iPad Pro: Apple launches huge new tablet with Apple Pencil stylus and keyboard

Steve Jobs famously said that ‘If you see a stylus, they blew it’ — but now Apple’s got its own

Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, discusses the new iPad Pro (Reuters)

Apple has launched a huge new iPad, which it hopes can bring the tablet to offices and designers. But it unveiled it with an Apple-designed stylus — an idea that was famously mocked by late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

The new tablet packs in four speakers and upgraded internal processors to allow it to run professional software.

Apple boss Tim Cook called the iPad Pro the "biggest news in iPad since the iPad" as he unveiled the Pro, which will have a 12.9 inch screen. The screen is as wide as the existing iPad Air is high — meaning that it can run apps side-by-side on the same screen.

The screen resolution on the new iPad Pro will be better than that of a MacBook Pro, Apple said.Tun Cook called it "our vision of the future of personal computing".

The iPad Pro will also be the first to have four speakers in it - one in each corner of the device. It will also come with a keyboard, built into a new case. This is a similar layout to Microsoft's extremely popular Surface tablet.

The Apple rival even made a surprise appearance at the announcement - giving a demo of Microsoft Office working on the Pro.

The iPad Pro will also come with a stylus - called the Apple Pencil. This is despite late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously once saying: "If you see a stylus, they blew it."

Apple said the iPad Pro will go on sale in November, in three colours and with prices starting at 799 US dollars.

The firm also announced the iPad mini 4, which Apple's Phil Schiller said has the same internals as the larger iPad Air 2, but in the mini's size.

Additional reporting by Press Association