Apple today introduced a new iPad Air in a 10.5-inch design, offering Apple Pencil support. The company also introduced the new 7.9-inch iPad mini.

With the A12 Bionic chip with Apple’s Neural Engine, the new iPad Air delivers a 70 percent boost in performance and twice the graphics capability, and the Retina display with True Tone technology is nearly 20 percent larger with over half a million more pixels, compared to the 9.7-inch iPad.

The Apple-designed Neural Engine of the A12 Bionic chip powers the next apps and iPad workflows using machine learning and Core ML for AR experiences, photo-realistic effects in 3D games and great graphics performance within apps.

The Apple Pencil promises to deliver a fluid and natural drawing experience and provides pixel-perfect accuracy and low latency for activities within popular apps including Procreate, Notability, Pixelmator Photo (coming soon) and Microsoft Office.

Apple today also introduced the new 7.9-inch iPad mini, an upgrade for iPad mini fans. It comes with the A12 Bionic chip for multi-tasking, delivering three times the performance and nine times faster graphics compared to the previous generation iPad mini.

The Retina display with True Tone technology and wide color support is 25 percent brighter and has the highest pixel density of any iPad. The new iPad ini also supports Apple Pencil.

Both the new iPad mini and iPad Air are featuring the same Wi-Fi performance and Gigabit‑class LTE connectivity. With eSIM technology built in, users can connect to wireless data plans right from iPad when traveling in more than 180 countries around the world.

In addition, both new devices come with front- and back-facing cameras. Apple says that the upgraded cameras offer low-light performance and HD video recording.

The new iPads are available to order starting today and in stores next week.

They come in silver, space gray and gold finishes in 64GB and 256GB configurations. The new iPad mini starts at $399 (US) for the Wi-Fi model and $529 (US) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model and the 10.5-inch iPad Air starts at $499 (US) for the Wi-Fi model and $629 (US) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.

Apple Pencil (1st generation) is available for purchase separately for $99 (US). The Smart Keyboard for the 10.5-inch iPad Air is available for purchase separately for $159 (US) with layouts for over 30 languages, including simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

Polyurethane Smart Covers are available for $39 (US) for iPad mini and $49 (US) for iPad Air in charcoal gray, white, pink sand and a new papaya, with additional Leather Smart Covers available for iPad Air for $69 (US) in black, saddle brown, midnight blue and red.

The iPhone maker had said it would hold a media event on March 25, where it is expected to launch a television and video service, its next-generation AirPods and an AirPower wireless charging mat.