Apple Inc. (AAPL) has officially announced that it will launch of the iPad Air 2 next week, the second generation iPad Air, and sixth generation 10-inch iPad. The announcement took place at Apple's Cupertino event earlier today.

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CEO Tim Cook started off by asking "what do you change on the perfect iPad?", referencing the original iPad Air, then proceeded to show a short-video of a pencil cut with a laser to show the thinness of the new iPad Air 2.

It is extremely thin - at just 6.1mm wide, the iPad Air 2 is the thinnest tablet on the market. This is 18 percent thinner than the iPad Air and half as thick as the original iPad. Apple has added an anti-reflective coating onto the iPad Air 2, which should reduce the glare on the tablet.

Internally, the iPad Air 2 will run on the new A8X chipset, a custom version for the iPad Air 2. Apple is promising 40 percent better CPU performance and 2.5x better GPU performance with the new chip. This will come alongside the M8 motion processor, WiFi ac and new LTE bands.

Apple has added the new iSight 8MP camera with f/2.4 aperture. The new camera will feature burst mode, timelapse and slow-motion.

iPad Air 2 will be available for $499, $599 or $699, depending on the storage options of 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. The iPad Mini 3 will be available as well with the same features, starting at $399, $499 and $599 for the same storage options.

Apple has also lowered the original iPad Mini price to $249 and the iPad Mini 2 is now $299. Pre-orders start October 17.

TagsiPad Mini 3, iPad Air 2, Ipad, Tablet