How much do the new iPads cost and is it the best time to upgrade?
Apple's new iPad models are coming to the Philippines soon, which may leave you wondering whether this would be the best time to upgrade your gadgets.
The new iPad series was announced during the tech giant's "Let Loose" event on May 8 (Philippine time), along with other upcoming products and latest updates.
The updated iPad Air is supercharged with an M2 chip to give users more power for work, learning, and playing. Coming in 11- and 13-inch variants, this tablet also has a Liquid Retina display, 12MP wide camera, and a landscape 12MP ultra-wide front camera.
The iPad Pro versions also come with an 11- and 13-inch measurement and have OLED screens, allowing for better image quality, brighter colors, faster motion, and higher contrast; 12MP wide camera that can accommodate 4K videos; and landscape 12MP ultra-wide front camera. It also operates on eSIM and isn’t compatible with physical SIM cards.
How much will they cost?
Depending on the model and storage, the iPad model has different prices, so you may want to consider this when picking your preferred gadget.
Here are the official prices based on Apple's website:
iPad Air
11-inch model
- 128GB- P42,990
- 256GB- 49,990
- 512GB- P63,990
- 1TB- P77,990
13- inch model
- 128GB- P54,990
- 256GB- P61,990
- 512GB- P75,990
- 1TB- P89,990
iPad Pro
11-inch model
- 256GB- P72,990
- 512GB- P86,990
- 1TB- P114,990
- 2TB- P142,990
13-inch model
- 128GB- P94,990
- 512GB- P108,990
- 1TB- P136,990
- 2TB- P164,990
If you want to have an Apple Pencil and a Magic Keyboard added to your purchase, it will cost you an additional P4,990 and P19,990 respectively.
In comparison, the tech company's previous 10th generation iPad, launched in 2022, only costs P24,990 for 64GB of storage and P34,990 for 256GB.
Should you upgrade your gadget?
It's now time to address the elephant in the room: Is it finally time to crack open your wallet to switch to the newest tablet invention?
Kicking things off with the design, Apple's past vanilla 10th gen iPad comes in simple colors of pink, blue, yellow, and silver while the new lineup is in Space Gray, Blue, Purple, and Starlight finishes. If you prefer the modern colors of the latter, then it may be a good time to consider upgrading.
The new iPad Pro also has a slightly bigger screen than its previous iteration, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022). The difference in specs lies with the chipset—the 2022 iPad Pro runs on the M2 chip while the new 2024 tablet has the new M4 processor, which Apple says delivers 1.5x faster CPU performance than its predecessor.
Both the new Air and Pro iPads also have their front camera in landscape orientation for more convenient video calling—no need to awkwardly look to the side of your iPad just to look at directly at the camera if you're holding it in landscape.
The iPad Air and iPad Pro also have a wider range when it comes to storage, reaching up to 1TB and 2TB respectively, while the past version only reaches up to 256GB of space.
Overall, apart from the bigger screen display, lighter weight, and faster processing thanks to the M2 chip, the new series still retains several features from the old one. This includes the 10-hour battery life, and a 12MP wide camera, among others.
Ultimately, everything still depends on your budget and use case.
If your iPad is too old already to carry the latest software updates and you're already experiencing bugs, maybe it is time to get a refresh.
Do note that Apple didn't release an iPad in 2023 it would be a good time to do a gadget upgrade this year. The tech giant appears to be alternating iPad model releases every year—iPad Pros came out in 2018, 2020, 2022, and now 2024.
If you're looking for an iPad that's more affordable and for basic use cases like streaming and web browsing, you may want to hold off first as Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that the company might release the 11th generation iPad and 7th generation iPad mini in the latter half of the year.