Apple is back at it again, this time at the company’s ‘Let Loose’ event currently streaming over on YouTube ‘live’ from Apple Park. Today, if the teases leading up to the event weren’t obvious enough, is all about the iPad. In fact, Tim Cook called it “the biggest day for the iPad since its introduction.” Big words, and some big shoes to fill.
Filling your head with iPad Air
First up on the announcement list is the iPad Air, now being sold in two sizes for the very first time. There’s the original 11in model, reimagined to stand up to 2024’s standards, and now there’s a 13in model in the mix, which offers 30% more display real estate than before. It’s all still LED, unfortunately. But an OLED iPad isn’t completely out of the question…
While an extra two inches is certainly something that would excite most people, we’re more excited about the M2 chips that Apple are stuffing in both devices. Compared to the M1, Apple reckons it’s roughly 50% faster overall, and at least three times faster than those models still sporting the A14 Bionic chip. Sure, Apple. We’ll see about that.
Apple is also touting faster Wi-Fi connectivity with Wi-Fi 6E, and there’s even a model repping 5G support, if you need it.
The front-facing camera has also been moved for… some reason. Where it once lay on the iPad Air’s top, it now sits right in the middle (on the long side) to better fit in when you’re using the iPad in landscape mode. It’s a trivial change, but Apple’s got to find something to do, right? There’s also a camera ’round the back side as usual, rocking a 12MP sensor, mimicking the one found on the Air’s front.
You’ll be able to pick from four colours — Blue, Purple, Starlight and Space Grey. You can get up to 1TB of storage — a massive upgrade to the 2022 model’s 128GB. If you’re in the US, you’ll be able to pick up the 11in iPad Air for $600 (roughly R11,000) or the 13in model, which will sell for $800 (roughly R14,750) when they go on sale next week. There’s no word yet on local pricing and availability, unfortunately.