Apple Revives iPad Air and iPad mini

On Monday Apple released updates to the consumer iPad lineup. The entry-level 9.7-inch iPad sadly did not receive an update, being left with an ageing A10 Fusion chip. iPad is still a great device at £319, but a new SoC and the addition of niceties such as True Tone would’ve made a welcome 7th-generation update.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is gone - in its place, the iPad Air is back, with an A12 chip and a downgraded camera - 8MP, no more bump or LED TrueTone flash. This new iPad Air still supports the original Apple Pencil, now with the addition of Logitech Crayon support. Starting at £479, this new iPad Air is very powerful and still super portable - it’s a much nicer device than the normal iPad for those who are willing to pay, but don’t need to fork out for an iPad Pro.

As expected, the 5th-generation iPad mini finally made its debut on Monday, a major upgrade for iPad mini fans who love a compact, ultra-portable design packed with the latest technology. Last updated in September 2015, Apple had kept the iPad mini 4 on sale with a very old A8 chip for far too long. Starting at the same price of £399, the new iPad mini features an A12 Bionic chip, delivering three times the performance and nine times faster graphics over iPad mini 4. The display now gets True Tone technology and wide colour support, and is 25 percent brighter than before. A fun fact is this iPad mini, has the highest pixel density of any iPad at 326ppi.

Like iPad Air, the new iPad mini has 1st-generation Apple Pencil and crayon support, making the new iPad mini perfect as a take-anywhere notepad for sketching and jotting down thoughts on the go. I’m surprised Apple didn’t put more of an education spin on iPad mini like it did last March with the 6th-generation iPad launch. iPad mini paired with the Logitech Crayon is going to be incredible in classrooms.

Overall, a great day for iPad, and the lineup is much tidier than before. Whilst it would've been even better had the 9.7-inch been updated (why is the iPad mini much more powerful than iPad?), we can’t have perfection. Another approach that Apple could’ve taken would be to have branded the mini as a 7.9-inch Air, seeing as these new iPads are effectively the same device in 2 different sizes, but someone probably decided that would be even more confusing for the customer. Regardless, I’m happy, and now is a great time to buy any of the models in the iPad lineup.

:))

On the 2018 iPad Pro

“All new. All screen. All powerful.”

Yesterday Apple introduced the new iPad Pro by literally throwing the Home button away. It features an edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display, with rounded corners, Face ID, and comes in 11” and 12.9” varieties. The new 11” size actually shares the same physical footprint as the outgoing 10.5” model, whereas the updated 12.9” version takes up 25% less volume, making it the size of an A4 sheet of paper. It’s also 15% thinner than before, measuring a mind-blowing 5.9mm thick. This thing is crazy thin. Hopefully, battery life won’t suffer as a result of this (Apple still quotes 10 hours), but the headphone jack certainly did - it’s been removed for the first time on an iPad - presumably to make way for this thinner enclosure. The new design is very blocky - reminiscent of the iPhone 5/5s/SE - in fact, it is so square the iPad Pro can stand up on its bottom edge by itself. If you ever wanted to do that.

The elimination of the Home Button means the addition of Face ID, and up until now Face ID on iPhone has only worked when in portrait orientation, so there was quite some debate as to how Apple would implement the system on iPad. Would it be 2 sensors supporting 2 orientations? Or rather 4 supporting 4 orientations? Well, it turns out Apple has managed to keep just 1 TrueDepth camera system - in the top bezel - and it supports all 4 orientations. This really is the ideal scenario and no one was really excepting it.

Under the hood, or should I say glass, is an A12X Bionic chip, paired with 6GB of RAM (but only in the 1TB model, all the others have 4GB RAM, for some reason). Just like the A12 in iPhone XS and XR, it’s a 7-manometer chip, with 10 billion transistors, but with an additional 2 cores, bringing it up to an 8-core CPU, and a 7-core GPU. Apple reckons you’ll get 90% faster CPU performance over the old iPad Pro with its A10X chip. To put these gains into perspective, the GPU in this is 1000x faster than the GPU in the original 2010 iPad. The net result is Xbox One S-level graphics, with up to 120FPS in some games. This new chip also brings the Neural Engine to the iPad for the first time, mostly for Face ID, but it also improves AR performance and opens up new machine learning possibilities. The A12 in iPhone XS allowed up to 512GB of storage in iPhone, and the A12X allows up to 1TB of storage in iPad - you can now configure the iPad Pro with 64GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage.

Another big change is the removal of the Lightning connector, replaced with USB-C. This really does open the iPad Pro up to a whole new world of computing. You can connect it to 5K displays, connect it to data accessories, and even charge out - so you can top up your iPhone from your iPad. In the box is a new 18W USB-C power adapter, up from the old 12W adapter, and it can be used to fast charge iPhone 8 and newer, as long as you combine it with a USB-C to Lightning cable. Currently, you can’t buy this power brick separately, but that may be down to temporary supply chain issues. As I previously mentioned, there’s no headphone jack, so Apple is selling a USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor for $9/£9 - but don’t expect to find it in the box. The speakers have been improved, now featuring woofer and tweeter pairs in all four corners. On an iPad Pro, I find the quality and volume of the built-in speakers massively important, so any gains in this department are most welcome.

The cameras have also had a spec bump, with the addition of Smart HDR and 4K 60FPS video recording. The inclusion of the TrueDepth camera on the front means Portrait mode, Animoji and Memoji arrive on iPad for the first time. There’s no Portrait mode on the back camera, for some reason, which is strange seeing as iPhone XR can do it with pretty much the same hardware. I’ve been told that this camera actually loses optical image stabilisation and has one less lens than the old model, but Apple doesn’t want you to know that. Regardless, this spec bump has resulted in quite a physical bump, with the camera sticking far out of the back of the enclosure. Whilst it already did, this is a new level of camera bump for the iPad. The camera bump doesn’t bother me on the iPhone, but on a device that’s meant to be lying flat on a table so you can draw on it with Apple Pencil? This is going to be a bit of an issue if you don’t put it in a case.

Speaking of cases and pencils, there are 102 magnets placed around the enclosure, for use with the new Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and the new Smart Folio and Smart Keyboard Folio accessories. The new Apple Pencil retails for $119/£119 and features a new, simpler design. It has a matte finish which results in a more tactile feel, and the case is more angular now, so it shouldn’t roll off your desk. Charging is now inductive, powered by the side of your iPad Pro, where the Pencil also magnetically attaches for pairing and storage. The sides of the Pencil are now touch sensitive and support customisable double-tap gestures. Examples shown off included quick switching of the brush type in the Notes app or zooming in and out on Photoshop. Another neat addition is the Pencil can now be ordered with an engraving, exclusively from Apple’s online store. The old Pencil was cool but had major shortcomings, and this Pencil fixes all of them. It only works with the 2018 iPad Pros and the old Pencil will not work on these models. The Smart Cover has been replaced with a Smart Folio which wraps around the full enclosure, and the Smart Keyboard has been succeeded by the Smart Keyboard Folio, which again, wraps around the full enclosure and utilises the repositioned Smart Connector on the back of the device. It also now has an adjustable viewing angle, which Apple is marketing as one for your lap, one for your desk. The keyboard is another nice improvement, but just like previous versions, it’s still pricey, especially seeing as you almost need it to get the full ‘iPad Pro experience’. The 11” version comes in at $179/£179, with the 12.9” version costing an additional $20/£20 at $199/£199.

This new iPad Pro hardware is yet again pushing the boundaries of what an iPad is capable of and expands the use cases where it can be used to replace a traditional PC or Mac. I’d argue the biggest example of this is the addition of USB-C, bringing it more in line with the Mac in terms of connectivity. iPad hardware and software are on somewhat of a tick-tock release cycle, so expect iOS 13 in 2019 to include massive new features for these iPads. Will I be getting one? For sure. Which one? Probably the 12.9”. When? Hopefully before December if availability is good, although I’m in no rush. Of course, you can expect videos on both new models to be on iCollectApple in the coming weeks.

Both the 11” and 12.9” iPad Pro go on sale November 7th, starting at $799/£799 and $999/£999, respectively.

:))

Apple to announce iPhone Xs in less than 48 hours

Just like last year, 12th September will see Apple announce the 2018 iPhones, along with other major product updates in the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino. I am in Cupertino this week, and I will be sure to run down to Apple Park after the keynote and see if I can spot anyone interesting.

We know Apple has lots of major product updates in the pipeline, but it's still up in the air as to what gets unveiled at this event. Tim Cook seems to have mostly succeeded in his pledge to 'double down on secrecy', seeing as we have seen relatively little in the way of leaks, and rumours are still very much conflicted on a daily basis. A few leaks and tidbits have broken through, however, so let's go through what we can expect to see on Wednesday.

iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max

The main product to be announced this year will of course be the iPhone Xs, following on from the massive success of last year’s iPhone X. We know a few things about this product. Firstly, it’s coming in 2 display sizes; 5.8-inch and 6.5-inch. 9to5 Mac shared leaked marketing images of these devices a week or so ago, confirming that the device will be available for the first time in a gold finish. 9to5 Mac also seemingly confirmed the device names as iPhone Xs and iPhone Xs Max, but without citing sources. Other rumoured names have included (the new) iPhone X (2018/2nd-gen). iPhone Xs makes sense, given consumers are familiar with the iPhone’s history of ’S’ revisions, however this runs the risk of deterring potential buyers, as in the past, the ’S’ phones have always been considered lesser to the main numeric release, a factor that supposedly attributed to the iPhone 6s being one of the least successful Apple flagship launches to date.  The ‘Max’ branding is replacing the ‘Plus’ moniker used since 2014. ‘Max’ sounds fresh and really pushes the point that this is the largest iPhone ever. Features-wise, we know very little about these devices beyond the screen sizes and new colour. The A12 [insert name here] CPU is a given, along with improved cameras and potentially a second-generation Face ID module.  Apple Pencil support for Xs Max was supposedly in the works before Apple abandoned plans for the feature. Both models are expected to be available in Space Grey, Silver and Gold with storage options of 64GB, 256GB and 512GB. Rumoured starting prices are $899 and $1049 for iPhone Xs and Xs Max respectively.

iPhone 9

I’m calling it the iPhone 9, because up until a few days ago, this was the name consistently given to this ‘budget’ iPhone. Now it is looking more likely that this phone will be called iPhone Xc or even iPhone Xr. This iPhone will come equipped with a 6.1-inch edge-to-edge LCD display with thicker bezels than the iPhone X and Xs. This is to stop light leakage around the edges of the display from the LCD panel, a problem not present in the OLED iPhone X and Xs. There will be no home button, there will be Face ID, and of course, a notch. The glass back of the device will look similar to that of iPhone 8 to allow for wireless charging, and the edges of the phone will be anodised aluminium, again, just like iPhone 8.  To further reduce costs, the device will feature a single-lens iSight camera, likely an improved version of the current camera found on the 4.7-inch iPhone 8. This means no optical zoom or Portrait Mode for this iPhone. In China at least, it is expected to have dual-SIM support. This rumour is mighty hazy and no-one seems to be sure what’s going on with this one. Code found in iOS 12 does suggest a secondary iPhone SIM tray, or could this be reference to an embedded Apple SIM? Just as iPhone 5c came in many colours in 2013, this ‘iPhone Xc’ is rumoured to do the same.  All devices will have a black front, with rumoured enclosure colours including: black, white, blue, taupe, yellow and orange. A red dummy unit has also leaked but Apple would most likely hold off to release a Product RED version in the Spring as it has done since 2017. This device is expected to feature an A12 [insert name here] CPU, just like its more premium cousins. We can expect the iPhone 9 to launch slightly later than iPhone Xs due to manufacturing issues regarding the LCD display and light leakage. I’d expect it to be similar in timeframe to the iPhone X last year, launching in November following the iPhone 8, which was released in September.

Apple Watch Series 4

Apple Watch Series 4 is where things get really interesting. A few months ago it was reported that this year’s Watch would be getting larger screens whilst retaining the same physical device size. This rumour had very little supporting evidence, but it was one that did not go away. Along with iPhone Xs, 9to5 Mac uncovered a promo image of the Series 4 in what appears to be a new gold stainless steel finish.  The display on this thing is huge, leaving the device’s physical size up to debate. It certainly looks considerably larger, maybe thinner, but hopefully the same size band channels. The new watch face shown in the image certainly takes advantage of the extra screen space, showing 9 complications at once. We can also see from the image a new opening on the enclosure, below the Digital Crown. It sure does look like an additional or repositioned microphone, but it could be a new sensor of some kind. The Watch is rumoured once again to be gaining additional health sensors this year. The Crown itself no longer has a massive red dot (which I always really like) on it, rather a more subtle red ring around the edge, denoting a cellular-enabled model. Apple only registered 6 Apple Watch model numbers this year, as opposed to the usual 8, indicating all Series 4 models will be GPS + Cellular models as standard. I suspect the GPS-only Series 3 will drop down in price and replace the Series 1. Presumably, the Series 4 will be powered by the S4 chip and pricing should be similar to the current lineup.

AirPower

We still haven’t seen the release of AirPower, but it’s still 2018 and Apple could still fulfil their vague promise of a release date. I strongly suspect we will see keynote-time dedicated for a rehash of AirPower, with pricing and availability outlined. Rumoured pricing for the charging mat is between $149 and $199, with availability hopefully alongside the new iPhone models.

AirPods 2

New AirPods were rumoured for last year, and they’re also rumoured for 2019, but some believe we will see an update pair of Apple earbuds at this event. We’ve already seen the separate wireless charging case for use with AirPower, but chances are this will come with all second-generation AirPods. “Hey Siri” support is consistently rumoured for these new AirPods, along with improved sweat/water resistance and even noise cancellation. There are many reports of some of these features being on ‘AirPods 2’, whilst some will be reserved for ‘AirPods Pro’, to be released alongside or slightly after the former. 

Possible, but unlikely.

The iPad Pro is definitely getting a major update any day now, presumably this Fall. Whilst an iPhone keynote would be a great spotlight to launch radically new iPad Pros with Face ID, there might not be enough time to do so, even when it is a ‘minor’ iPhone year. There is also an all new, low cost 13-inch Mac laptop launching imminently, again, probably this Fall. This will also require major screen time at a keynote. There is also a major redesign of the Mac mini ready to debut. Both of these Macs are to usher in a new era for the Mac, to be continued with the new Mac Pro in 2019. I’d expect an October event for all of these along with macOS Mojave availability and refreshes to the iMac and 12-inch MacBook lines. 

Anything that does get announced in this keynote (with the exception of iPhone 9) will most likely begin preorders on Friday 14th September and go on sale the following Friday, 21st September.

The rumours of 3 iPhone X-like devices have been present going all the way back to January and we still know very little about what exactly will be shown off at this keynote. All will be revealed on Wednesday, and I shall be looking to purchase most of the devices announced. Anything I do purchase shall be unboxed on iCollectApple.

:))

Apple announces the best value iPad to date

Apple held its education-centric “Let’s take a field trip” event at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago today. As expected we saw some new hardware announcements, education-focused software, and new educational pricing and incentives. Below is a full rundown of everything unveiled today.

Hardware

The following new hardware products targeted towards students were announced.

The New iPad (again)

Welcome back to 2012 - ‘The New iPad’ is on sale again! Technically speaking, this is the 6th Generation iPad, however, just like last year, its official name is simply ‘iPad’. The Apple Website is touting it as ‘The New iPad’, which makes absolute sense as that’s precisely what it is, and it’s a nice callback to when the first Retina iPad was introduced (the 3rd gen) back in 2012, as this was how that device was marketed. 

The new iPad is a modest yet incredible welcome over the 2017 model, it retains the same form factor including the same non-laminated 9.7” Retina display. No P3 wide colour, True Tone or ProMotion here. It features a processor bump up to the same A10 Fusion chip found in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. This results in 40% faster CPU and 50% faster graphics performance when compared to the previous generation 9.7-inch iPad. LTE speeds have been increased up to 300 Mbps on this device, and if you opt for the Wi-Fi + cellular model, the Apple SIM still comes pre-installed. Unlike the iPad Pro models, however, it is not embedded in the device, so you will have to choose between Apple SIM or your own carrier’s SIM. The new iPad also ditches the old yellow-gold colour option for the new closer-to-rose-gold colour first introduced on the iPhone 8 back in September. 

However, the big news here - as expected - is support for the Apple Pencil (which has received a price drop to £89 in the UK), something that was previously limited to iPad Pro models. This is going to be brilliant for education and really a no-brainer for Apple, especially seeing as the 2018 iPad Pro model will supposedly be so different from their cheaper sibling, the Pencil doesn’t need to remain a Pro selling point. 

Finally, Logitech unveiled the ‘Crayon’ - a digital stylus, similar to Apple Pencil, but almost half the price at $49. It uses the same technology as the Apple Pencil technology to deliver the same sub-pixel precision, low latency, and tilt support. It does not feature the pressure sensors found in Apple Pencil, however. It has been designed specifically alongside the 6th-generation iPad, and will not work with last year’s model. It also remains unclear whether or not it will work with any iPad Pro models. 

I think the crayon is going to be amazing for younger students.

iPad keeps the same price as its predecessor in the US, starting at $329 or $299 for schools. In the UK iPad now starts at £319 - £20 cheaper than the 2017 model. 

Update 28/3/18: It’s no suprise, but it’s been confirmed that the new iPad does not have these additional hardware features found on iPad Pro:

 - Smart Connector

- Optical Image Stabilisation

- 4K video recording

- Second-gen Touch ID

Software

Surprisingly, there was no information shared regarding the iOS 11.3 release date as had been expected, however, there were plenty of software announcements to go around.

iWork Updates

Apple’s iWork apps for iOS got updated today to include Apple Pencil support. This will allow Pages, Numbers and Keynote users to add drawings directly to documents and take advantage of all-new smart annotation features. For example, when using smart annotation, the note anchors to the word or image around it. So as edits are made to the document, such as moving or resizing an image or text box, the pencil annotations move with the content. Teachers will also be able to use Markup directly within iWork to add to students' documents and projects using an iPad and Apple Pencil. 

Schoolwork and Classroom

Apple’s existing Classroom iPad app will be coming to the Mac starting as a beta in June. Classroom allows teachers to interact with the iPads in their classroom as well as monitor what they are doing on them.

Also announced was a new app called Schoolwork, which lets teachers assign schoolwork and tasks and track the progress of their students. The ClassKit API coming in iOS 11.4 will allow 3rd-party apps to integrate with Schoolwork. Schoolwork will be available to teachers starting in June.

Educational incentives

Other than reduced hardware pricing for schools and students, and the new apps mentioned above, there were other new Apple incentives announced for those in education today. 

Everyone Can Create

Everyone Can Create is a free new curriculum that will be part of the ‘Today At Apple’ sessions.

“Everyone Can Create makes it fun and easy for teachers to integrate drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into their existing lesson plans for any subject. The new curriculum joins Apple’s successful Everyone Can Code initiative as one-of-a-kind programs for teachers that keep students excited and engaged.”

The curriculum includes learning resources and teaching guides to help teachers integrate drawing, music, filmmaking or photography into lessons, topics, and classwork. It also features teacher and student guides, lessons, ideas and examples to help teachers bring creativity and new communication skills into existing subjects like English, maths, science and history. 

Free iCloud Storage

Students now get 200GB of free iCloud storage. This is great, but it’s still 5GB for everyone else, which is a shame in 2018. 

Other things that happened today.

New Watch straps and iPhone/iPad cases went on sale in a variety of Spring 2018 colours. These will likely be around until the September Keynote. 

The Space Grey Mac desktop peripherals introduced with iMac Pro are now available to purchase separately from Apple, albeit at a slight premium compared to their standard Silver counterparts. 

:))