Tag Archives: Blog

News: Apple’s new MagSafe wallet works with ‘Find My’ app for when it goes missing

Alongside the introduction of the new iPhone 13, Apple introduced a few new accessories to complement its upgraded flagship devices. One of the more interesting additions in the accessories in the lineup is a new MagSafe wallet that works with Apple “Find My” service. That means if you accidentally lose your wallet when it becomes

Alongside the introduction of the new iPhone 13, Apple introduced a few new accessories to complement its upgraded flagship devices. One of the more interesting additions in the accessories in the lineup is a new MagSafe wallet that works with Apple “Find My” service. That means if you accidentally lose your wallet when it becomes unattached from your iPhone, you can launch the Find My app to locate it as you can with other Apple devices or items attached to your Apple AirTags.

In this case, the MagSafe leather wallet will notify users of the last known location where the wallet was separated from the phone. It will not, however, provide real-time tracking.

This is a small, but clever addition for those who use Apple’s MagSafe products. The technology was first introduced last fall to allow iPhone users to attach all sorts of products to the back of their iPhone, like cases, wallets, tripods and car mounts, as well as Apple’s own accessories for charging, like the MagSafe battery pack — which is coming to iPhone 13. MagSafe works by layering on a magnetometer, a copper-graphite shield, two shields, multiple layers of magnets, an NFC antenna, and more on the back of the iPhone, to make the accessories attach.

But it had not yet combined the power of MagSafe with the capabilities of “Find My” until now.

Image Credits: Apple

Along with the launch of the “Find My”-connected wallet, aka the iPhone Leather Wallet with MagSafe, the company is also introducing a range of new cases and colors for iPhone, designed to work with MagSafe. This includes MagSafe cases in leather and silicone, as well as a clear case with MagSafe. All are available to order today.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Apple adds Fitness+ updates, including a group workout feature

After unveiling the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple shared updates that are coming to Fitness+, its fitness service designed around Apple Watch. Currently, the $9.99/month service is available in six countries, like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. But at its press event today, Apple announced that the service will become available in

After unveiling the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple shared updates that are coming to Fitness+, its fitness service designed around Apple Watch.

Currently, the $9.99/month service is available in six countries, like the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. But at its press event today, Apple announced that the service will become available in many more countries this fall, including Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, France, Italy, Russia and more. Content will be subtitled in six languages.

Here are the countries that are getting Apple Fitness+. pic.twitter.com/Z0RNlcSIjA

— MacRumorsLive (@macrumorslive) September 14, 2021

Apple also announced that it will add new pilates and guided meditation content for Fitness+ subscribers starting in the fall. Every day, Fitness+ will add guided meditations that focus on gratitude, mindfulness, and calming. These experiences will be available in both video and audio form, and could pose competition to apps like Headspace and Calm.

Also in the fall, Fitness+ will roll out Group Workouts, powered by Share Play. This enables subscribers to exercise alongside their friends via FaceTime or a group message thread, no matter where they are in the world. Up to 32 people can exercise together at once.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Extra Crunch roundup: BNPL bonanza, scraping Toast’s S-1/A, early-stage SaaS pricing

Are founders in fundraising mode short-sighted when it comes to working with Chinese venture funds? Runa Capital’s Asia business development manager Denis Kalinin studied data from iTjuzi, a database of Chinese venture capitalists, and found: “…Chinese funds invested around $250 billion in 2020 (three times higher than the figure reported in Crunchbase). This figure puts

Are founders in fundraising mode short-sighted when it comes to working with Chinese venture funds?

Runa Capital’s Asia business development manager Denis Kalinin studied data from iTjuzi, a database of Chinese venture capitalists, and found:

“…Chinese funds invested around $250 billion in 2020 (three times higher than the figure reported in Crunchbase). This figure puts Chinese VC investments only 30% lower than investments by U.S. funds, but three times that of U.K. funds and 12.5 times more than German funds.”

The pandemic, geopolitical tensions and other factors led many Chinese venture funds to pare back their international investments, but that’s largely “because during COVID, China’s economy recovered much faster than other countries’,” writes Kalinin.

His analysis covers multiple angles: Chinese investments in Europe are catching up with those in Asia and the United States, half of China’s top cross-border investors are CVCs, and investors are particularly interested in fintech, deep tech and digital health at the moment.

“Chinese investors can bring value to foreign startups, but you need to study their expertise and how it can be useful for you.”


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Today at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET on Twitter Spaces, Managing Editor Danny Crichton and immigration law attorney Sophie Alcorn will discuss whether remote work is making H-1B visas less critical for international founders.

Join @DannyCrichton on Tuesday, September 14 at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET as he discusses if remote work will make H-1B visas redundant with @Sophie_Alcorn https://t.co/SCMUiqUj8J

— TechCrunch (@TechCrunch) September 10, 2021

It’s a provocative question: If remote teams are becoming the norm, tech hubs are decentralizing and investors are comfortable cutting checks after a Zoom call, how important is it to do business as a startup inside the U.S?

It’s sure to be an interesting conversation; to get a reminder, please follow @TechCrunch on Twitter.

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week!

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Toast looks toward $18B valuation in upcoming IPO

Toast released an early IPO price range of $30 to $33 per share on Monday, and Alex Wilhelm digs into the S-1/A filing to “better understand how to value vertical SaaS startups that are pursuing a payments-and-SaaS business approach.”

Is the restaurant software startup worth the $18 billion valuation it’s aiming for?

3 keys to pricing early-stage SaaS products

Family of disposable coffee/tea cups

Image Credits: Peter Dazeley (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Every founder who launches an enterprise software startup has to figure out the “right” pricing model for their products.

It’s a consequential decision: Per-seat licenses are easy to manage, but what if customers prefer a concurrent licensing model?

“Early pricing discussions should center around the buyer’s perspective and the value the product creates for them,” says Ridge Ventures partner Yousuf Khan, who previously worked as a CIO.

“Of course,” he notes, “self-evaluation is hard, especially when you’re asking someone else to pay you for something you’ve created.”

Is India’s BNPL 2.0 set to disrupt B2B?

Image Credits: jayk7 / Getty Images

India’s mom-and-pop businesses are experiencing a digital transformation that’s creating new e-commerce opportunities; smartphones have replaced paper records, and a new government-backed instant payments system is disrupting how value is exchanged.

But instead of importing legacy credit systems, buy now, pay later systems are the “next step for solving the digital B2B puzzle,” writes Anubhav Jain, co-founder and CEO of Rupifi.

What to make of Freshworks’ first IPO price range

Developing programming and coding technologies. Website design. Programmer working in a software develop company office.

Image Credits: scyther5 / Getty Images

Freshworks, which develops and offers a variety of business software tools, set an IPO price range of $28 to $32 per share on Monday, meaning its valuation could reach nearly $10 billion, Alex Wilhelm writes.

“It appears that the Freshworks IPO is pretty reasonably priced as is, though a boost to its price range is not out of the question if public market investors decide that they are bullish on its future growth prospects. We just don’t see dramatic upside.”

ish on its future growth prospects. We just don’t see dramatic upside.”

Here’s what your BNPL startup could be worth

The multibillion-dollar exits of Japanese startup Paidy (to PayPal) and Australian buy now, pay later company Afterpay (to Square) “provided hard market proof that what BNPL startups are building has value beyond simple operating results,” Alex Wilhelm writes in The Exchange.

He breaks down the value of Afterpay, Paidy and Klarna using a simple metric: What would you pay for $1 of BNPL GMV?

3 methodologies for automated video game highlight detection and capture

Image of a gaming computer setup with two monitors.

Image Credits: mikkelwilliam (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

Video game livestreaming is booming.

Twitch has an average of almost 3 million concurrent viewers; by comparison, on the night of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, CNN’s livestream averaged 1.1 million.

The most successful streamers use their ad revenue and sponsorship money to hire video editors and social media teams to make them look good, but new automated tools are giving part-time streamers the ability to spotlight their best moments as well.

Have ‘The Privacy Talk’ with your business partners

Speech bubbles between two human hands against khaki background.

Image Credits: Boris Zhitkov (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

A data breach costs a company an average of $3.8 million, Marc Ellenbogen, Foursquare’s general counsel, notes in a guest post, adding up to a “concrete financial incentive to having The Privacy Talk.”

What is it?

“It’s the conversation that goes beyond the written, publicly posted privacy policy and dives deep into a customer, vendor, supplier or partner’s approach to ethics,” he writes.

If you think the talk doesn’t apply to you, think again.

Advanced rider assistance systems: Tech spawned by the politics of micromobility

First person view of riding an e-scooter in a city

Image Credits: Alexander Spatari (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

In an effort to “reassure local administrations that micromobility is safe, compliant and a good thing for cities,” scooter operators are “implementing technology similar to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) usually found in cars,” Rebecca Bellan writes.

She breaks down how the tech could help prevent unwanted behavior and explores the cost for scooter operators and opportunities for startups.

 

News: Apple’s iPhone 13 sports better battery and improved cameras, starting at $799

The rumors were right. The centerpiece of today’s big Apple event is the latest iPhone. The latest device lands less than a year after its predecessor, now that things have settled down somewhat on the supply chain side for Apple. Last year’s iPhone 12 was a massive seller, bucking the trend of stagnating smartphones sales,

The rumors were right. The centerpiece of today’s big Apple event is the latest iPhone. The latest device lands less than a year after its predecessor, now that things have settled down somewhat on the supply chain side for Apple. Last year’s iPhone 12 was a massive seller, bucking the trend of stagnating smartphones sales, in part due to a bottleneck in sales from the unplanned delay, but also because it finally brought 5G connectivity to Apple’s mobile line.

Lucky number iPhone 13 (no skipping for superstition’s sake, mind) features a familiar design. The front notch has finally been shrunken down — now 20% smaller than its predecessor, while the rear-facing camera system has also gotten a redesign. The screen is now 28% brighter Super Retina XDR display on both the iPhone 13 and 13 mini at 1200 nits. The display is protected by a ceramic shield coating, and the handset rates IP68 dust/waterproofing.

The phone is powered by Apple’s new A15 Bionic chip, built with a 5nm processor. The CPU is 6-core that the company is calling “the fastest CPU on any smartphone.” The new 4-core GPU, meanwhile, brings advanced graphics to the handset.

The rear dual-camera system features a 12MP wide angle camera that’s capable of pulling in up to 47% more light. The new Cinematic Mode, meanwhile, brings rack focus-style shooting capable of adjusting the focus on subjects, using machine learning (you can also tap to adjust manual or switch between subjects). All models in the iPhone 13 also support Night Mode shooting.

Following last year’s introduction of 5G, the company has added more advanced antennae. Through the combination of a larger battery and energy saving software, the company says it’s been able to eke out an additional 2.5 hours of life on the 13 and 1.5 hours on the mini.

iPhone 13 mini starts at $699 and, while the 13 starts at $799.

 

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: The network effect is anti-competitive

Social networks and online marketplace providers have become digital dictators with complete control over their territories.

Eric Schwartzman
Contributor

Eric Schwartzman is a digital marketing consultant with structured programs for helping individuals and organizations pivot to digital marketing and is the author of “The Digital Pivot: Secrets of Online Marketing.”

A U.S. federal judge last week struck down Apple rules restricting app developers from selling directly to customers outside the App Store.

Apple’s stock fell 3% on the news, which is being regarded as a win for small and midsize app developers because they’ll be able to build direct billing relationships with their customers. But Apple is just one of many Big Tech companies that dominate their sector.

The larger issue is how this development will impact Amazon, Facebook, Grubhub and other tech giants with online marketplaces that use draconian terms of service to keep their resellers subservient. The skirmish between Apple and small and midsize app developers is just a smaller battle in a much larger war.

App makers pay up to 30% on every sale they make on the Apple App Store. Resellers on Amazon pay a monthly subscription fee, a sales commission of 8% to 15%, fulfillment fees and other miscellaneous charges. Grubhub charges restaurants 15% of every order, a credit card processing fee, an order processing fee and a 10% delivery commission.

Like app developers, online resellers and social media influencers are all falling for the same big lie: that they can build a sustainable business with healthy margins on someone else’s platform. The reality is the App Store, online marketplaces and even social networks that dominate their sectors have the unilateral power to selectively deplatform and squeeze their users, and there’s not much to be done about it.

Healthy competition exists inside the App Store and among marketplace resellers and aspiring social media influencers. But no one seems to be talking about the real elephants in the room, which are the social networks and online marketplace providers themselves. In some respects, they’ve become almost like digital dictators with complete control over their territories.

It’s something every small and midsize business that gets excited about some new online service catering to their industry should be aware of because it directly impacts their ability to grow a stable business. The federal judge’s decision suggests the real goal in digital business is a direct billing relationship with the end user.

On the internet, those who are able to lead a horse to water and make them drink — outside the walled gardens of digital marketplace operators like Uber, Airbnb and Udemy — are the true contenders. In content and e-commerce, this is what most small and midsize companies don’t realize. Your own website or owned media, at a top-level domain that you control, is the only unfettered way to sell direct to end users.

Mobile app makers on Apple’s App Store, resellers on Amazon and aspiring content creators on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok are all subject to the absolute control of digital titans who are free to govern by their own rules with unchecked power.

For access to online marketplaces and social networks, we got a raw deal. We’re basically plowing their fields like digital sharecroppers. Resellers on Amazon are forced to split their harvest with a landlord who takes a gross percentage with no caps. Amassing followers on TikTok is building an audience that’s locked inside their venue.

These tech giants — all former startups that built their audiences from scratch — are free to impose and selectively enforce oppressive rules. If you’re a small fry, they can prohibit you from asking for your customer’s email address and deplatform you for skimming, but look the other way when Spotify and The New York Times do the same thing. Both were already selling direct and through the App Store prior to Friday’s ruling.

How is that competitive? Even after the ruling, Big Tech still gets to decide who they let violate their terms of service and who they deplatform. It’s not just their audience. It’s their universe, their governance, their rules and their enforcement.

In the 1948 court case United States v. Paramount Pictures, the Supreme Court ruled that film studios couldn’t own their own theaters because that meant they could exclusively control what movies were screened. They stifled competition by controlling what films made it to the marquee, so SCOTUS broke them up.

Today, social networks control what gets seen on their platforms, and with the push of a button, they can give the hook to whoever they want, whenever they want. The big challenge that the internet poses to capitalism is that the network effect is fundamentally anti-competitive. Winner-take-all markets dominated by tech giants look more like government-controlled than free-market economies.

On the one hand, the web gives us access to a global marketplace of buyers and sellers. On the other, a few major providers control the services that most people use to do business, because they don’t have the knowledge or resources to stand up a competitive website. But unless you have your own domain and good search visibility, you’re always in danger of being deplatformed and losing access to your customers or audience members with no practical recourse.

The network effect is such that once an online marketplace becomes dominant, it neutralizes the competitive market, because everyone gravitates to the dominant service to get the best deal. There’s an inherent conflict between the goals of a winner-takes-all tech company and the goals of a free market.

Dominant online marketplaces are only competitive for users. Meanwhile, marketplace providers operate with impunity. If they decide they want to use half-baked AI or offshore contractors to police their terms of service and shore up false positives, there’s no practical way for users to contest. How can Facebook possibly govern nearly 3 billion users judiciously with around 60,000 employees? As we’ve seen, it can’t.

For app makers, online resellers and creators, the only smart option is open source on the open web. Instead of relying on someone else’s audience (or software for that matter), you own your online destination powered by software like WordPress or Discord, and you never have to worry about getting squeezed when the founders go public or their platform gets bought by profit-hungry investment bankers. Only then can you protect your profit margins. And only then are the terms of service the laws of the land.

Politics aside, as former President Donald Trump’s deplatforming demonstrated, if you get kicked off Facebook and Twitter, there’s really nowhere else to go. If they want you out, it’s game over. It’s no coincidence Trump lost his Facebook and Twitter accounts on the same day the Republicans lost the Senate. If the GOP takes back the Senate, watch Trump get his social media accounts back. Social networks ward off regulators by appeasing the legislative majority.

So don’t get too excited about the new Amazon Influencer Program. If you want to build a sustainable digital business, you need an owned media presence powered by software that doesn’t rake commissions, have access to your customer contact information and has an audience that can’t be commandeered with an algorithm tweak.

News: Apple Watch will now detect biking workouts, falls from bike when riding

Apple Watch users who ride bikes will get a handful of new features designed just for them. Announced during today’s Apple iPhone press event, the company says that Apple Watch will now begin to detect when users begin a bike ride to remind you to start a workout. And similar to other workouts, Apple Watch

Apple Watch users who ride bikes will get a handful of new features designed just for them. Announced during today’s Apple iPhone press event, the company says that Apple Watch will now begin to detect when users begin a bike ride to remind you to start a workout. And similar to other workouts, Apple Watch will also automatically pause and resume as you take breaks during your ride. And, perhaps most importantly, it will gain a new fall detection feature, as well.

While Apple Watch can already detect a fall on Series 4  or later devices, allowing users to contact emergency services if needed, Apple says that it will now add fall detection to cycling. In this case, it’s able to sense the unique motion and impact that occurs when someone falls when riding a bike — which is a different type of movement than someone who falls when standing.

Image Credits: Apple

For indoor cyclists such as Peleton enthusiasts, Apple Watch will also now better support e-bikes with an improved workout algorithm that more accurately calculates calories burned.

These features will join others Apple has added, like the reimagined Breathe app, new watch faces, and updates to Messages and Photos that roll out with watchOS 8. Apple additionally announced a new Watch product, as well, with the Apple Watch Series 7, offering a larger Retina display, interface redesigns, new watch faces and colors, better charging, and more.

Related to workouts, Apple also announced an update to its subscription service, Fitness+, which will be available in 15 new countries in addition to the original six, and which is adding Pilates workouts, guided meditations, and workouts designed for skiers and snowboarders.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: As UK Gov reaches out to tech, investors threaten to ‘pull capital’ over M&A regulator over-reach

UK competition regulators are spooking tech investors in the country with an implied threat to clamp down on startup M&A, according to a new survey of the industry. As the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer engaged with the tech industry at a ‘Chatham House’ style event today, the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) think-tank

UK competition regulators are spooking tech investors in the country with an implied threat to clamp down on startup M&A, according to a new survey of the industry.

As the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer engaged with the tech industry at a ‘Chatham House’ style event today, the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) think-tank released a survey of over 50 key investors which found startup investors are prepared to pull capital over the prospect of the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) new Digital Markets Unit (DMU) becoming a “whole-economy regulator by accident”. Investors are concerned after the CMA recommended the DMU be given ‘expanded powers’ regarding its investigations of M&A deals.

Controversy has been stirring up around the DMU, as the prospect of it blocking tech startup acquisitions – especially by US firms, sometimes on the grounds of national security – has gradually risen.

In the Coadec survey, half of investors said they would significantly reduce the amount they invested in UK startups if the ability to exit was restricted, and a further 22.5% said they would stop investing in UK startups completely under a stricter regulatory environment.

Furthermore, 60% of investors surveyed said they felt UK regulators only had a “basic understanding” of the startup market, and 22.2% felt regulators didn’t understand the tech startup market at all.

Coadec said its conservative estimates showed that the UK Government’s DMU proposals could create a £2.2bn drop in venture capital going into the UK, potentially reducing UK economic growth by £770m.

Commenting on the report, Dom Hallas, Executive Director of Coadec, said: “Startups thrive in competitive markets. But nurturing an ecosystem means knowing where to intervene and when not to. The data shows that not only is there a risk that the current proposals could miss some bad behavior in some areas like B2B markets whilst creating unnecessary barriers in others like M&A. Just as crucially, there’s frankly not a lot of faith in the regulators proposing them either.”

The survey results emerged just as Chancellor Rishi Sunak convened the “Treasury Connect” conference in London today which brought together some of the CEOs of the UK’s biggest tech firms and VCs in a ‘listening process’ designed to reach out to the industry.

However, at a press conference after the event, Sunak pushed back on the survey results, citing research by Professor Jason Furman, Chair, of the Digital Competition Expert Panel, which has found that “not a single acquisition” had been blocked by the DMU, and there are “no false positives” in decision making to date. Sunak said the “system looks at this in order to get the balance right.”

In addition, a statement from the Treasury, out today, said more than one-fifth of people in the UK’s biggest cities are now employed in the tech sector, which also saw £11.2 billion invested last year, setting a new investment record, it claimed.

Sunak also said the Future Fund, which backed UK-based tech firms with convertible loans during the pandemic, handed UK taxpayers with stakes in more than 150 high-growth firms.

These include Vaccitech PLC, which co-invented the COVID-19 vaccine with the University of Oxford and is better known as the AstraZeneca vaccine which went to 170 countries worldwide. The Future fund also invested in Century Tech, an EdTEch startup that uses AI to personalize learning for children.

The UK government’s £375 million ‘Future Fund: Breakthrough’ initiative continued from July this year, aiming at high-growth, R&D-intensive companies.

Coadec’s survey also found 70% of investors felt UK regulators “only thought about large incumbent firms” when designing competition rules, rather than startups or future innovation.

However, the survey found London was still rated as highly as California as an attractive destination for startups and investors.

News: Apple Watch Series 7 arrives with a larger, more rugged display

Big day for hardware over at Apple HQ. In addition to all of a pair of new iPads, the company just launched the latest version of the wearable-dominated Apple Watch. As anticipated, the Apple Watch Series 7 marks one of the biggest design changes in the smartwatch’s six year history. The new Watch sports a

Big day for hardware over at Apple HQ. In addition to all of a pair of new iPads, the company just launched the latest version of the wearable-dominated Apple Watch. As anticipated, the Apple Watch Series 7 marks one of the biggest design changes in the smartwatch’s six year history. The new Watch sports a re-engineered display that’s 20% larger than the Series 6, while “barely effecting” the watch’s size, courtesy of smaller bezels.

The corners are rounded and the display is significantly brighter than the last version. The new screen is able to fit 50% more text than the previous models, and the system features a new text input feature with AI predictions. The glass on the front has been fortified, and the Watch now rates IP6X.

Contrary to rumors, the battery hasn’t been improved this time out. It can, however, charge at around  33% faster, so you can get some quick juice in before sleep tracking.

Apple Watch Series 7 is arriving later this fall, starting at $399. The cases come in five different colors. The Series 3 is sticking around, priced at $279, while the SE runs $279. The new watch will ship with WatchOS 8, which now includes bike tracking.

 

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Apple refreshes iPad Mini with a new design, 5G and an 8.3-inch display

As expected, we’re going to be seeing a LOT of hardware at today’s Apple event. The company has already unveiled a refresh to the iPad and here’s a new version of the Mini that looks to be the small tablet’s biggest refresh to date. The new iPad Mini sports a design overhaul that closely resembles

As expected, we’re going to be seeing a LOT of hardware at today’s Apple event. The company has already unveiled a refresh to the iPad and here’s a new version of the Mini that looks to be the small tablet’s biggest refresh to date. The new iPad Mini sports a design overhaul that closely resembles that of the iPad Pro. That’s all built around an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, accomplished by significantly shrinking its bezels.

There’s a lot to like about this refresh on top of the aforementioned aesthetic updates. It’s a long list that really rounds out the product’s functionality, including 5G, Apple Pencil support and a power button that supports TouchID for unlocking. The product is getting some nice upgrades inside, as well, with a CPU Apple says in 40% faster than its predecessor and a GPU that bumps performance up 80%.

The Mini sports a USB-C port and front and rear-facing 12-megapixel cameras, the former of which supports Apple’s Center Stage program. The Mini starts at $499 and goes on sale next week. Pricing, naturally, goes up when you add 5G into the mix.

 

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

News: Apple updates the entry-level $329 iPad

Apple is launching a new iPad model. This is the most affordable iPad model in the lineup, it’s cheaper than the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Today’s new iPad replaces the existing $329 iPad in the lineup. It features Apple’s A13 chip. Apple originally unveiled the A13 for the iPhone 11. As a reminder, the

Apple is launching a new iPad model. This is the most affordable iPad model in the lineup, it’s cheaper than the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Today’s new iPad replaces the existing $329 iPad in the lineup.

It features Apple’s A13 chip. Apple originally unveiled the A13 for the iPhone 11. As a reminder, the existing iPad uses the A12 Bionic. Apple is keeping the same familiar design with a 10.2-inch display.

When it comes to the camera, you can expect improved auto focus and low-light performance. The front-facing is receiving a huge upgrade as it now has a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 122° view angle.

Apple is also bringing center stage to the iPad. That feature automatically detects what’s happening during a video call and crops the image to that part of the video feed in real time. It’s going to improve your family video-conferencing sessions.

The entry-level iPad is also getting True Tone for the first time. It’s a sort of white-balance adjustment feature for the display. Like the previous version, the new iPad supports the first-generation Apple Pencil with its built-in Lightning connector.

The new iPad will be available next week for $329 with 64GB (instead of 32GB for the previous generation). You can also get a model with cellular connectivity and schools can buy this iPad for $299. This model of iPad comes in silver and Space Gray.

Read more about Apple's Fall 2021 Event on TechCrunch

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