Apple Inc. unveiled, as expected, an updated iPad at an education event at Chicago’s Lane Tech College Prep public high school on Tuesday. It’s an effort meant to help Apple fend off Alphabet Inc. unit Google’s increasing presence in U.S. schools, where Microsoft tablets also compete. Apple unveiled a cheaper 9.7-inch iPad with support for its Apple Pencil stylus. The new iPad will retail for $329 and at a discounted $299 for schools. The iPad is also getting an A10 Fusion chip, which Apple claimed will be “more powerful than every Chromebook.” Also announced, the cloud-based Schoolwork app is meant to allow teachers to make assignments and track student work, similar to Google Classroom. Pre-event reporting also suggested that a 13-inch Retina MacBook is in the works, although that had not yet been unveiled at the presentation. The company said that Apple Classroom is coming to the Mac and will be available in beta in June. Apple said Tuesday that iPad’s more than 1 million built-in apps, including 200,000 that are education-specific, are key to classroom popularity. Apple is also believed to be working on a new developer framework called ClassKit. The code push, plus cheaper hardware, would show a renewed effort from Apple in the education market, the blog 9to5Mac has reported. Apple shares traded higher after the news, last up about 1% Tuesday. Shares are up roughly 20% over the past 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which Apple is a component, has gained 16% in the same time frame.
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