This year marks 10 years of Apple’s iconic iPad. The Apple iPad was introduced back in 2010 as an alternative Apple experience. To most, it is just an enlarged iPhone. The iPad has evolved to plenty more than just a glorified tablet sized iPhone though. It has become an essential productivity, entertainment, and multitasking tool.
The 7th Generation Apple iPad is also made to be more affordable than ever. This year, the 8th Generation Apple iPad is just as affordable and even more powerful than before. The 8th Generation Apple iPad can now be your full-time work and play partner. The new Apple iPad Air is even more powerful, a powerhouse that you can use as an essential production tool.
The New 8th Generation Apple iPad (2020)
The new iPad now comes packing a powerhouse in the form of the Apple A12 Bionic 6-core System on a Chip (SoC). While that is not a new SoC, it is still a powerful enough SoC to work with even the latest games from Apple’s App Store.
The A12 Bionic SoC though comes with a Neural Engine, which also means that the Apple iPad comes with a dedicated Machine Learning core for the first time. That also means a clever and instant smart photo editor on the new Apple iPad. The A12 Bionic is also capable of clever motion tracking and analysis that you can use in various settings.
That is not all power that the new A12 Bionic boasts though. The A12 Bionic is even more efficient that before too. That also means that the Apple iPad can remain as slim and retain its all-day battery life even with its large 10.2-inch Retina display.
iPadOS 14 on The New Apple iPad
With the latest iPadOS on the new Apple iPad, the Apple Pencil is even more powerful and better than before. Hand-written notes can be converted to typed texts in an instant, as long as your handwriting is clear enough to read. This is especially helpful when you are out in the field and have no surfaces to type on.
The All-New Apple iPad Air
The Apple ipad Air for 2020 is the most powerful Apple iPad ever with Apple’s brand new SoC. Before we get there though, the Apple iPad Air is even more colourful too at the same time. The Apple iPad Air now comes in 5 different colours now. For the first time ever too, the Apple ipad Air is charged via a USB Type-C port instead of an Apple proprietary Lightning port.
It is also compatible with Apple’s Pencil. In fact, you can attach the Apple pencil to the side of the iPad Air magnetically. The size is also perfect for Apple’s existing magic keyboard attachment. Narrower bezel allows the iPad Air to have an expansive 10.9-inch Retina display though.
The retina display is a beautiful display though. It is a full laminated display with True Tone colours and DCI P3 certification. That also means that the display is perfect for those working in the creative industry. Even if you need it for photo editing on the go, the display will take care of you.
The Apple iPad Air for 2020 is also the first Apple device to integrate Apple’s Touch ID with its power button. It also boasts 12-Megapixel main camera out the back and a 7-Megapixel front-facing camera. The main camera is capable of 4K resolution video recording too, just in case you need it. For entertainment purposes, you get stereo speakers that is enabled in landscape mode.
The A14 Bionic Processor
The Apple iPad Air packs Apple’s latest A14 Bionic SoC. It is Apple’s latest, most powerful, and most advanced processor to ever come out of Cupertino. But it is not just Apple’s most advanced SoC to date, it is probably the world’s most advanced mobile processor to date.
The A14 Bionic SoC is the first ever production 5nm consumer grade SoC in the world with 11.8 billion transistors. It is supposed to be more powerful than a modern entry-level notebook. It is 40% more powerful than the A13 Bionic that is currently powering the Apple iPhone XS. It packs 30% more graphical performance compared to the A13 bionic too for what Apple claims to be console level gaming experience. That and 4K video editing capability.
The A14 Bionic SoC also packs a dedicated 16-core neural processor. The more powerful neural processor also allows the new iPad Air to process 11 trillion operations within a second. Thanks to that, machine learning on the iPad Air is even more powerful.
Availability and Pricing
The 8th Generation Apple iPad will be available in the usual Space Grey, Silver, and Gold colour options. There are only two storage variants for the Apple iPad though, 32GB and 128GB variants. The Apple iPad will be available soon in the United States this Friday onward for US$ 329 (WiFi only) and US$ 459 (WiFi + Cellular) onward. There are no official word on Malaysia’s availability though there is already Malaysian pricing. The Apple iPad will be available in Malaysia for MYR 1,449 (WiFi only) and MYR 1,999 (WiFi + Cellular) onward.
The Apple iPad Air, as mentioned comes in 5 different colours. You can choose between Space Grey, Silver, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue Colour options. The Apple iPad Air will be available in the United States market next month onward for US$ 599 (WiFi only) onward and US$ 729 (WiFi + Cellular) onward. There is no official word on Malaysia’s availability. The iPad Air will be available starting from MYR 2,599 (WiFi only) and MYR 3,149 (WiFi + Cellular) onward.