Apple (AAPL) Augments Portfolio With New iPad & iPad Air
Apple AAPL is expanding iPad portfolio with the addition of new iPad and iPad Air which it unveiled at the Time Flies event on Sep 15. Notably, iPad Pro (priced at $799) and iPad Mini (priced at $399) are the other two models the iPhone-maker currently offers.
Markedly, the eighth-generation iPad is powered by A12 Bionic chip and features 10.2-inch Retina display, advanced cameras and great all-day battery life. The entry-level iPad starting at $329 (for the Wi-Fi model in the United States) will be available beginning Sep 18.
Meanwhile, the new iPad Air is powered by A14 Bionic chip and features larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, camera and audio upgrades and a new integrated Touch ID sensor in the top button. The new iPad Air starting at $599 will be available from October.
Per IDC’s latest report, Apple continues to dominate the tablet market with 32.2% share in second-quarter 2020. Samsung SSNLF, Huawei, Amazon AMZN and Lenovo LNVGY trail Apple with 18.1%, 12.4%, 9.3% and 7.3% market share, respectively. The latest models are likely to further boost Apple’s tablet market share.
A12 Bionic Chip Makes 8th Gen iPad More Productive
The latest iPad is Apple’s most powerful entry-level iPad model, thanks to the A12 Bionic chip. Compared with previous generations, the new iPad boasts of 40% faster CPU performance and twice the graphics capability.
Per Apple, the new iPad is up to two times faster than the top-selling Windows-based laptop, three times faster than the top-selling Android tablet and six-times faster than the top-selling Chromebook.
Moreover, A12 Bionic chip brings the Neural Engine to iPad for the first time. This adds next-level machine learning capabilities to iPad, including people occlusion and motion tracking in augmented-reality apps, enhanced photo editing and better Siri performance.
Further, A12 Bionic, combined with iPadOS and Apple Pencil (first generation), makes the new iPad perfect for drawing, note-taking, marking up documents, and several other capabilities.
Notably, iPadOS 14, announced on Jun 22 at the company’s first-ever virtual Worldwide Developers Conference, will be available beginning Sep 16 for all models.
Additionally, the new iPad is designed to be environment friendly as it uses a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure and 100% recycled tin for the solder on its main logic board. The highly energy-efficient device remains free of harmful substances. Apple uses wood-fiber packaging for the new iPad that is recycled or comes from responsibly managed forests.
A14 Bionic Chip Makes Apple iPad Air Most Powerful
Meanwhile, the new iPad Air model is powered by A14 Bionic chip, which is packed with 11.8 billion transistors for increased performance.
The latest power-efficient A-series chip has been designed using 5-nanometer-based process technology. It features a new 6-core design that enables a 40% boost in CPU performance. Moreover, new 4-core graphics architecture improves graphics performance by 30%.
Further, A14 Bionic includes a new 16-core Neural Engine that is capable of performing up to 11 trillion operations per second. This incredibly fast Neural Engine improves the performance of machine-learning apps.
A14 Bionic also includes second-generation machine-learning accelerators in the CPU for 10 times faster machine-learning calculations.
These additions (fast Neural Engine, CPU machine-learning accelerators, and high-performance GPU) enables features like image recognition, natural-language learning, and analyzing motion in the new iPad Air.
Apple also improved iPad Air’s camera features. The latest model includes a 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera and the same 12MP rear camera used in iPad Pro for higher resolution photos and 4K video capture.
Additionally, iPad Air now features a USB-C port for up to 5 GBps data transfer, which is 10 times faster (compared with previous generation) for connecting to cameras, hard drives, and external monitors up to 4K.
Apple’s new iPad Air also features a completely new thin and light design in five new colors, namely silver, space gray, rose gold, green, and sky blue.
Moreover, just like iPad, iPad Air has been designed in an environment friendly way. Apart from 100% aluminum enclosure and recycled tin for the solder on its main logic board, the new speakers in iPad Air uses magnets with 100% recycled rare earth elements.
New Models to Aid iPad Revenues
Notably, Apple witnessed strong demand for iPad in third-quarter fiscal 2020 (ended Jun 30) with revenues jumping 31% year over year to $6.6 billion. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company stated it to be the highest June-quarter revenues in eight years, driven by double-digit growth in each of Apple’s geographic segments, including a June-quarter record in Greater China. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank(Strong Buy) stocks here.
Moreover, Apple expects iPad sales to accelerate in the current quarter, driven by coronavirus-induced work-from-home and online-learning wave. The latest iPad models are expected to boost fiscal 2021 top-line growth.
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