There is not much room for doubt about the new tablets from Apple. The company will launch in the near future a new model with a lower price than the Pro variants, which will keep the design and some of the functions of the top tablets. Last week, a manual for a new iPad Air model suggested it was this device, and now we have new sketches suggesting that it will be more of an iPad 8. But Apple will launch a tablet priced at just over $ 300 with so many hardware advantages? Hard to say.
iPad 8 with bigger screen and Face ID could be the new tablet that Apple announces
The sketches published by 91mobiles show an iPad with a 10.8 ”screen, slightly smaller than the one on the Pro models from 2018 and 2020. However, it would use a panel at 60 Hz, compared to the one at 120 on the top variants. Then, the sketches say that it will use the wireless charging system for Apple Pencil 2, will benefit from that magnetic Smart Connector on the back, which will ensure compatibility with accessories and will even use a USB Type-C port, instead of Lightning.
Moreover, compared to the manual in Spanish which suggested that the iPad Air would have a Touch ID fingerprint sensor in the power button, these sketches say that the new tablet could use a Face ID sensor. However, we already know that Face ID is an expensive technology that could not be integrated into a budget tablet without raising it to a higher price level.
But what proves that this tablet is a budget one is the fact that it will only use stereo speakers at the bottom, without two other speakers at the top, as used by the Air and Pro models. Then the camera will be single, not dual and without a LiDAR sensor, just like on the Pro models. But it is curious that Apple would offer this cheap tablet with support for the Magic Keyboard, given that the keyboard itself would cost as much as the tablet on the shelf.
Rumor has it that the iPad 8 or iPad Air could be announced next week, along with an Apple Watch Series 6. It could be equipped with a new 20W socket adapter, slightly more powerful than the 18W on the iPad Pro. There are now rumors about an iPad Mini with an 8.5 ”screen, which could be launched sometime after this model.
