Apple on Tuesday refreshed its tablet line-up by bringing its long-awaited upgrade of the iPad and iPad Air. The 8th generation iPad gets performance improvement as part of this upgrade, besides other seasonal improvements. The iPad Air, on the other hand, gets several new upgrades, including the industry-first 5nm process-based A14 Bionic chip that powers it.
The eighth-generation iPad is powered by the A12 Bionic chip, which is touted be up to twice as fast as the top-selling Windows laptop, up to three times faster than the top-selling Android tablet and up to six times faster than the top-selling Chromebook. The iPad supports Apple Pencil (1st generation). It has gigabit-class LTE connectivity and is touted to pack an all-day battery back-up.
The iPad (8th generation) will soon be available at Apple Authorised Resellers in India at a starting price of Rs 29,900 for the Wi-Fi model and Rs 41,900 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. It comes in silver, space grey, and gold finishes in 32GB and 128GB onboard storage configurations.
Apple iPad 8th Generation
The iPad Air features an all-screen design with a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display. It also gets camera and audio upgrades, and a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button. The iPad Air screen features full lamination, P3 wide colour support, True Tone, and an anti-reflective coating. To allow the display to extend on all sides, the Touch ID sensor is moved to the top button. The iPad Air is compatible with Magic Keyboard and its floating design, Smart Keyboard Folio, Smart Folio covers, and the Apple Pencil which attaches magnetically to the side for easy pairing, charging, and storing.
Apple A14 Bionic
The iPad Air is a holistic upgrade. For imaging, it gets 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a 12MP rear camera. The rear camera is the same as the one used in the iPad Pro. It supports 4K video capture. The iPad Air has stereo speakers for wider stereo sound effect in landscape orientation. The iPad Air features a USB-C port for connecting to cameras, hard drives, and external monitors (up to 4K).
Apple iPad Air
The iPad Air will be available in October at Apple Authorised Resellers. Its Wi-Fi models will be available at a starting price of Rs 54,900 and Wi-Fi + Cellular models will start at Rs 66,900. The iPad Air will be available in 64GB and 256GB onboard storage configurations. It will come in silver, space grey, rose gold, green, and sky blue colours. Both iPads ship with the iPadOS 14.
