I’m surprised the Air is still in the lineup now. .3” difference and A12 vs A10, is that it? Weird.
No, that is not all. Just considering the processor, the A12 benchmarks 38% faster (single core) to 95% faster (multi core), probably more than 100% faster for graphics, plus adds the Neural Engine which gives extra capabilities in areas such as AR.
Apart from that, the Air has: more RAM (3 vs 2 GB), double storage at each tier, slightly thinner and lighter, fully laminated display, antireflective coating, P3 colour gamut, True Tone, better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a few other minor advantages.
Compared to the 6th gen iPad, the 7th gen catches up on the Air on two features: smart keyboard support, and nearly matching the display size. Everything else appears to be identical between 6th and 7th gen.
It seems odd for Apple to introduce a new iPad with the A10 Fusion at the same time as discontinuing the iPhone which used that processor. It makes me wonder how many years of software updates the 7th gen iPad will get. The A12 Bionic should get two years/versions more than the A10 Fusion.
I get (some of) your points, but I came here to say the same thing he did. I don't get the point of the Air in the lineup.
They introduced a new product with a very old processor. Considering the massive amount of A-chips that Apple orders for iPhone, the difference in cost shouldn't be gigantic. Keeping an old processor in production does have a cost to it.
More RAM and storage are config options that could easily be extended to the new model. Better wi-fi and Bluetooth are important for all iPad markets.
The only really important difference here is the screen. Is it really worth it to keep an entirely separate model in the lineup for full lamination and True Tone?
Couldn't they just have pushed the Air down to $399 and kept the lineup simple: iPad and iPad Pro?
Here's the thing, I think Apple build their "mainstream (lower-end)" products based on "real-life situations" instead of benchmarks. A9 still feels snappy even it's about four-years-old.
It may look bad on paper, some die-hards will feel disappointed, but only iPads were doing well in the tablet market, so whatever...
I wonder how much money Apple is actually saving by using old SOCs. On the one hand it's nice because if they're selling them new they need to support the A10 for like another four years, which probably means that they don't plan to drop support for the iPhone 7 series phones for another four years. (Which is nice because I bought my Mom a 7 Plus last summer and Canadian carriers seem to be dropping subsidies so I'd like her to make that phone last as long as possible.)
I feel like with Apple Arcade they're targeting the A10 as a semi long term base model. They have it in the Apple TV 4K, they've got it in the iPod touch and they've got it in the base iPad. All of these are devices that they don't like to upgrade yearly. I suspect part of the rational behind this is that for current web browsing and general app usage the A10 is still pretty beefy, it has the high efficiency cores which means that even as the battery decays the device can still probably get phenomenal battery life. I think there was also something with the GPU that it was a pretty big leap at the time with some impressive features.
I have to wonder what's wrong with the A11 though? I'm wondering if they're not happy with it for some reason? They love the A10 and are putting it in almost everything, but the only thing the A11 has powered is three phones, and only two of those are still for sale (the ones that don't use FaceID. They keep talking about AR games and what not, but if that's the case wouldn't it make sense to have moved the iPad over to at least their first chip with a neural engine? Maybe the failure rate on it was pretty high? I can appreciate them not wanting to have the cheapest iPad competing with the iPad Air and the iPad mini, but it's kinda weird to keep the processor two generations behind.
Overall Apple's iPad line continues to be a weird hard to explain to a normal person product line.
I think things will start to be a little clearer after a probable October iPad Pro event. I was kind of expecting them to blow the whole load today, but I ought to have known better. They don't want to forgo more than two weeks of iPad Pro sales from people who don't pay attention to these things, but I find it almost impossible to believe that they intend to leave the iPad Air/mini on the same Processor (sans X) for a full year. I suspect what might happen is that Apple is going to move the iPad Pro over to an A13X in October, possibly announce a beefier Apple TV 4K (but they'll need another name since they'll keep the 4K around.) It'll be marketed as not just handling 4K video but allowing better gaming performance with Apple Arcade. Heck, I wonder if the A12X could handle an 8K stream?
I'm kind of hoping at that point that they'll move the Apple TV 4K down to the $150 price point. The Apple TV is a great little box but it's a hard sell as the price has moved up. If they're smart they'll move the A8 powered Apple TV HD down to 99. But I think Apple has kinda decided to just give that market to Roku.
I’m surprised the Air is still in the lineup now. .3” difference and A12 vs A10, is that it? Weird.
No, that is not all. Just considering the processor, the A12 benchmarks 38% faster (single core) to 95% faster (multi core), probably more than 100% faster for graphics, plus adds the Neural Engine which gives extra capabilities in areas such as AR.
Apart from that, the Air has: more RAM (3 vs 2 GB), double storage at each tier, slightly thinner and lighter, fully laminated display, antireflective coating, P3 colour gamut, True Tone, better Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a few other minor advantages.
Compared to the 6th gen iPad, the 7th gen catches up on the Air on two features: smart keyboard support, and nearly matching the display size. Everything else appears to be identical between 6th and 7th gen.
It seems odd for Apple to introduce a new iPad with the A10 Fusion at the same time as discontinuing the iPhone which used that processor. It makes me wonder how many years of software updates the 7th gen iPad will get. The A12 Bionic should get two years/versions more than the A10 Fusion.
Comments
I get (some of) your points, but I came here to say the same thing he did. I don't get the point of the Air in the lineup.
They introduced a new product with a very old processor. Considering the massive amount of A-chips that Apple orders for iPhone, the difference in cost shouldn't be gigantic. Keeping an old processor in production does have a cost to it.
More RAM and storage are config options that could easily be extended to the new model.
Better wi-fi and Bluetooth are important for all iPad markets.
The only really important difference here is the screen.
Is it really worth it to keep an entirely separate model in the lineup for full lamination and True Tone?
Couldn't they just have pushed the Air down to $399 and kept the lineup simple: iPad and iPad Pro?
It may look bad on paper, some die-hards will feel disappointed, but only iPads were doing well in the tablet market, so whatever...
I feel like with Apple Arcade they're targeting the A10 as a semi long term base model. They have it in the Apple TV 4K, they've got it in the iPod touch and they've got it in the base iPad. All of these are devices that they don't like to upgrade yearly. I suspect part of the rational behind this is that for current web browsing and general app usage the A10 is still pretty beefy, it has the high efficiency cores which means that even as the battery decays the device can still probably get phenomenal battery life. I think there was also something with the GPU that it was a pretty big leap at the time with some impressive features.
I have to wonder what's wrong with the A11 though? I'm wondering if they're not happy with it for some reason? They love the A10 and are putting it in almost everything, but the only thing the A11 has powered is three phones, and only two of those are still for sale (the ones that don't use FaceID. They keep talking about AR games and what not, but if that's the case wouldn't it make sense to have moved the iPad over to at least their first chip with a neural engine? Maybe the failure rate on it was pretty high? I can appreciate them not wanting to have the cheapest iPad competing with the iPad Air and the iPad mini, but it's kinda weird to keep the processor two generations behind.
Overall Apple's iPad line continues to be a weird hard to explain to a normal person product line.
I think things will start to be a little clearer after a probable October iPad Pro event. I was kind of expecting them to blow the whole load today, but I ought to have known better. They don't want to forgo more than two weeks of iPad Pro sales from people who don't pay attention to these things, but I find it almost impossible to believe that they intend to leave the iPad Air/mini on the same Processor (sans X) for a full year. I suspect what might happen is that Apple is going to move the iPad Pro over to an A13X in October, possibly announce a beefier Apple TV 4K (but they'll need another name since they'll keep the 4K around.) It'll be marketed as not just handling 4K video but allowing better gaming performance with Apple Arcade. Heck, I wonder if the A12X could handle an 8K stream?
I'm kind of hoping at that point that they'll move the Apple TV 4K down to the $150 price point. The Apple TV is a great little box but it's a hard sell as the price has moved up. If they're smart they'll move the A8 powered Apple TV HD down to 99. But I think Apple has kinda decided to just give that market to Roku.
It is a misquote. Apple didn’t say that. It isn’t twice as fast.