Apple released two new iPads today in product refreshes at nearly opposite end of the spectrum . While the 2022 entree - stratum iPad get a longsighted overdue update to more advanced specification , Apple alsoreleased a new M3 iPad Airwith its predecessor just ten months old .
While the M3 iPad Air updatefeels a mo unnecessary , it ’s still a very whole midrange tablet — and we mistrust most folks will find it aworthy alternative to the iPad Pro . However , it has n’t changed much from its forerunner .
Meanwhile , Apple ’s most low-priced iPad happen to be the first equipment the caller has loose in its Apple Intelligence erathat does n’t actually support Apple Intelligence . The company used an A16 fleck similar to the one found in the iPhone 15 , minus a couple of CPU / GPU cores . It ’s a overnice performance rise over the 2020 - era A14 scrap but also leaves it out of the AI plot .
The strange Apple Pencil game
In the midst of these new chips , one matter that has n’t exchange is Apple ’s bunglesome lineup of styluses . Wewrote about how buying an Apple Pencil was complicatedin 2023 , and it arguably bugger off bad last year when Apple added a fourth stylus to the commixture : the Apple Pencil Pro .
Apple now has four Apple Pencil poser on the market — and it still sell and put up all of them :
While you ’d conceive that Apple would have put the first - generation Apple Pencil out to range a long metre ago , not only does itstill deal that original stylusfor older iPads , but it also refuse to overlook bread and butter for it on its later iPad .
This wasinsane enough with the 2022 iPad , which switch to a USB - C port and create a weird charging situation for that original stylus . That was arguably unavoidable since Apple ’s entering - level tablet was n’t ready to support the second - generation Apple Pencil , which want magnetized charging , but that did n’t make it any better .
The Apple Pencil (USB-C) should have ended this
This was the trouble that the Apple Pencil ( USB - C ) wasclearly make to solve when it debut in late 2023 . Not only did Apple liberate a much more affordable style that complemented the price tag of its budget tablet , but it also provided a proper USB - C charging solution . The raw Apple Pencil could be plugged in using a regular USB - blow cable television , either to a rampart charger or the iPad ’s USB - C interface .
The Apple Pencil ( USB - C ) was mostly a step fore from the original style . It tot up support for the hover characteristic of the 2022 M2 iPad Pro ( which also come to the iPad Air and iPad miniskirt last yr ) and even magnetically attach to the sides of the flat - edged iPads . It could n’t charge from any of them , but at least you had somewhere to put it when you were n’t using it .
unhappily , that USB - nose candy edition was also one stone’s throw backwards : it lacked the pressure sensitiveness of the first - generation style . That ’s likely why Apple still patronize it even on the 2025 iPad that was announced today . There ’s also the reality that the latest iPad is on the face of it identical to the 2022 role model in every way , except for the chip inside . However , Apple could have still used this chance to get free of its ten - yr - old stylus if it really wanted to .
Apple needs to do more to simplify its styluses
The situation with the respite of Apple ’s iPad family — the iPad Pro , iPad Air , and iPad mini — is much simpler . The 2024 and later models use the Apple Pencil Pro , while versions released before 2024 use the Apple Pencil ( 2nd Generation ) .
The Apple Pencil ( 1st Generation ) remain an option solely for those who ask a pressure - sensitive style for the budget iPad . It ’s not an entirely bad choice , but it ’s emphatically an awkward one as you ’ll want to fuss with USB - C - to - Lightning adapters to charge it . Apple now include one in the box , andsells them separately for $ 9if you lose it or postulate an extra one .
However , the Apple Pencil ( USB - C ) is the style for most iPad users . It ’s a slap-up fit at a more low-priced price for anyone who only needs to take notes and do basic sketching . That ’s straight across the entire spectrum of iPad models . Even most iPad Pro exploiter wo n’t escape out by opting for the USB - C version rather of the Apple Pencil Pro , as the pricier version is targeted more toward digital artists who project on using it in tools like ProCreate , offering double - dab and squeeze gesture for quick selecting different drafting peter and rotate regulate pen and brush through a cask axial rotation motion . It ’s also deserving mentioning that Apple ’s stylus is n’t the only secret plan in town;there are plenty of Apple Pencil alternatives usable .
It ’s probably telling that Apple simplify its Apple Pencil lineup last fall . For about four months after the Apple Pencil Pro was turn , the page showed all four choice ; by November , that had beenreduced to only the Apple Pencil Pro and Apple Pencil ( USB - atomic number 6 ) , which iswhere the leaning stomach today . Those two styluses cover all current iPad models — include the M3 iPad Air and iPad ( A16 ) , so there ’s nothing technically missing here except insistency sensitivity for the entry - layer iPad .
