Leaker: Apple to Launch New Low-Cost iPad This Year With A12 Chip

Apple's eighth-generation iPad will arrive this year and feature an A12 chip, according to an anonymous Twitter account with a thus-far proven track record for forthcoming Apple product leaks.

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Apple's seventh-generation ‌iPad‌, introduced in September 2019, was an iterative update to the sixth-generation low-cost ‌iPad‌, with a larger 10.2-inch display and support for new accessories. However, it used the same A10 Fusion chip as the sixth-generation ‌iPad‌.

On Thursday, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple is working on two new ‌iPad‌ models, which include a 10.8-inch ‌‌iPad‌‌ and an 8.5 to 9-inch ‌‌iPad‌‌ mini. These new iPads are expected to launch in the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021, respectively.

Kuo said that he believes the two new ‌‌iPad‌‌ models will follow the ‌iPhone SE‌'s product strategy, which means affordable price points. The existing low-cost ‌‌iPad‌‌ is 10.2 inches, so it's not clear if Apple plans to introduce larger-sized tablets or increase the available display size through bezel reduction.


Rumors aside, it would be reasonable to expect a new entry-level ‌iPad‌ this year, as the device has been updated annually for the past three generations. Also, the A10 chip was first used in the ‌iPhone‌ 7 and 7 Plus, so there's a good case for arguing that it's about time Apple took the processing power up a notch in its most affordable ‌iPad‌. The A12 chip first appeared in the ‌iPhone‌ XS, XS Max, XR and the 2019 versions of the iPad Air and ‌iPad‌ Mini.

In recent weeks, the anonymously-run Twitter account "L0vetodream" has noted that some products and components have been delayed, including the new iMac models and the A14 chip. It has also hinted at a 2021 release for a rumored 14-inch MacBook Pro.

The Twitter account accurately revealed several details about the new ‌iPhone‌ SE before any other leakers that we know of, including that the device would launch in the second week of April and come in three storage capacities. Likewise, the account accurately claimed that new iPad Pro models would launch in the third week of March.

Related Roundup: iPad
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Top Rated Comments

MrGimper Avatar
66 months ago
I feel non-laminated screens really annoy me more than they should.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chucker23n1 Avatar
66 months ago
I still don't understand the positioning of $329 iPad vs. iPad Air.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zdigital2015 Avatar
66 months ago

So many models.
Four (4) models is not “so many models”. Good grief!

iPad mini - smallest, most portable
iPad - cheapest
iPad Air - best for most
iPad Pro - highest end, fastest, pick a size

A very simple lineup, actually.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BMcCoy Avatar
66 months ago
If it's an A12 10.5 inch iPad, with 3GB RAM, touch ID, 64GB base storage and upgraded front camera to 7M from 1.2M, then isn't that just a 2019 iPad Air?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
66 months ago

If it's an A12 10.5 inch iPad, with 3GB RAM, touch ID, 64GB base storage and upgraded front camera to 7M from 1.2M, then isn't that just a 2019 iPad Air?
No laminated screen thin screen, and no True Tone or wide colour gamut. Also, no anti-reflective coating.

Plus the iPad Air will get updated.



I don't see new technology in the bottom of the line iPad.

It doesn't even have the 2nd gen touch ID sensor that the air and mini have.
That’s why I predicted 10.2” and conventional Touch ID, but some seem to be predicting 10.8”.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zdigital2015 Avatar
66 months ago

Do we need 500 different iPad models? Fkn hell man this character Cook is so desperate for sales but so stingy to drop the price of the over priced iPads. Guy wants to drop the price of items by giving u jack **** in return. Just the ability to say hey I have an iPad.



literally NO ONE complained about “so few models” when we had only ONE model for YEARS under jobs.

yes the problem is he is creating a platform to make more by giving you less product in return. It’s quite easy to see actually. Under Jobs we got the best product at all times. This idiot increased the price of the best products by hundreds, sales went down, so he created a lesser product for the price we used to pay for the best. And now no ones buying the average iPad either so he’s giving you less...again. That’s how you ruin your brand.
There are four models of iPad, five if you count the Pros as two separate models. Any human can count the number of models on a single hand, barring a disability.

So NOT 500...

Sales pay the bills of the software dev along with the hardware dev. Product segmentation is a real thing in every industry, because a company’s existence is to SELL a product. Or a service.

You got what Jobs gave you, which wasn’t always “the best”, but it was the only, you just didn’t know any better. Most were just happy to get what they got.

No one wax’s poetic about the first gen MacBook Air. It was slow and expensive and only had one USB port. Tim Cook is simply trying to broaden the iPad appeal the same way we have more than one Mac, because people like a 16” MacBook Pro over a 13” MacBook Air.

This isn’t Soviet Russia where you got one choice of car or you hoofed it. Choice drives competition, sales and innovation.

Maybe the iPad isn’t for you.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)