How to pre-order Apple’s 2022 iPad, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K
Today Apple introduced a new generation of iPads alongside a refreshed Apple TV 4K. The new gear was announced through a trio of press releases, not the usual pomp and circumstance of a livestream event. For the most part, that makes sense: the new iPad Pros and Apple TV 4K don’t bring many sweeping changes, while the all-new iPad largely follows the existing iPad Air, albeit with some trade-offs.
New is new, and all updated devices are available to pre-order from the Apple Online Store starting today. If you’re curious about upgrading to a new tablet or high-end media streamer, here’s a quick rundown of what’s new, how much everything costs, and how to pre-order everything announced today.
Apple iPad (10th generation)
The 10th generation iPad represents the most significant revision of the devices presented today. It is available to order now in four variants: blue, pink, silver and yellow. Prices start at $449 for a 64GB model or $599 for a 256GB model. You can add cellular connectivity to this storage count for $599 and $749 respectively. Apple says the tablet will be available in stores starting October 26th.
Pre-order iPad (10th generation) from Apple – $449
In terms of design, the 10th-gen iPad follows closely in the footsteps of the iPad Air. It features a similar 10.9-inch IPS display with a sharp 2,360 x 1,640 resolution and a rated maximum brightness of 500 nits. The design has flatter edges, narrower bezels, no dedicated home button, a USB-C port, and a Touch ID sensor in the sleep/wake button. Battery life is still rated at up to 10 hours of video viewing and web browsing over WiFi.
There’s a 12-megapixel widescreen camera – instead of the 8-megapixel sensor in the 10.2-inch ninth-gen iPad – which Apple says can record 4K video and take advantage of the company’s “Center Stage” image-centering feature. Notably, the front-facing camera sits along the tablet’s landscape edge, which should make it particularly useful for group video calls. The device also supports WiFi 6 while the cellular version works with 5G networks. Like other new iPad models, it also omits the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The new iPad is powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic System-on-a-Chip, previously found in the 2020 iPad Air and the iPhone 12 family of phones. This should be a handy upgrade over the 10.2-inch iPad’s A13 Bionic chip and provide more than enough post for most uses, but it will still be a few ticks behind the iPad Air’s M1 chip. The new iPad’s display also doesn’t remain laminated – so you’ll see a small air gap between the image and the layer of glass covering it – and it only supports the first-gen Apple Pencil, not the second-gen stylus with more convenient magnet charging.
Alongside the 10th-gen iPad, Apple is releasing a $249 Magic Keyboard Folio case that appears to work similarly to the existing Magic Keyboard for the iPad Air and Pro, but includes a 14-key row of functions , but doesn’t allow the tablet to “float” above the keyboard, relying instead on a built-in kickstand.
Apple says it will continue to sell the 9th-gen iPad at the same $329 MSRP (but often less than online) for those who want a more affordable option, albeit with a dated design.
11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros with M2
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros are a bit more familiar, with the main upgrade being internal: both slates now run on Apple’s M2 SoC, which is also found in the latest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro find is. Both devices are again available in either silver or space grey. Like the 10th generation iPad, the new iPad Pros are available to order now and will hit stores on October 26th.
Pre-order iPad Pros (2022) from Apple – $799 and $1,099
When we reviewed these M2 Macs, we found that the M2 brings a nice performance boost over the M1, although you’ll likely have to go well beyond simple tablet use to see a big difference in real-world usage. Still, for those looking for a tablet for video editing and other intensive tasks, it should be more future-proof.
The new Pros will also support faster WiFi 6E networks, Bluetooth 5.3 and, according to Apple, “more 5G networks around the world”. For those with second-generation Apple Pencils, there’s also a new “hover” feature that allows the tablets to recognize the stylus when it’s up to 12mm from the display, similar to previous Samsung phones and tablets. According to Apple, this allows you to preview the marks you can create before actually applying the stylus.
But that’s about it. Both tablets still support refresh rates of up to 120Hz, although the 12.9-inch model remains the only one with a brighter and more vibrant mini-LED panel, while the 11-inch model features a smaller (by comparison) LED panel. screen has. The ports, cameras, accessory support and overall design are largely the same as before. Perhaps oddly enough, Apple decided not to move the front camera to the side on the more expensive Pro models, instead leaving that feature to the far cheaper 10th-gen iPad alone.
The Pros should still remain the best tablets in Apple’s lineup, though their pricing will likely limit them to the most dedicated iPad users. The 11-inch model starts again at $799 for 128GB of storage, while the 12.9-inch model starts at $1,099 for the same amount of storage.
You can also upgrade to 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, with the 1TB and 2TB models also doubling the included RAM from 8GB to 16GB. For the 11-inch model, these cost $899, $1,099, $1,499, and $1,899, respectively. For the 12.9-inch Pro, these jump to $1,199, $1,399, $1,799, and $2,199. Adding cellular connectivity to any option costs an additional $200.
Apple TV 4K (3rd generation)
The new Apple TV 4K also gets a performance boost, jumping from 2018’s A12 Bionic SoC to the faster A15 Bionic chip introduced last year and seen in the iPhone 13 family of phones and the latest iPad Mini. The set-top box also supports HDR10+ playback alongside the usual Dolby Vision HDR, and the included Siri Remote is now charged via USB-C instead of Lightning. Physically, the box itself is 50 percent lighter and also slightly thinner.
Pre-order Apple TV 4K (3rd generation) from Apple – $129
The rest is largely the same as before, but the most notable (and welcome) change is the price: the new Apple TV 4K now starts at $129 for 64GB of storage. That’s still a fair bit more expensive than a Google Chromecast or Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, but it’s a nice drop from the previous model’s starting price of $179 and 32GB of storage in either case. (Though we’ve seen a number of deals for this device over the past few months.)
If you need more storage space for Apple Arcade games and Co., you can order a model with 128 GB of storage space for $149. This version adds a Gigabit Ethernet port and support for the Thread Mesh network protocol for certain smart home devices.
The new Apple TV 4K is available to order now from the Apple Online Store, although Apple says it won’t be available until November 4th. It’s also worth noting that with the launch of the new streamer, the company is also adding the 1080p Apple TV HD only.
Originally published