Air model, with faster performance, a new keyboard, twice the storage capacity and a lower price, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement on Wednesday.

With the new iPad, Apple is further blurring the lines between a tablet computer, which is typically a touchscreen device, and a laptop, usually controlled with a keyboard and mouse or trackpad.

“We carefully considered the best way to integrate trackpad use into a touch-first environment while retaining everything our customers know and love about iPad,” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, said in a statement.

Other new features include a rear-facing 3D camera that lets the iPad measure the distance between itself and objects as far as 5 meters (16.4 feet) away, to be used with augmented-reality applications. The tablet also has two wide-angle lenses for taking pictures. Earlier models had only one camera.

The new iPad Pro and MacBook Air are available to order from Apple’s website.