Render of iPad 10 shows changes being made to the entry-level tablet
During the upcoming Apple event that is roughly 5 weeks away, not only will we see the four new 2022 iPhone models (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max or Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max), but we could watch three new Apple Watch models greet the light of day. Those would be the Apple Watch Series 8, the rugged Apple Watch 8 Pro, and the more affordable Apple Watch SE (2002).
Apple could unveil the entry-level iPad 10 next month
We also might witness Apple pull the eagerly awaited AirPods Pro 2 out of its hat along with the 10th generation iPad and the iPad Pro (2022). The ninth-gen iPad is currently available and it has not had any major design changes since the fifth-generation slate was released by Apple in 2017. The less you pay for an iPad, the larger the bezels and the ninth-generation iPad features very wide bezels.
Render of the Apple iPad 10
But it appears that some changes are in the works for this year according to a render of the 10th-generation iPad created by a firm called Apple Lab and published by Gizchina. The render shows a slight reduction in the bezels with still enough room to sport the Home button that does double duty as the Touch ID biometric scanner. The render shows that the single camera on the back will join the LED flash housed in a lozenge-shaped housing that resembles the camera array on the iPhone X. The 8MP sensor could be upgraded to 12MP.
With the phone held in portrait orientation putting the rear camera in the upper left corner of the rear, there are now antenna lines that are easily seen starting just below the upper left corner and running through the top and just below the upper right corner. It might remind you of the antenna line found on the back of the iPhone 7. It appears that the 3.5mm earphone jack has been removed.
A render shared by mysmartprice shows what looks to be a USB-C port instead of the Lightning port. According to Gizchina, the entry-level 2022 iPad will weigh in at 248mm x 179mm x 6.98mm compared to the 250mm x 174mm x 7.50mm for the iPad 9. This means that the new model will be svelte compared with the 2021 iPad 9. The iPad 10 will most likely feature a 10.2-inch Retina (LCD) display with a 1620 x 2160 resolution.
While there will be no edge-to-edge display on the iPad 10 as that feature is left for the more expensive iPad Air and iPad Pro models. The iPad 10 should be equipped with the A14 Bionic chipset which was used to power 2020's iPhone 12 line. The 5nm A14 Bionic carries 11.8 billion transistors and was the first chipset designed by Apple to be produced using TSMC's first-generation 5nm process node.
The iPad 10 will be powered by the A14 Bionic from 2020, packed with 11.8 billion transistors
The smaller the process node number, the higher the transistor count for that chip. And that, my friends, is a big deal. The higher the number of transistors inside a chip, the more powerful and energy-efficient that chip is. The iPad 10 will not use the A15 Bionic chip which sports 15 billion transistors. With iPadOS 16 possibly delayed a month to October, we might see the iPad 10 unveiled in September but not released until the next month.
Render of the iPad 10 shows a USB-C charging port on the bottom of the tablet
As usual, there should be a Wi-Fi only version and a version that supports Wi-Fi + Cellular (including 5G). Pricing is expected to start at $329 which matches the pricing from last year. So let's assume that the iPad 10 is priced the same as the iPad 9. That would make the iPad 10 models available at these prices:
Wi-Fi ONLY
- 64GB-$329 or 12 monthly payments of $27.41.
- 256GB-$479 or 12 monthly payments of $39.91.
Wi-Fi + Cellular
- 64GB-$459 or 12 monthly payments of $38.25
- 256GB-$609 or 12 monthly payments of $50.75.
With businesses and schools returning to offices and classrooms, demand for tablets has been dropping off. During Apple's fiscal third quarter, the company rang up $7.22 billion in tablet sales, down 2% from the previous year's $7.37 billion. Still, the 2022 figure topped Wall Street estimates of $6.94 billion.
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