Apple debuted 3 new iPhones over the past 24 hours, plus a new Apple Watch, but there was also some action in the tablet field. It’s no iPad Pro, but rather an affordable iPad, 7th gen, priced at $329. You can call it iPad (2019) or iPad 10.2, but the core idea is this: it increases the 9.7 inch diagonal to 10.2 inches.
The new iPad has the same Apple A10 Fusion CPU as the predecessor and also supports the original Apple Pencil, but not the newer Pencil 2. There’s also support for a full sized Smart Keyboard, which is nice to see. The 7th gen iPad comes to stores on September 30th and it should be cheaper for schools, colleges and other such institutions, at $299.
iPad 10.2 has a 2160 x 1620 pixel resolution and it supports up to 500 nits of brightness. It’s a slight bump in pixels from the 2048 x 1536 pixel predecessor. The footprint increases, too, at 1.1 pounds and 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.3 inches. We still have a Home button with a Touch ID sensor, plus an 8 MP rear camera and a front 1.2 MP front shooter.
There are stereo speakers here, plus a Lightning port at the bottom and an audio jack. The iPad comes with support for WiFi ac and Bluetooth 4.2. There’s also a 4G LTE version priced at $459. It’s also the first device to run iPadOS out of the box, so that may be a draw for Apple maniacs. Other specs include 32 GB or 128 GB of storage, a 32.4 Wh battery and it’s available in Silver, Space Gray and Gold.
A welcome bonus is the Apple TV+ bundled for a year for free. There’s also support for the new gaming service Apple Arcade.
