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Apple introduces two new tablets: the eighth-generation iPad with the A12 Bionic chip, and the iPad Air 2020 with the ultra-sophisticated A14
The wait for new Apple iPads is over: during the Time Flies online event, the Cupertino company, in addition to the new Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple Watch SE, presented the eighth generation iPad and the new iPad Air 2020. The first is the new iPad entry- level and finally gets the A12 SoC, while the second one officially debuts with the A14 SoC that promises to do wonders.
Both models have significantly better performance than their predecessors, and Apple touted them widely during the event. In fact, it can be said that the entire presentation of the new Apple tablets focused on the increase in performance of the new iPads. There is no revolution in the design, there is only a refinement, and the real novelty lies in the adopted processors and in the new iPadOS 14 operating system, which is included as standard with both devices and allows you to take full advantage of them. The eighth generation iPad is now practically available, physically from Friday 18, while the new iPad Air will have to wait until next month. Meanwhile, here are the features and prices of the new Apple tablets.
iPad 8th generation: features and price
There is a big leap in performance for the eighth-generation iPad: it now features the A12 Bionic SoC with Neural Engine, which appears for the first time in the entry-level iPad. The tablet has a 10.2-inch Retina Multi-Touch display and new cameras, all kept alive by a powerful battery.
Compared to the previous generation, the new iPad, thanks to the A12 processor, has a 40% higher CPU performance and even twice the GPU performance. The Neural Engine, on the other hand, brings augmented reality, motion tracking, better photo editing and Siri performance to the iPad 10.2.
The new iPad unlocks with Touch ID, is compatible with existing accessories such as the Apple Pencil and Smart Keybord, and comes with the new iPadOS 14. Thanks to the “Smart Selection” feature, the new iPad uses artificial intelligence to distinguish between when we draw and when we write by hand. Just like we write or draw by hand, phone numbers, shapes, addresses, links are recognized automatically. The new eighth-generation iPad will be available Friday, starting at $ 329 for the Wi-Fi version and $ 450 for the Wi-Fi and cellular versions. Available colors are Silver, Gold and Space Gray, and available storage is either 32GB or 128GB.
iPad Air 2020: Features and Price
The new iPad Air is the first Apple device with 5nm A14 Bionic SoC to hit the market. It is the A14, with 11.8 billion transistors used in 6 CPU cores and 4 GPU cores, that makes the difference to anything before: Apple promises 40% higher CPU performance compared to the previous generation and 30% higher GPU performance .
The A14 Bionic features a new 16-core neural motor that is twice as fast as its predecessor (it can perform up to 11 trillion operations per second). It will be used by applications that use machine learning, for which the new Neural Engine also has specific new sections in it that, Apple says, offer ten times the performance.
On paper, the new iPad Air with the A14 is so powerful that Apple says it can humiliate the best Windows 10 laptops, all Android tablets, and Chromebooks.
SoC aside, the iPad Air 2020 is a tablet with a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with 3.8 million pixels, advanced color management and an anti-glare coating. It also has thinner bezels by moving the Touch ID sensor to the top.
Regarding the photographic compartment, on the other hand, the iPad Air has a 7MP front camera and a 12MP rear camera (same as the iPad Pro) that allows you to record video in 4K resolution. A new feature is also a USB-C port with a maximum speed of 5 Gb / s, which will be very useful when connecting cameras, external hard drives or monitors up to 4K.
iPad Air arrives next month, preinstalled with iPadOS 14, and will launch for $ 599 for Wi-Fi and $ 729 for Wi-Fi and mobile. It will be available with 64 or 256 GB of storage, in the colors Gray, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green and Sky Blue.
