The iPad gets a serious facelift for its 10th Generation, but is its beauty surface deep?
Tablet | £499 | whf.cm/iPad2022
The iPad has officially hit double digits, and this year marks the biggest design change the standard iPad has undergone since its 2010 inception.
For the bulkier chunk of change required to pick up this year’s pad (last year’s model launched at £319), you do get some beefier internals, including a processor upgrade to Apple’s A14 Bionic. This is the same chip found in the iPhone 12, and it remains blisteringly fast despite being a couple of years old. Other upgrades include 5G support on the cellular model and a camera boost from 8MP to 12MP.
Gone is the traditional rounded slab with chunky bezels flanking the screen and housing the home button that has been the dependable iPad style we have come to know and get slightly bored of. The iPad has now been thrust into the modern age, taking its cues from the iPad Air, with its smoothed-off flat edges and narrow bezels for what Apple calls an “all-screen” design. The Silver, Yellow, Blue and Pink hues give a pop of colour that really brings some fun to the iPad’s look.
Another big design upgrade is a boost in screen size from 10.2in to 10.9in – not an earth-shattering improvement, but it pairs well with the slicker design, giving the iPad its new dimensions of 25 x 18 x 0.7cm (hwd). It’s also 10 grams lighter at 477g.
The 10th Gen iPad finally adopts USB-C for charging and data transfer, meaning the entire latest iPad line-up has ditched Apple’s proprietary Lightning port. This brings a world of possibilities for connecting external storage devices and accessories, opening up the iPad as a platform.
While the display gets a size bump, it also has a slight resolution increase to 2360 x 1640, with pixel density unchanged at 264ppi. The display tech is the same on paper, too, featuring an IPS-type LCD panel with an LED backlight and claimed peak brightness of 500 nits. It’s a shame Apple hasn’t increased the display’s sharpness or brightness along with its size, but even the current Air is capped at 500 nits.
Richer, bolder colour
Blade Runner 2049 offers great insight into this tablet’s capabilities. The murky and violent opening shines on this screen, with sharp edges and impressive detail in both the brighter outside scenes and the dingier interior shots. Areas of Sapper Morton’s dimly lit farmhouse retain some texture despite being cast entirely in shadow, and even with the almost solid wall of fog outside the minimal windows, there is still some detail that can be picked out.
