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iPad Air 5 Rumored to Feature M1 Chip, 8GB RAM, and 128GB Base Storage
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Seriously, iPadOS is a huge pain in ass to use for actual work rather than consumption of media etc. Just too many gotchas and work arounds required.
Really? Most users don't even bump up against 32gb unless they are app hoarders.
True, yet many current iPad users figured those gotchas out by now.
It all depends on what for/how we use them and what other gear we have. My personal current use is something like: 55% iPhone, 40% iPad and 5% MBP.
The base storage bump and updating from A14 to A15 while sticking to the same price would be plenty to make the Air a compelling purchase for the slightly under 2 year average update schedule.
And aligning the Air to be on the same chip as the Mini and the 13 that has at least 18 more months of being sold, will sustain the production efficiencies Apple loves.
Plus, we all know that the M1 is overkill for the OS. If this rumor turns out true and this actually ships with the M1, that will surely be a decent indicator that iPadOS could be seeing a major update soon.
And aligning the Air to be on the same chip as the Mini and the 13 that has at least 18 more months of being sold, will sustain the production efficiencies Apple loves.
Plus, we all know that the M1 is overkill for the OS. If this rumor turns out true and this actually ships with the M1, that will surely be a decent indicator that iPadOS could be seeing a major update soon.
It could have the M2 Super Max Pro Turbo Championship Edition and the iPad will still be absolutely crippled by iPadOS.
And the 10MP UW camera, Optical 2x zoom on the main camera, and Lidar scanner, and (for some people)Face ID. Thunderbolt/USB 4 connector, Plus they could use the binned M1 that they have available for the current Macbook Air/Mini that only has 7 GPU cores.
This actually makes a lot of sense. Though I wonder, which the 4:3 aspect ratio of the 12.9 iPad Pro, what will a 14.6” model be like? Could be quite unwieldy, but I’d buy one instantly to replace my wife’s 2018 12.9. She uses her exclusively for photo editing.
I would expect Apple to keep the same 4:3 ratio, so the actual dimensions would be a bit different, but I expect something close to 15 inches in marketing-speak.
I see Apple updating iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12 with M2 chip. I'm going for the iPad Air M1 for the price point.
Well I stand corrected. Shockingly, Apple put the M1 in the iPad Air And disappointingly and not shockingly, Apple only offers it in 64GB and 256GB. There has never been more reasons to not buy the iPad Pro 11” at this point. At least with the base model iPad Pro 12.9” you are getting a much larger ProMOTION XDR display, much better speakers, and FaceID. Let’s hope Apple has a significant reimagining of iPadOS in store since all but the base iPad model have 6GB of RAM or more.
Assuming Apple intends to drop the 11" model when the iPad Pro is refreshed to M2, then it makes sense to me to offer a 12GB and 512GB option for the M2 Air when it gets refreshed.
For the moment, Apple does need a reason other than ProMotion and LIDAR for people to buy an 11" iPad Pro over this new Air, and capping the storage at much lower levels is an effective way to do so.
For the moment, Apple does need a reason other than ProMotion and LIDAR for people to buy an 11" iPad Pro over this new Air, and capping the storage at much lower levels is an effective way to do so.
I was so wrong. Can't believe they actually put M1 inside the new Air.
Well, what can I say, the iPad Air value has just skyrocketed. With such hardware, it's gonna have killer performance for years.
Well, what can I say, the iPad Air value has just skyrocketed. With such hardware, it's gonna have killer performance for years.