Apple Unveils New iPad Air Starting at $599 (with A14 Bionic Chipset)
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Apple announced many new highlights at the special “Time Flies” event including new tablets. The tech giant also unveiled a new Apple Watch Series 6 and Apple One service.
The new iPad Air has got a refreshing design similar to iPad Pro. It has got much thinner bezels all around the display. Sporting a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with 2360x1640 resolution, the new iPad Air gets TouchID biometrics built into the power button.
Powered by the new A14 Bionic chipset, the new iPad Air has a 6-core CPU design with two high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. With this, the Apple iPad Air user gets a 40% improvement in terms of performance. Moreover, the graphics are 30% faster compared to the previous iPad Air.
A14 Bionic chipset with 5nm:
The industry analysts feel that the new A14 Bionic chipset with iPadOS 14 could also feature in the upcoming Apple iPhone 12. Surprisingly, the A14 Bionic chipset is built on a 5nm SoC process and is probably the first company to achieve this milestone. Android still uses 7nm process.
On the optics front, you get a 12mp rear camera with f/1.8 aperture supporting 4K video recording and 240 fps slow-mo. For selfie lovers, a 7mp shooter with f/2.0 aperture that even shoots 1080p videos at 60fps.
Apple has got USB Type-C support with 20W charger in the retail box. The LTE connectivity and Wi-Fi 6 support an incredible 5Gbps data transfer. Above all, it also supports Apple $299 Magic Keyboard accessory (₹27,900).
There’s no update regarding the battery, so one can expect the same 10-hour battery life with the new offering.
Though the company has made all efforts to bring most of the iPad Pro premium to an affordable price point, the new iPad Air still lacks a 120Hz high refresh rate display.
The new iPad Air will be available in 5 colours including Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green and Sky-Blue. The tech giant also revealed the prices. They start at $599 (Wi-Fi only ₹54900), $729 (Wi-Fi + Cellular with 64GB storage ₹66900), $879 (Wi-Fi + Cellular with 256GB).
iPad (8th Generation):
The Apple iPad 8th generation is now powered by A12 Bionic chipset. Most of the specs are in similar lines as its predecessor. Price-wise, it starts at $329 (32GB Wi-Fi only), $459 (32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular). If you are looking for a higher 128GB inbuilt space, then it costs $429/$559.
Starting this Friday, the iPad 8th generation is available for pre-booking.
Apple Watch:
As stated earlier, the Apple Watch series got wider acceptance at “Time Flies” event. The Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS) is priced at ₹40,999 and the Apple Watch Series 6 (GPS+Cellular) costs ₹49,900.
The other model Watch SE (GPS) costs ₹29900 and the premium variant Watch SE (GPS+Cellular) at ₹33900.
Apple One Subscription Bundle:
In an effort to bundle all the software offerings under one package (similar to Amazon Prime), the hardware giant took a good initiation. It brought Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, Apple News Plus, and iCloud – all under Apple One Subscription Bundle.
Under the new Apple One Subscription, there are 3 packages namely Individual, Family, and Premier that costs $14.95, $19.95, and $29.95 respectively. There’s a 30-day free trial. One can change or cancel the subscription any time.
Comparatively, this Apple One subscription service is cheaper in India. It costs ₹195 and ₹365 respectively in India. There’s no Apple Premier plan in India. Currently, it is limited to the US, the UK, Australia and Canada.
Summarizing, the Apple One subscription is definitely a welcome move. Hope Apple starts its News+ service so that it could launch the Premier plan too in the Indian market.
Apple One Individual Family (up to 6 members) Premier (up to 6 members) Apple Music Yes Yes Yes Apple TV+ Yes Yes Yes Apple Arcade Yes Yes Yes Apple News+ Yes Apple Fitness+ Yes iCloud Storage 50GB 200GB 2TB Price in India Rs 195 Rs 365 Not Available Price in US $ 14.95 $ 19.95 $ 29.95 
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Also Read: Indian Govt Unwilling to Give Special Tax Incentives to Apple
