Tag Archives: Apple

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max Review: Your New Video Production Workhorse?

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It’s late in the year 2021 and Apple has only just decided that iPhone users should be able to have a high-refresh-rate screen and take macro photos – that too only if you buy one of the new iPhone 13 Pro models. If you glance through their spec sheets, these are the two key hardware specifications that set this year’s iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max apart from their predecessors, and neither one of them is pathbreaking. In fact, both these features have been common on sub-Rs. 20,000 Android phones for quite a while now. So what is it exactly that justifies spending well over Rs. 1,00,000 on either of these two new iPhones?

The answer to that is a bit abstract, and potentially frustrating – you pay for the overall experience that only Apple has so far managed to achieve. These aren’t necessarily things that get listed on spec sheets; they’re capabilities that arise from tight integration between the hardware, software, services, design, and manufacturing process. The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max in particular also have the best cameras of their generation, and some capabilities that will make amateur as well as pro filmmakers and photographers take notice.

In fact, the new Pro iPhones are being positioned as all-in-one moviemaking tools. While this might create a whole new market, it also shows how little there is left to improve in terms of top-tier smartphone features and performance. If you’re an iPhone user with no budget constraints and want the best of the best, you’ll be buying one of Apple’s latest Pro iPhones regardless of any other consideration. On the other hand if you aren’t sure whether to upgrade, or whether it’s worth choosing the iPhone 13 Pro over the iPhone 13, this review is for you.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max price in India

With the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, compared to the relatively more affordable iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, you’re paying for a more premium stainless steel frame, more powerful graphics, better rear cameras plus an additional telephoto camera and LiDAR scanner, and a better screen. Only the Pro models can record ProRes video, ProRAW stills, and portrait stills in Night mode. All models have roughly the same core specifications, IP68 ratings, Ceramic Shield for display protection, and MagSafe wireless charging support. What’s interesting is that the actual headlining new features this year, Cinematic Mode for video recording and Photographic Styles for stills, are common across all four Pro and non-Pro iPhone 13 models.

While the 128GB iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini start at Rs. 79,900 and Rs. 69,900 respectively, the iPhone 13 Pro starts at Rs. 1,19,900 with the same amount of storage. If you want more storage space, you’ll pay Rs. 1,29,900 for 256GB, Rs. 1,49,900 for 512GB, or Rs. 1,69,900 for the new 1TB option, for the smaller iPhone 13 Pro. The iPhone 13 Pro Max costs Rs. 10,000 more for each tier, so it starts at Rs. 1,29,900 for 128GB, and that goes up to Rs. 1,39,900 for 256GB, Rs. 1,59,900 for 512GB, and Rs. 1,79,900 for 1TB.

It’s worth pointing out that Apple’s prices don’t scale evenly across the Pro and non-Pro lineups in India. For example, the 512GB iPhone 13 and 256GB iPhone Pro (or 128GB iPhone 13 Pro Max) are priced at $1,099 in the US but cost Rs. 1,09,900 and Rs. 1,29,900 here respectively. For that reason, it isn’t as tempting to consider spending “just a little more” to step up to a Pro model in India.

You don’t get anything in the box apart from the phone itself, a lightning to Type-C cable, a SIM eject pin and some paperwork. You’ll have to pay extra for an Apple official charger and headset – of course Apple would prefer that you spend even more on a pair of AirPods and some MagSafe accessories instead.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max feature a powerful new processor and improved cameras

 

iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro design

If you’ve seen the iPhone 12 Pro series, you’ve pretty much seen the iPhone 13 Pro siblings. It would be quite hard to tell them apart. The newer models have slightly larger camera modules on the rear (so cases and some accessories won’t be compatible), and there’s a new signature colour as with each generation. The Sierra Blue finish looks light and bright in Apple’s promotional photos, but in real life, it’s more of a muted blue-grey and looks quite sophisticated and fresh. Silver, Gold, and Graphite continue alongside as the other colour options.

It’s likely that next year’s iPhones will have a significant design overhaul. For now though, we still have the exact same body shape. The new Pro iPhones are 0.15mm thicker and up to 16g heavier than their predecessors – the thickness is inconsequential but the weight can certainly be felt.

The front and back are completely flat, as is the stainless steel frame that runs around the sides. This makes the iPhone 13 series slightly difficult to get a comfortable grip on, especially the larger and more unwieldy iPhone 13 Pro Max. A case such as one of Apple’s official leather and silicone options will help with this, and will also keep fingerprints off the frame.

The power and volume buttons are on the right and left respectively on both phones, and are placed within reach. The mute switch, which is above the volume buttons, is quite handy. There’s sadly no fingerprint sensor, only Apple’s unique 3D Face ID for biometric security, which doesn’t work if you’re wearing a mask.

The notches on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are less wide, but taller, than the ones on previous models

 

Speaking of Face ID, Apple has decided to make the notch on all iPhone 13 models less wide, but also taller. While many Android manufacturers copied the notch simply for the sake of copying Apple, it quickly became obvious that this is a terrible design “solution”, and they all went to narrow notches, then waterdrop-style indentations, and now embedded camera holes. Apple, meanwhile, is stuck with its large Face ID sensor assembly. The new notch shape doesn’t feel like an improvement – in fact it’s even more intrusive when watching full-screen video. It’s also annoying that iOS 15 doesn’t use the newly liberated lateral space to do things like show the battery percentage again.

All iPhone 13 models are IP68 rated for protection against dust and liquid ingress. Apple says its Ceramic Shield material over the display is more resilient to scratches and shattering on impact than even reinforced glass.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max specifications

Every year, Apple introduces a new version of its A-series SoCs for each new iPhone generation, and we’re now up to the A15 Bionic. This time, there aren’t any headline-grabbing new capabilities or speed increases – Apple says even last year’s A14 Bionic is still in the lead compared to the best competitor (which we take to mean the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Snapdragon 888+). The “Neural Engine” for on-device machine learning gets a significant bump up from 11 trillion operations per second to 15.8 trillion, and the new image signal processor allows for camera features such as Cinematic Mode and Photographic Styles that won’t be coming to older iPhones through software updates.

The SoC has two high-performance CPU cores running at up to 3.23GHz, and four more efficiency cores for simple tasks. The integrated GPU is interesting, because for the first time Apple is giving its Pro iPhones more power than the non-Pro ones, in the form of five GPU cores versus four. The company says this is the best graphics performance of any smartphone ever. Much like we’ve seen with the M1 SoC in entry-level and high-end versions of the 2021 iMac and 2020 MacBook Air, this allows Apple to work with chips that might have miniscule defects. It’s exactly the same as how many other companies “bin” processors depending on the maximum speed they can hit, which is great for manufacturing efficiency.

All iPhone 13 models have IP68 ratings for protection against water and dust

 

Screen size is one of the key differences between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. You get to choose between 6.1 inches (1170×2532 pixels) and 6.7 inches (1284×2778 pixels), respectively. Both models have the same type of OLED panel, which supports a 120Hz maximum refresh rate, DCI-P3 wide colour gamut, and 1000nit brightness (1200nit peak for HDR). The phone’s ambient light sensors let them adjust the panel colour temperature dynamically, which Apple calls True Tone.

Third-party teardowns have confirmed that the iPhone 13 Pro has a 3095mAh battery while the iPhone 13 Pro Max’s battery has a 4352mAh capacity. These are slightly larger than the ones in the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max respectively. The numbers are quite low compared to what we usually see in the Android world, but Apple still claims competitive battery life thanks to its efficient SoC and display, plus software optimisations. It also seems as though the iPhone 13 Pro Max can charge more quickly, supporting up to 27W USB-PD adapters versus 23W for the iPhone 13 Pro – an unannounced difference between the siblings. You can charge both phones wirelessly at up to 15W using an Apple-certified MagSafe charger, or up to 7.5W with a standard Qi wireless pad.

All the new iPhones let you use two eSIMs together and ditch a physical SIM altogether. There’s support for more 5G bands in India than on previous iPhones, but still only sub-6GHz and not mmWave. There’s also support for Gigabit-class LTE, GPS, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5. Apple also uses Ultra Wideband and NFC to enable specific features such as directional awareness, AirDrop, and Apple Pay (not available in India yet).

You get iOS 15 out of the box, and many of its features will be common across iPhones going back as far as the iPhone 6s. The highlights are media syncing through FaceTime, tighter integration between iMessage and various first-party Apple apps, a more powerful DND mode called Focus, a major redesign for the Safari browser, and improved AI optical character recognition in photos.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are both available with up to 1TB of storage

 

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max performance

Let’s first talk about the 120Hz ‘ProMotion’ displays that Apple has finally brought to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max. This feature is on all the time – there’s no choice, unless you dive deep into the Accessibility settings to override it and reduce all motion. It’s typical Apple to force this, but in all honesty, you’d never want to turn it off even if that was possible. Comparing an iPhone 13 Pro side by side with an iPhone 13 with the same screen size, it’s obvious that motion is smoother and more responsive. Apple says it has optimised its hardware and software so that the refresh rate dynamically adjusts not just based on what app is active, but also what you’re doing – scrolling through a list will raise it, while an idle home screen can refresh at much lower than 60Hz to save power.

Beyond its refresh rate, this is a very crisp, bright display. HDR videos in compatible apps really pop. It’s a pity that there’s no ambient always-on display feature to take advantage of the OLED panel. The notch does cut into your usable screen space – it isn’t a major pain in games, which are all now designed to avoid placing controls in that area, but it’s still distracting in videos. The stereo speakers produce loud, spacious sound that works well for voices in movies and game sound effects.

That’s only one factor that contributes to the responsiveness of these new iPhones. The A15 Bionic SoC is obviously no slouch, handling everything including heavy 3D games with ease. I never saw either phone struggle with any app or workload. Both phones got slightly warm when running heavy apps, and noticeably toasty after benchmarking.

Speaking of benchmarks, the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max both posted excellent scores. AnTuTu reported 8,42,386 and 8,44,883 for the two respectively. An iPhone 12 based on the A14 Bionic SoC managed 6,94,580 points when tested again with the same version of the benchmark app. Geekbench 5 showed single-core and multicore scores of 1,716 and 4,635 respectively for the iPhone 13 Pro, and 1,725 and 4,709 respectively for the iPhone 13 Pro Max.

120Hz ‘ProMotion’ displays are exclusive to the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max

 

3DMark’s Wild Life Stress Test reported a 9,694 points as its best score with a stability rating of 61.4…

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MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) Review: The Mac That Fans Have Been Waiting For

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Apple is no stranger to wiping the slate clean; ditching its own standards and designs even at the height of their popularity because it thinks something better is around the corner. From the original iMac which had no floppy drive and the iPhone 7 ditching the headphone jack, to the 2012 MacBooks with only USB Type-C, Apple’s quest for minimalism has often upset its customers. However, there have been rare occasions when the behemoth has had to accept that it went wrong – the buttonless third-gen iPod shuffle was replaced with its own predecessor, the shallow “butterfly” MacBook keyboard has been consigned to history, and more recently Safari’s drastic beta redesign has been shelved. The company will even soon begin allowing users to repair some of their own hardware problems at home.

Even so, the new 2021 MacBook Pro comes as a surprisingly comprehensive reversal; almost an apology to users of the past few generations. Nearly everything major that changed with the 2016 redesign and annoyed people has been reversed – but there are still a few caveats and one big new compromise that has already caused fresh controversy. Apple has listened to its users but is also still doing many things its own way. Can you live with this new balance, or has Apple just found a different way to alienate actual professionals? Read on to find everything you’ll need to decide that for yourself.

In profile, the new MacBook Pro looks rather like the pre-2016 models

 

MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) price in India and specifications

Don’t expect the new MacBook Pro to come cheap. The previous-gen 13-inch model with an M1 processor is still available for those who want more than a MacBook Air but have budget constraints. The new 14-inch 2021 MacBook Pro price in India starts at Rs. 1,94,900, with an M1 Pro CPU that has eight active CPU cores and 14 GPU cores. For this price you get only a 512GB NVMe SSD, and this variant is the only one that ships with a slower 67W charger.

What you’ll probably want is the M1 Pro configuration with 10 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores active, which is priced at Rs. 2,39,900 in India. This option also has a 1TB SSD and you get the faster 96W charger. There’s a custom configurable option with 10 CPU cores but only 14 GPU cores for Rs. 5,000 less, which seems like an unnecessary variation.

Beyond this, there are options with the M1 Max processor – the same 10 CPU cores, but either 24 or 32 GPU cores, priced Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 40,000 over and above the top-specced M1 Pro. Going from 16GB of RAM to 32GB or 64GB (only possible with the M1 Max) will cost another Rs. 20,000 or Rs. 40,000 respectively. Going from 1TB to 2TB, 4TB or 8TB of SSD capacity will cost Rs. 40,000, Rs. 1,00,000, or Rs. 2,20,000 respectively. Your new 14-inch MacBook Pro could cost as much as Rs. 5,79,900 with all the bells and whistles (not including an extended warranty).

Interestingly the 16-inch model ranges in price from Rs. 2,39,900 to Rs. 5,89,90 so if you’re splashing out on upgrades, there’s very little reason not to go for the bigger screen and better thermal performance that the larger model affords.

Other than these variables, both the 14-inch and 16-inch models have brand new 120Hz mini-LED displays, Touch ID fingerprint sensors, Wi-Fi 6, and Bluetooth 5. Battery capacity is 70Wh and 100Wh for the 14-inch and 16-inch models, and Apple promises up to 11 hours and 14 hours of casual use respectively.

There’s now a 1080p webcam with computational enhancement through the M1 series SoCs. Audio also gets a big upgrade with a new six-speaker system and spatial audio. You don’t get S/PDIF output through the 3.5mm jack anymore but the new MacBook Pros are said to support high-impedance headphones. There are three built-in mics with beamforming.

The power button has an integrated Touch ID fingerprint sensor

 

MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) design and features

The biggest news is that there’s now a 14-inch MacBook Pro – it isn’t physically much larger than the previous 13-inch model, thanks to a taller screen with narrower borders. It’s available in Silver and Space Grey – no festive colours for Pro models, it seems. The brushed metal texture of previous models remains, and the Apple logo on the lid is mirrored but not illuminated. In profile, the new MacBook Pro actually looks a bit retro, with raised feet, flat sides, and almost no curve to the edges of the lid.

The lid can be raised easily and the hinge feels very firm, but one ergonomic issue is the sharp corners of the little lip provided for your thumb. Build quality overall is very good, and there’s no flex at all to the lid.

What many people will appreciate is the return of various ports, most notably MagSafe for charging. This is a new, thinner connector that Apple calls MagSafe 3, and neither chargers nor MacBooks themselves are physically compatible with older models. You can still use Type-C ports to charge the new MacBook Pro, but MagSafe will be quicker (depending on the wattage of your power adapter).

The “thunk” sound as the connector snaps into place is familiar and satisfying – as convenient as universal Type-C charging is, having MagSafe in addition is the best of both worlds. It also fulfils its original purpose of disengaging quickly when the cord is yanked, preventing your expensive laptop from crashing to the floor. Interestingly, Apple’s new MagSafe chargers don’t have tethered cables; instead there’s a USB Type-C connector on the charger, making it more versatile than before. The cable is also now braided, but not colour-coordinated like with the 2021 iMacs. I got a 96W charger with my review unit (not 67W, as listed on the spec sheet for this variant) and it was quite bulky and heavy.

MagSafe, a fan-favourite Apple feature, returns to the new MacBook Pro lineup

 

You’ll now also find three Thunderbolt 4 ports (one fewer than before) that support charging, DisplayPort video, and USB4; an HDMI 2.0 video output; an SDXC card slot; and a 3.5mm audio jack. It’s almost surprising that Apple retained the 3.5mm jack, having ditched it even on iPads now. Although it’s great to have more ports for flexibility, HDMI 2.1 and SD Express would have been better choices for future-proofing. You’ll also still need dongles or a hub for Ethernet and USB Type-A.

Apple has transplanted its new external Magic Keyboard onto the MacBook Pro, so you get exactly the same layout. This makes sense for consistency. The entire keybed is now black, which makes for a striking look. The touch bar across the top is entirely gone now – sorry, Jonny Ive. Apple never did manage to make this catch on, especially since it was limited only to MacBook Pros and could never have been implemented on Apple’s battery-powered desktop keyboards. It wasn’t a bad idea, but having it in place of physical Fn keys rather than above them was a mistake, and now power users can have their familiar tactile controls back.

The butterfly keyboard disaster is behind us now, and the new 2021 MacBook Pro is quite pleasant to type on. The key action is a bit crisp, but comfortable. The Fn row shortcuts have been rearranged – there’s no backlight level adjustment shortcut anymore which is annoying, and it’s too easy to unintentionally pull up the new emoji picker by tapping the Fn key. The arrow keys are a bit cramped as well. Overall though, typing is comfortable and even pleasant.

Apple has also shipped solid-state trackpads for several years now – there’s no physical clicking mechanism but pushing down generates a force-feedback haptic vibration that feels remarkably lifelike. You can even vary pressure to “force click”, which shows contextual information or triggers actions, such as being able to rename a file in the Finder. It works well, but feels fatiguing after a while since it’s the pad of your finger that absorbs the pressure, not any mechanism. Tap-to-click is disabled by default and so is hold-to-drag (which is now in the accessibility settings) for some reason. MacOS recognises lots of multi-finger gestures which work fluidly and soon become second nature.

Apple’s default wallpaper masks the notch cleverly

 

MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) display and notch

The most controversial feature of the new 2021 MacBook Pro is its display notch. Many laptop manufacturers have tried relocating or dispensing with webcams altogether to make screen borders as narrow as possible, and none of these solutions has really worked. Apple is the first to try a notch that cuts into the top of the panel itself, and maybe this is the best compromise. The question is, though, do we really need the borders around our laptop screens to be this slim?

Nearly every smartphone manufacturer copied Apple’s iPhone X notch when it first came out, and now there isn’t a single one left shipping phones like this – they’ve all moved on to camera holes or much smaller incursions, while even the latest iPhones with their relatively chunky Face ID camera and IR projector array now look a bit dated. It’s surprising that Apple has chosen to bring this look to its laptops even though they don’t support Face ID (iPad Pros with Face ID have so far escaped, but thick borders are necessary on a handheld device).

Even Apple seems to understand that notches are distracting and unattractive – the default macOS wallpaper is strategically dark at the top to help mask the notch. The company has also thought about how to mitigate this. Here’s how it works: First of all, the screen is taller than before. The resolution is now 3024×1964 (or 3456×2234 on the 16-inch model) which is exactly 74 pixels taller than a true 16:10 aspect ratio. That means the screen has actually been extended upwards to fill the space around the webcam; the notch doesn’t encroach on any space there was before.

Apple has moved the macOS menu bar into this space, now splitting it into left and right sections. The screen effectively continues “behind” the notch, and your trackpad cursor will pass through it rather than acting as though there’s an edge, even if you’re dragging something. The screen is large enough that most programs will show their menus on the left, leaving the system status icons on the right. Some heavy programs with very dense menus might spill over, and if you’re a power user with a lot of apps that have their own icons or readouts, you might find that there just isn’t enough lateral room for everything. This is where Apple has not quite gotten everything right – I noticed some odd cursor behaviour in Premiere Pro, jumping from one side of the notch to the other. Videos online show how users have encountered odd bugs with items rendered invisibly behind the notch or failing to wrap around it sensibly. Hopefully these issues will be addressed in future macOS updates.

If the menu bar could be set to opaque black, you might not even notice the notch is there in normal operation – third-party apps can do this but a native option would be useful (reducing transparency in the Accessibility settings doesn’t quite achieve the desired effect, even in Dark mode). On the plus side, app windows can now fill the remaining 16:10 screen area (if you also hide the macOS dock). In full-screen mode, this is exactly how they fit – the areas to the sides of the notch remain black, leaving a rectangle. If you move the cursor up into that space, menu items appear there, and don’t overlap your app window as before.

The notch is fully visible when you use a light wallpaper (top) as opposed to Apple’s default selection (bottom)

 

Most video these days is widescreen and will play letterboxed anyway when fullscreen, so you don’t have the notch covering anything. Vertical and even 4:3 video plays within the 16:10 space, so you’re effectively letterboxed on three sides, with no visible notch.

For most use cases, this implementation is actually very workable. While it often feels as though space has been wasted, you just have to think of the two “wings” above the bounds of the 16:10 space as bonus areas. Apple could have done a better job of pointing this out, to avoid the perception that this is wasted space. Once I got used to this and understood what was going on, I felt less annoyed. However, the notch is still a constant visual distraction. You can always see the edges when working. Wallpaper with a dark top can help, but an opacity control would have been much better.

It’s also annoying that Apple couldn’t fit its Face ID hardware in, which…

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iPad 10th Generation (2022) Review: Noteworthy Upgrades but at What Cost?

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The iPad is perhaps the most popular tablet worldwide. Apple, since the launch of the first iPad, has refreshed the lineup regularly by making incremental design changes and hardware improvements. In 2022, the iPad lineup is now bigger than ever. There are the top-of-the-line iPad Pros (M2) right at the top, below which sits the iPad Air 2022 (Review). This year, Apple also launched the iPad 10th generation but rather than replacing the iPad 9th generation model, it’s a new addition that sits between the lowest-priced iPad and the Air. 

The new iPad (2022) is pricier than last year’s model, which continues to be on sale at a slightly bumped-up price in India compared to what it launched for a year ago. Apple has made many improvements in the iPad 10th generation model, which looks very similar to the iPad Air. However, don’t be fooled by the naming convention as this is by no means a budget iPad. Why? Simply because it starts at Rs. 44,900 for the base model. The iPad 10th generation has received many upgrades but with the higher price tag, should you consider buying it? Here is our review to help you decide.

iPad 10th Generation (2022) price in India

The new iPad 10th generation has a starting price of Rs. 44,900 for the base 64GB model with Wi-Fi connectivity. The Wi-Fi + cellular option costs Rs. 59,900. There is also a 256GB storage variant which is priced at Rs. 59,900 and Rs. 74,900, for the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + cellular models respectively.

The iPad 10th generation supports Apple Pencil (1st gen), which can be bought for Rs. 9,500. However keep in mind that you’ll need the additional USB Type-C to Apple Pencil adapter (Rs. 900) for pairing and charging the Pencil with this iPad. There is also the Magic Keyboard Folio for iPad, which is priced at Rs. 24,900.

iPad 10th generation in its blue colour option

iPad 10th Generation (2022) design

The iPad 10th generation is now flatter than ever. It follows the iPad Air (M1)’s design language of a flat aluminium frame with slightly curved corners. The rear panel too is completely flat and comes in four new colours. Apple sent us the blue colour, but it’s also available in pink, yellow and silver options. While this might be subjective, I personally liked the blue variant of the iPad. It not only looks premium and modern at the same time, but also a lot less flashy compared to the yellow and pink colourways. The silver option is the most classic-looking one for those who do not want to attract much attention.

The body of the iPad 10th generation continues to have a matte finish, making it less prone to fingerprints and smudges. Due to the flat frame design, it does not feel as heavy compared to its on-paper weight of 481g for the cellular model. It is also only 7mm thick.

On the front, the bezels on the iPad are narrower, making room for more screen real estate. The new iPad now offers a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with a 2360×1640 resolution. The IPS LCD has sufficient brightness for indoor use at 500 nits, although I wish it was a bit brighter for outdoor use during the day. While the viewing experience is generally good, you will not get those deep blacks and rich contrast that you get from AMOLED displays. The iPad 10th generation does not support Apple’s ProMotion 120Hz refresh rate that is found in the more premium iPad Pro (M2) or the iPad Pro 2021 (Review).

The Touch ID button on the iPad 10th generation

With no home button, the Touch ID fingerprint authentication sensor has now moved to the power button on the top edge, similar to the iPad Air. If you’re used to the quicker and more secure Face ID authentication on iPhones and iPad Pros, Touch ID might feel a tad bit slow. The volume buttons are located on the right side (when in portrait mode), below which is the SIM tray (if you buy the cellular variant). Apple has also moved the front camera from the upper bezel to the right, making it ideal to use for FaceTime and video calls when the iPad is used horizontally.

The iPad 10th generation now features a USB Type-C port. While the data transfer speeds are not as quick as the more expensive iPad models, according to a report, it is still the same as the 9th generation iPad with the Lightning connector. This should not be a deal breaker for most casual users but it could be a deciding factor for more serious content creators.

iPad 10th generation features a USB Type-C port

The iPad 10th generation comes bundled with a 20W charging adapter and a braided USB Type-C to Type-C cable. There is also some documentation and two Apple logo stickers, which are pretty much the standard affair with new Apple products.

iPad 10th Generation (2022) specifications and software

The iPad 10th generation features the Apple A14 Bionic SoC, which is the same one that is found in the iPhone 12 series from 2020. Despite being a couple of years old, the A14 Bionic SoC based on the 5nm process is definitely no slouch. It has a six-core CPU and a four-core GPU. The SoC also features a 16-core Neural Engine.

Compared to the A13 Bionic found in the 2021 iPad, the A14 Bionic is claimed to offer a 20 percent increase in CPU and a 10 percent improvement in graphics performance. Those coming from the 7th generation iPad should expect up to three times the improvement in overall performance with the new iPad, according to Apple. 

In terms of software, the new iPad gets the latest iPadOS 16 out of the box. While Stage Manager, the highlight feature of iPadOS 16, is not available on the iPad 10th-generation, it does get most of the other new features. For starters, the Messages app now lets your edit or recall recently sent messages, recover recently deleted messages, and mark conversations as unread.

iPad 10th generation home screen running iPadOS 16

Safari for iPad now adds shared Tab Groups, which lets users browse the web with others in a secure manner. While the basic calculator app is still not available, Apple has finally added the Weather app to iPadOS. The new iPad also comes with a new productivity app called Freeform, which offers a flexible canvas and full support for the Apple Pencil. Unfortunately, we did not have the Apple Pencil with us to try it out.

Other than the newly-introduced features in iPadOS 16, the iPad 10th generation also supports some of the traditional features such as Split View, which allows users to run two apps side by side. There is also the Slide Over feature, which lets you use apps in a small windowed mode.

To offer a more complete experience of a productivity machine, the iPad 10th generation can be magnetically attached to the Magic Keyboard’s Smart Connector on the frame of the iPad, which provides power and data. This means the keyboard never needs to be charged or paired. Once done, you can fold the keyboard behind the iPad or detach it entirely. The back cover has an adjustable, built-in kickstand for even more flexibility when watching videos or playing games.

iPad 10th Generation (2022) performance and battery life

The A14 Bionic in the 10th-generation iPad was able to handle pretty much everything I threw at it. I used the iPad with the Magic Keyboard Folio for my daily work, which mostly involved writing and publishing articles. The keyboard offers good key travel and is similar to the Magic Keyboard found in the MacBook Air (M1) (Review). The trackpad is also fairly large and supports multiple gestures, making it easier to navigate through the user interface (UI).

The trackpad on the Magic Keyboard Folio is fairly large

I typically used the Chrome browser with at least 10 tabs open almost all the time, along with Pages for writing articles. I had also connected my AirPods Pro 2nd-generation (Review) to the iPad while listening to songs on Apple Music. My use case might not be as intensive for the A14 Bionic SoC but in case you plan on using it in a similar way, then rest assured that the iPad 10th generation can handle this just fine. The processor also complements the larger screen when it comes to gaming. I played Call of Duty: Mobile, Asphalt 9: Legends and some lighter titles such as Hill Climb Racing on the iPad.

Call of Duty: Mobile ran decently well at the ‘Very High’ graphics and ‘Very high’ frame rate settings. There was barely any lag when playing a Team Deathmatch and multiplayer rounds for about 30 minutes straight. While the iPad 10th generation did not have any performance issues, I felt quite a bit of fatigue trying to perform hand-gymnastics in order to play such games. It’s best to use a wireless controller with the iPad for such games.

Asphalt 9 Legends on the iPad 10th generation

I also ran some benchmarks on the iPad. In Geekbench, the iPad 10th generation scored 1581 and 3994 points in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The iPad scored 7,44,284 points in AnTuTu. For comparison, the iPhone 12 (Review) with the same SoC had scored 1,563 and 3,675 points in Geekbench and 5,68,462 points in AnTuTu, but this was with an older version of iOS. The M1 iPad Air on the other hand scored 1,001,016 points in AnTuTu and 1699 and 7206 points in Geekbench’s single-core and multi-core tests.

The iPad 10th generation has stereo speakers, which offer rich sound. For a true stereo setup, the speakers are placed on the top and bottom edges of the iPad (when held vertically). Even at full volume, there is no discernible distortion. There is no 3.5mm headphone jack, in case you were wondering.

The iPad 10th generation with the Magic Keyboard Folio attached

In terms of battery life, Apple claims that the iPad 10th generation can last up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi‑Fi or watching videos. The cellular variant has a claimed runtime of nine hours with the same use case. In our battery loop test, the iPad lasted for 9 hours, 54 minutes, which is very close to the claimed time.

On days when I used the iPad as my primary machine, I typically got a screen-on time (SoT) of 6 hours, 32 minutes. With 50 percent brightness and connected to Wi-Fi, the iPad was running multiple Chrome tabs and the Pages app. After playing games for about a couple of hours, the battery level dropped quicker than expected and lasted for about 5 hours, 43 minutes. This was only when I used the iPad non-stop, at a stretch. For the average user who has a medium to light use case, the iPad 10th generation should easily last for a couple of days. The 20W charging brick can fully charge the iPad within a couple of hours.

iPad 10th Generation (2022) cameras

The iPad 10th generation has two cameras — one on the back and one on the front. The rear 12-megapixel camera should mainly be used for scanning documents since the dynamic range is below average for photography, even though details and colours in photos were decent when used during the day.

The 12-megapixel rear camera on the iPad 10th generation does not come with an LED flash

Shot on iPad 10th generation’s rear camera 

The front camera houses a 12-megapixel sensor. The quality is quite good for both selfies and video calls. You can also enable the ultra-wide mode to widen the frame if more people are joining the video call. The iPad 10th generation also supports Centre Stage, which adjusts the frame to keep your face in the middle of it, or widen the frame automatically when it detects multiple people.

 

Shot on the iPad 10th generation’s front camera

The iPad’s rear camera can record up to 4K videos at 60fps, whereas the front camera can record up to 1080p videos at 60fps. The overall video quality is pretty good.

Verdict

The iPad 10th generation has received many upgrades compared to its 9th generation namesake. With an all-new design, this new iPad looks a lot more modern and premium. Minor, yet, welcomed changes such as a USB Type-C port and the landscape front camera contribute to offering a more convenient user experience. There are incremental upgrades to the display size and performance unit too, making the new iPad a more powerful device.

However, Apple has also priced it considerably higher at Rs. 44,900 for the base 64GB model. Our top-spec model with 256GB of storage and cellular costs quite a bit more. If you add the Magic Keyboard Folio, this pushes the price over Rs. 1,00,000.

Should you buy the iPad 10th generation as a laptop replacement? Unless you want a portable, lightweight machine with a touch display that supports the Apple Pencil, we can suggest getting the…

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