Apple Launches Its Cheapest iPad with Pencil Support

Apple has introduced its new iPad with some familiar features and specs along with some new interesting bits. What is familiar in the new iPad are the 9.7 inches of Retina display and the A10 Fusion chip (it doesn’t get the latest A11 Bionic chip). The new bit is the support for Apple Pencil and all the functionality that comes with it.

At USD $ 329, it is Apple’s cheapest iPad and is also aimed at students and teachers. The A10 chip is said to be 40% and 50% better than the earlier A9 chip in terms of CPU and GPU performances respectively. At the same time, the resolution of the 9.7 inches display remains unchanged at 1,536 x 2,048 pixels. The design is unchanged as well and so is the camera at 8 MP with f2.4 aperture. The front HD camera is a 1.2 MP unit. The tablet weighs an impressive 470 grams with an all metallic body.

Apple is heavily promoting the Augmented Reality (AR) with the new iPad with a plethora of supported apps available in the App Store for entertainment and educational purposes.

While the new iPad is priced at $ 329, there is a discount of $ 30 for schools which will bring down the price to $ 299. Not just that, even the Apple Pencil is discounted for schools at $ 89 instead of its usual price of $ 99. Alternatively, customers can also go for a separate stylus accessory from Logitech called the Crayon Stylus. It is priced at $ 49. But remember that it won’t be as accurate or as functional as the Apple Pencil. Lastly, Apple is giving 200 GB free iCloud storage for students.