Top New 9.7-inch iPad Features You Should Know now

Apple recently unveiled the 2018 version of its low-cost iPad. Yes, Apple is simply calling it the iPad (6th generation). From the outside, the new iPad looks the same, but the internals get an overhaul. The killer feature? Apple Pencil support. Here’s everything you need to know about the new iPad.

The Same

First, let’s talk about the things that haven’t changed. The external casing, the colors, the screen size (9.7-inch), the resolution (1536 by 2048), battery life (10 hours), are all the same.

1. Apple Pencil Support

Now for some good news. The new 2018 iPad comes with support for Apple Pencil. If you’ve wanted a tablet you can doodle on, or start using for creative purposes, you don’t need to shell out $599 on the 10.5 inch iPad anymore. You can get the same functionality for just $329.

Apple Pencil is amazingly accurate, natural to use and comes with pressure sensitivity. Apple is even updating its iWork suite so it works better with Apple Pencil. With the new update, you can directly annotate and highlight text in the iWork suite using Apple Pencil. Apple Notes also has great support for Apple Pencil built-in.

Apple Pencil costs $99 ($89 for students). But if you don’t want to spend the dough, you can buy Logitech Crayon for $49. It has the same features but has a different casing and standard lightning input for charging.

2. A10 Chip

The 2018 iPad features the A10 chip. This is an upgrade over the A9 chip. It scored 3254 for single-core and 5857 for multi-core in Geekbench. This puts it in the line of last year’s iPhone 7. This comes with the M10 motion co-processor. Thanks to which the iPad can run AR games more smoothly.

3. 2 GB RAM

The 2018 iPad still has the same 2 GB of RAM.

4. The Cameras

In fact, even the cameras and the Touch ID sensors are the same. 2018 iPad gets the same 8 MP sensor without flash.

5. First Generation Touch ID Sensor

The bigger deal might be the first generation Touch ID. This is from the iPhone 5s era is it’s quite a bit slower than Touch ID 2 that’s present in the new iPad Pros. Another downer? The 2018 iPad still uses the unlaminated display.

Special Student Pricing

Apple will sell the iPad for $299 to students. The Apple Pencil will cost $89. That’s only $40 savings. Do you think that’s enough to sway schools and parents?

Will this $299 iPad deter the wrath of Chromebooks which have taken over schools? Share with us in the comments below.