Apple has formally announced the iPad Air at a special launch event in San Francisco, Digital Spy said.

The 9.7-inch Retina display device is considerably thinner than its predecessor and is being touted as the lightest tablet in the world, weighing in at 1lb (0.453592 kg).

Powered by the A7 chip found inside the iPhone 5S, the device is twice as powerful as the previous-generation model and 72 times faster than the original iPad.

The iPad Air also features 64-bit desktop class architecture, and graphically, performance has also doubled compared to the previous model.

Other features include the same M7 motion coprocessor found in the iPhone 5S, a 5-megapixel iSight camera, dual microphones, 1080p HD video recording, improved WiFi connectivity and expanded LTE support.

Apple claims that the device will offer 10 hours of battery life.

The iPad Air will be available in silver or space grey, and will ship to numerous countries, including the UK, on November 1.

The iPad Air starts at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model in the U.S., and £399 in the UK. Orders will ship to numerous territories, including Britain, on Nov 1. UK customers can expect to pay between £499 and £739 for a tablet with a mobile data plan.

Apple's iPad 2 now serves as its entry-level slate, with prices starting at £329.

The tablet does not include the TouchID fingerprint scanner found on the iPhone 5S, as many analysts were predicting it would.