Yesterday, Apple officially announced the new 9.7-inch iPad, the Early-2018 iPad if you will. Today, Apple released iOS 11.3, but not to the public. The company has technically launched the new software update, which includes quite a bit of forward-facing new features for users, for the new 9.7-inch iPad, and only for the new tablet. The new iPad went up for sale yesterday, immediately following its unveiling, but it won’t deliver to those who picked it up until at the earliest Friday, March 30.
iOS 11.3 brings the ability for iPhone users to view battery health, as well as assess their performance capacity. Users are given a switch in Settings to optionally disable Apple’s performance management features (CPU throttling) at the risk of unexpected shutdowns.
iOS 11.3 also packs in the long-expected Messages in iCloud feature that saves on-device storage space and makes backups faster, four new Animoji characters, expanded health record integration, ARKit 1.5 which can detect walls and 2D images, software-based authentication for HomeKit so that older accessories can gain HomeKit compatibility via software updates, new sorting options for App Store, Business Chat via iMessage and more.
If you did order the new 9.7-inch iPad and want to update as soon as you take it out of the box, just open the Settings app, then head into General –> Software Update to download and install the new software.