Apple released the new 9.7 inch iPad with updated internals at an event focussed on education. To top it off, the event was held at a high school in Chicago, to give off the feeling of learning. It was initially speculated that, the device would be cheaper compared to the previous generation but that’s not the case.
The iPad is completely unchanged from last year’s $329 iPad in terms of the exterior design. What’s new is the A10 Fusion chip, still not the top-tier A11 Bionic chip from the iPhones but its an increment in terms of processing power over the last year’s. Apart from that, nothing is new in the hardware department.
The most talked about feature at the event was the support for stylus or much specifically, the Apple Pencil. Touch using stylus is great for drawings and taking notes, it can also be used in some cases when someone’s hand (finger) is not fit to make the touch gestures. Till the launch of the new iPad, the only iPad that would support Apple Pencil was the iPad Pro.
But it’s still not exactly cheap, as the Apple Pencil itself costs $99 which is a huge steal. Of course, it’s great but not many schools can afford that and it makes much more sense to invest in a Chromebook.
Google’s Chromebooks have been gaining popularity recently in schools as they sell for a lot less than $300. Apple wants to keep its armour up but pricing its education-focussed products way above than its competition just doesn’t make sense. Also, Chromebooks come with keyboards which is great, on another point, keyboards are not dead yet.
What I’m going to say is not connected with Apple but Steve Jobs was connected with Apple, and with NeXT, Steve Job’s another company that he founded in the late 80s focussed on creating machines for colleges but they were priced so high that they turned out be a flop. Apple’s not exactly doing the same thing, the new iPads are not too expensive but when compared, they definitely are by $100-$200 depending on the requirement of schools.