Apple finally places front camera on iPad on the landscape edge — like it should be

Apple announced two new iPad Air models today— an 11-inch and a 13-inch model — at its iPad event on Tuesday. However, one of the important updates for people who take a lot of video calls was Apple shifting the camera to the landscape edge.

Until now, the camera on the iPad was on the portrait edge, which meant you had to put the iPad in portrait mode while taking video calls. If you placed your iPad in landscape mode — like a laptop — it presented a weird and unflattering angle. The new iPad Air models solve this problem.

“We’ve also redesigned the iPad Air to put the front-facing camera on the landscape edge and a feature center stage that uses machine learning to keep everyone in the field of view automatically. So it’s perfect for connecting with friends and family over FaceTime or joining a video conference while using a keyboard,” Melody Kuna, Director of iPad Design, said.

The new iPads are shipping next week, with the 11-inch model priced at $599 and the 13-inch model priced at $799.