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Apple event 2018: all the latest news from the Education keynote

Every spring, Apple hosts a keynote to unveil a slew of new products and software updates — but this year it’s taking “a field trip” from California to host press and developers at a high school in Chicago for an education-focused event. Catch all the latest news out of Windy City right here.

  • Shannon Liao

    Mar 30, 2018

    Shannon Liao

    Teachers weigh in on Apple’s push for more iPads in school

    Apple Hosts Education Event At Chicago High School
    Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

    This week, Apple held its education event to introduce a new iPad with stylus support aimed at teachers and students, hoping to take on the popularity of Chromebooks in classrooms over the past few years. As of 2017, Apple is third behind Google and Microsoft in terms of laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices shipped to schools, with sales to schools steadily declining since 2013.

    To combat this drop, Apple showed off an “affordable” iPad this week at an event held at Lane Tech College Prep, a public high school in Chicago. “We price things as low as we can,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told Recode’s Kara Swisher in a post-event interview. “We took an iPad, put iPad Pro features in it and charge $299. And the software is all free and the cloud storage is free.”

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Mar 28, 2018

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    How to choose between Apple’s iPad and iPad Pro

    If you look at an iPad and an iPad Pro side by side, you won’t notice much of a difference. The Pro is a little bigger, it has slightly thinner bezels, there are some metal dots on one edge — and that’s about it.

    With Apple’s update to the entry-level iPad on Tuesday, the two full-sized tablets are surprisingly close together in both appearance and spec sheet. There are some notable differences between them, but if you’re planning to buy one for casual use — or for a student, like Apple hopes — there’s not a ton you’re missing out on by getting the $329 iPad instead of the $649 iPad Pro.

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  • Paul Miller

    Mar 27, 2018

    Paul Miller

    It’s really easy to get Apple’s education discount on the new iPad

    Apple

    Apple’s education pricing, which usually knocks around 10 percent off the price of most Apple products, is available to the following people:

    If you’re one of those people, you can get Apple’s new iPad for $309, instead of the $329 list price. The special $299 price Apple announced today is for schools, not individual buyers.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Mar 27, 2018

    Dieter Bohn

    Logitech’s new rugged case for the iPad has its own smart keyboard connector

    Logitech’s Rugged Combo 2 keyboard case for the iPad is not likely to be something you’ll want to buy. It’s just too big for most. It’s very, very rugged, surrounding the device in a huge plastic block that feels like it could protect the glass inside from nearly anything. (Logitech says it’s good for up to a four-foot drop, but I bet it could handle more.) You won’t really be able to buy it anyway; it’s designed for the education market.

    But I am here to tell you that it is fascinating. The spill-proof keyboard doesn’t connect via Bluetooth, but instead via a custom smart connector Logitech developed, which passes through to the Lightning port inside the case. The keyboard is therefore removable (it attaches by a strong magnet) and can be replaced with a simple cover. 

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Mar 27, 2018

    Dieter Bohn

    The Logitech Crayon is great, but it’s limited to the education market

    We just got a look at the new iPad accessories Logitech announced today: the $49 Crayon and the $99 Rugged Case. They are really nice, but they are not for you. Both accessories are specifically designed to sell to the education market and will not hit general retail.

    Let’s start with the Crayon because it’s fascinating. It’s half the price of the Apple Pencil and works a little bit differently. It does not need to be paired via Bluetooth. Instead, any Crayon can work with any iPad. Apple says that’s so a teacher can walk around with it and use it with student devices. Since it doesn’t pair via Bluetooth, it can’t do pressure sensitivity. However, everything else works the same. It can measure angle, handle palm-rejection, and it’s just as precise.

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  • Nick Statt

    Mar 27, 2018

    Nick Statt

    Apple’s less powerful iPad mini 4 is $70 more expensive than the new iPad

    iPad mini 4 review

    Today, Apple refreshed its iPad lineup with a new 9.7-inch iPad with Pencil support that comes with a student-focused $30 discount. The device is designed to replace last year’s $329 base model iPad, and it sells for that same price to regular consumers. Apple’s race to beat Google in the classroom is a good thing for everyone, resulting in cheaper price points and more options. However, one product category that still remains stubbornly unaffordable in Apple’s new education and accessibility-focused iPad roadmap is the iPad mini 4.

    The company’s web store was updated this morning, and the 7.9-inch iPad mini, which came out back in September of 2015, is still being sold for a mind-boggling $399, as pointed out by Business Insider’s Steve Kovach on Twitter. (Granted, you can get it at Best Buy for $300 as of today.) The device comes only with an A8 chip, compared with the much more powerful A10 Fusion in the $329 iPad with Pencil support that came out today. Not only that, but you’re also getting a smaller display that doesn’t support Apple’s stylus or the new cheaper Logitech Crayon stylus announced at Apple’s iPad event this morning.

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  • Natt Garun

    Mar 27, 2018

    Natt Garun

    The 5 biggest announcements from the Apple education event

    Apple took its annual spring event out of California and hosted it at a high school in Chicago this year, promising to focus its newest products toward the education market that’s been dominated by Google and Microsoft. The keynote was condensed into just one hour, most of which revolved around all the things you can do with a newly announced iPad. Here’s a look at all the biggest news today.

    The star of today’s announcement was the new “affordable” iPad with stylus support. Affordable is in quotations because it costs $299 for schools, but $329 for everyone else — the same price as iPad’s 9.7-inch tablet announced last spring. The biggest update with this iPad is that it’ll finally work with the $99 Apple Pencil ($89 for students / teachers), which was previously only supported by the iPad Pro.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Mar 27, 2018

    Dieter Bohn

    Apple’s new, cheaper iPad is very, very familiar

    We just spent some time with Apple’s new $329 iPad, announced here in Chicago at its education event. It’s... an iPad.

    The new iPad is very familiar. It has the same basic 9.7-inch screen size, bezels, Touch ID sensor, button placement, and cameras. The big new features are Apple Pencil support, which works the same as it did on the iPad Pro, and an update to the A10 processor. As with the previous iPad, it has 10 hours of battery life, an 8-megapixel rear camera that supports 1080p video, a front-facing FaceTime HD camera, supports optional LTE, and weighs one pound. Interestingly, there is no Smart Keyboard connector, which seems like a big omission.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Mar 27, 2018

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Apple’s Schoolwork app lets teachers dole out digital assignments to students

    Apple is making a big push into education, and part of that is through apps. At its event today, the company announced a tool called Schoolwork, which will allow teachers to assign digital handouts to students — Apple compared it to writing an email: teachers will be able to write notes, send PDFs, and include links to the web. And since this is all on an iPad, they’ll even be able to assign students activities that live inside of other apps.

    One of Apple’s big selling points here is that Schoolwork will keep all student data private — only teachers will be able to see it; it will also allow them to monitor students’ progress to see how far along they are. Apple’s main competitor in schools, Google, has long made its money by collecting data; and while it offers much stricter privacy for students (it profits from device management fees in schools, rather than advertising), there’s no doubt that privacy fears remain, especially since students can transfer data to personal accounts once they’re old enough.

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  • Nick Statt

    Mar 27, 2018

    Nick Statt

    Apple and Logitech announce $49 Crayon stylus and keyboard case that work with the iPad

    Photo by Dan Siefert / The Verge

    Apple today announced a cheaper, Logitech-made stylus for its iPad family of devices called Crayon. The device, announced onstage at Apple’s iPad-focused education event in Chicago this morning, will cost $49 and join the $99 Pencil in Apple’s current stylus lineup. Alongside the stylus, Apple also announced a new rugged Logitech iPad case and keyboard combo. Logitech says the case will cost $99.99, and both devices will be available this summer in the US and only through Apple’s online education channel. The Verge has confirmed with Apple that the devices are not available to the general public and are for schools only.

    Apple’s education event is centered on courting schools, teachers, and students to the iOS ecosystem, particularly as Google ramps up its Chromebook initiative with the announcement of the first-ever Chrome OS tablet (made by Acer) just yesterday. To combat Google’s growing dominance in the classroom, Apple today announced a new cheaper $299 9.7-inch iPad with Pencil support and A10 Fusion chip. ($299 is the student price, with the new iPad with Pencil support costing $329 for everyone else, just like the standard base model 9.7-inch iPad that came out last year.) Presumably, Logitech’s new Crayon stylus will also work on this device.

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  • Shannon Liao

    Mar 27, 2018

    Shannon Liao

    Apple’s bringing digital book creations to the Pages app on the iPad

    Apple’s education event today is focused on the new $299 iPad, designed as its most “affordable” device with Apple Pencil support. It’s also updating its Pages app to bring a new digital book creation tool to let educators and students make books together, including the use of handwritten notes and drawings. Previously, a similar feature on the Mac was the iBooks Author app.

    Instead of calling it iBooks Author, however, Apple is now calling it Digital Books. Students can make a book for a group project and these “books” can include photos, videos, or even Apple Pencil illustrations. Users will be able to create books from pre-made templates.

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  • Ashley Carman

    Mar 27, 2018

    Ashley Carman

    Apple remembered iWork exists

    Apple

    Apple significantly updated iWork today for the people who haven’t yet transitioned to Google apps, particularly in the education space. At its event today in Chicago, Apple announced that there will be new versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, all of which support Apple Pencil. This goes hand-in-hand with Apple’s announcement of a new iPad that also supports Apple Pencil. Students will be able to add drawings to reports in Pages or Keynote. They’ll also be able to write in Numbers for a “lab report.”

    Apple says it’s working on a new tool called “Smart Annotation” in Pages, which lets teachers mark up papers live while students make notes. Each note will be anchored to specific words, so it’s not just ink on a page, Apple’s vice president of product marketing Greg Joswiak says. The beta version launches today.

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  • Tom Warren

    Mar 27, 2018

    Tom Warren

    Apple’s new iPad with Pencil support is just $299 for schools

    Apple introduced a new iPad today at its education event in Chicago. Rumors of a new, cheaper iPad emerged recently, and Apple is making it official with a refreshed 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support. The updated iPad will be available in Apple stores today, in silver, space gray, and a new gold finish. The tablet will include Touch ID, an HD FaceTime camera, 10 hours of battery life, an 8-megapixel rear camera, LTE option, and Apple’s A10 Fusion chip.

    Apple previously lowered the price of its 9.7-inch iPad last year, with a base model starting at $329, but today it’s going a step further for students. Apple is offering the new iPad to schools priced at $299 and to consumers for $329. The optional Apple Pencil will be priced at $89 for schools and the regular $99 price for consumers. This is obviously not the $259 budget iPad pricing that was rumored, but it does make it a little more affordable to students and teachers.

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  • Thomas Ricker

    Mar 27, 2018

    Thomas Ricker

    Apple iPad education event: start time and live blog

    Here we are, kids, hours away from Apple’s big education event where we’re expecting to learn about the company’s strategy to reclaim dominance in classrooms, crucial for the incubation of the next generation of consumers. Apple’s expected to announce a low-cost iPad (an ePad?), probably with Pencil stylus support, in addition to new software and services needed by educators and students alike.

    It’s an important event for Apple, which has fallen behind both Microsoft and Google, particularly in US school districts (today’s event is being held at a Chicago high school). Google has emerged to reign supreme thanks to cheap Chromebooks and, as of yesterday, an entirely new class of devices: Chrome OS tablets like the $329 Tab 10 from Acer. Chromebooks sell for less than $300, whereas the cheapest iPad currently sells for $329 but without Pencil or Smart Keyboard support. While cheaper MacBooks had been rumored, we’re not expecting any news on that front today.

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  • Tom Warren

    Mar 26, 2018

    Tom Warren

    Apple is ready to fight Google’s Chromebooks with cheaper iPads

    Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

    Apple has a big problem. Just five years ago, its iPads and Mac laptops reigned supreme in US classrooms, accounting for half of all mobile devices shipped to schools in 2013. Apple has now slipped behind both Google and Microsoft in US schools with Google’s Chromebooks leading the way in classrooms, securing nearly 60 percent of shipments in the US as overall iPad sales declined for three straight years. Apple is now ready to strike back against Chromebooks with some cheaper iPads.

    Apple is holding a special education-focused event on Tuesday that promises “creative new ideas for teachers and students.” Rumors suggest Apple is preparing to launch a $259 budget iPad model this year, while Bloomberg reports that a “low-cost iPad” will be announced alongside new education software. The new iPad could even support a stylus, like the Apple Pencil found on the more expensive iPad Pro models. Although a cheaper MacBook had been rumored to arrive, Tuesday’s event will almost certainly be centered on the iPad. Apple’s main education site has 17 devices pictured, 16 of them are iPads and only a single one is an aging MacBook Air that’s being used to administer six iPads. “What’s a computer?” asks Apple in a recent ad, making it clear the iPad is the future.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Mar 23, 2018

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Apple’s low-cost iPad ‘will likely’ support the Pencil, analyst says

    iPad Pro review (EMBARGO)

    We’ve been wondering what, if anything, Apple will do to make its forthcoming low-cost iPad stand out (aside from the price). And now we might have an answer: it could support the Pencil stylus. As of now, only iPad Pro models support it.

    The rumor comes from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who wrote in a note today obtained by MacRumors, that “the new low-price 9.7-inch iPad ... will likely support Apple Pencil.” Kuo believes that Apple may want to do this as a way to “differentiate it more from low-price Android tablets.”

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  • Tom Warren

    Mar 23, 2018

    Tom Warren

    Apple reportedly unveiling a cheaper iPad next week

    IPad stock

    Apple is holding an education-focused event on Tuesday that teases “creative new ideas for teachers and students.” While rumors previously suggested a cheaper MacBook will arrive soon, it appears Apple will be focusing on the iPad next week. Bloomberg reports that a “low-cost iPad” will be announced alongside new education software next week.

    Rumors previously suggested Apple is preparing to launch a $259 budget iPad model this year, as it attempts to claw back ground lost to both Google and Microsoft in the US education market. A cheaper iPad should help push Apple’s ambitions in the classroom, especially as price is a key factor in device sales to schools and students.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Mar 22, 2018

    Chaim Gartenberg

    What to expect from Apple’s education event

    Apple surprised everyone when it announced an education-focused event about “creative new ideas for teachers and students” in Chicago on March 27th at 10AM CT / 11AM ET. But in traditional Apple form, the company isn’t giving many hints as to what to expect aside from the phrase “let’s take a field trip.”

    But even if Apple won’t give us any clues, we’ve still got a few ideas as to what could happen during the event on Tuesday. Here’s everything to expect:

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Mar 16, 2018

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Apple announces March 27th event focusing on education

    Apple has announced an event on March 27th that will focus on “creative new ideas for teachers and students,” according to an invitation that just went out.

    There’s not a lot to go by in terms of hints from the invitation — just a stylized Apple logo and the phrase “Let’s take a field trip,” which fits in with the education theme. But it’s been rumored that Apple has been working on cheaper MacBooks and iPads, which would make sense given this event’s context. Interestingly, the event won’t be held in Apple’s newly opened Apple Park campus in Cupertino, but at a high school in Chicago. Chicago’s Board of Education recently added computer science as a graduation requirement for all public schools in the city, making it a fitting pairing for an Apple event.

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