STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's been a few years since Apple had a smash hit new product. To be clear, the company known for innovative design is still worth $2.8 trillion. But people who watched the industry have been waiting for something fresh. Now comes a major update to the iPad. Here's NPR tech correspondent Dara Kerr.
DARA KERR, BYLINE: Apple first introduced the iPad in 2010, calling it, quote, "magical and revolutionary." It was a device touted as something between a smartphone and a computer and was seen as impressive. Fast-forward 14 years to an event this week.
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TIM COOK: This is the biggest day for iPad since its introduction.
KERR: That's Apple CEO Tim Cook, hoping to woo the media and consumers with the company's latest models. His colleague, John Ternus, who managed the project took it one step further.
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JOHN TERNUS: We've always envisioned iPad as a magical sheet of glass. And with this new design, that vision is brought to life more than ever.
KERR: Magical. It's still there. And he promises even more.
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TERNUS: We're not only going to push the limits of what you can do on iPad. We're going to crush them.
KERR: How are they going to do that? Apple says with a new high-tech chip called the M4.
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TERNUS: Capable of an astounding 38 trillion operations per second.
KERR: In plain English, that means a brighter display, better performance and enormous computing power capable of handling artificial intelligence, showing Apple is still cutting edge. This iPad refresh comes at a time when the company is under pressure to innovate, says analyst Avi Greengart of Techsponential.
AVI GREENGART: They've been declining quarter over quarter, year over year. And Apple hasn't had a new product that could reverse that. And now it does.
KERR: Not everyone shares that optimism. Bob O'Donnell, president of TECHnalysis Research, watched Apple's event and says it's hard for people to get excited about a tablet.
BOB O'DONNELL: Tim Cook's intro is basically, this is the biggest day since the launch (laughter) of the iPad. That seems like kind of a big claim.
KERR: Remember, this week's announcement is just an update. Plus, O'Donnell sees the new iPad as mostly catering to a small niche audience - think creative professionals, not a product launch to inspire a generation.
O'DONNELL: And so they need to catch up. And, you know, the question is, how do they do that?
KERR: That is Apple's trillion-dollar question. Dara Kerr, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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