On Oct. 16, Apple made its second-biggest announcement of the year by releasing the brand new iPad Air 2, the iPad Mini 3 and a new iMac that has a retina display, the Verge reported.

The computer giant company also announced its newest software with OS X Yosemite, which is available immediately. According to the source, iOS 8.1 will also be released, but not until Oct. 20. However, the new operating system will allow customers to use the recently announced Apple Pay on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Battling back into the tablet market
Concern over iPad sales were on the horizon because Apple had been struggling to reach previous sales levels. According to The Wall Street Journal, iPad sales were down 9 percent in the second quarter of 2014, which was a drastic difference from the nearly 15 percent at the beginning of 2014 and more than 60 percent in the third quarter of 2012.

However, with the number of competitors on the rise, Apple released the iPad Air 2, which is 18 percent thinner than the original iPad Air. Additionally, the iPad Air 2 will come with a faster processor and graphics engine and will include the fingerprint-scanning functions like the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the Journal reported. The iPad Mini 3 will also include the new finger-scanning technology as well.

Tim Bajarin, a tech analyst and president of Creative Strategies, explained that Apple had to do something different to attract new customers and previous buyers as well, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"The tablet market is distinctively different when it comes to refresh rates," said Bajarin, according to the source. "A lot of people kept their original tablets longer than the two years we expected, so Apple could actually get a big refresh from people who have tablets that are two, three years old who want to upgrade now."

Apple competing with Apple?
The newly released iPhone 6 Plus could actually have some inadvertent competition with the iPad Air 2 and especially the iPad Mini 3. The new iPad Mini has a 7.9-inch screen, while the iPhone 6 Plus boosts a 5.5-inch screen and has cellular phone functions.

Some experts are wondering how sales will be affected with both nearly identical devices on the market. However, others like Bajarin believe it won't harm sales significantly.

"In some cases, the iPhone 6 Plus can serve as a mini-tablet, but those are personal preferences, and it's too early for us to make that judgment call," Bajarin told The Times. "Apple's only had the iPhone 6 Plus for a month now, and personally, it has not replaced my Mini. I still like reading books and doing my Web surfing on a larger screen."

More features for the iPad Air 2
The newest iPad Air tablet will include an anti-reflective coating much like the iPhone 6, which Apple claims is 56 percent less reflective, NBC News reported. Also, the iPad Air 2 is only 6.1 millimeters in width. The device can take pictures in burst mode and it allows slow-motion HD video.

Both the iPad Mini 3 and iPad Air 2 will be available Oct. 17 and will cost $399 and $499 respectively the source reported. The iPad Air 2 will come with a 16-gigabyte hard drive on the standard model, and customers will have the option to choose between three different colors: silver, space gray and gold.

With the newest iPads being released, users should consider personal insurance to protect expensive new electronics from damage or theft.