[아이뉴스24 서민지 기자] Apple, a strong player in the tablet PC market, is targeting the market with the ‘iPad Air’ equipped with the M1 chipset for Mac PCs.
Apple held an online special event at Apple Park, its headquarters in Cupertino, California on the 9th and unveiled the iPad Air.
Apple is trying to solidify its position by significantly improving the performance of the iPad Air.
According to market research firm IDC, Apple maintained its No. 1 position in the global tablet PC market with a 34.2% share last year. It was followed by Samsung Electronics (18.3%), Lenovo (10.5%), Amazon (9.5%), and Huawei (5.7%).
Although the iPad Air is a mid-range model, it is equipped with the M1 applied to the ‘iPad Pro’, the top lineup. Compared to its predecessor, the central processing unit (CPU) performance has been improved by up to 60%, and the graphics processing unit (GPU) performance has been improved by up to 2 times.
The camera performance has also been improved. It is equipped with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera with ‘center stage’ technology.
The center stage is a function in which the camera automatically captures the subject according to the user’s movement. It has only been applied to the iPad Pro so far, but was added to the iPad and iPad mini last year.
It supports ultra-high-speed 5G communication and can reach speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps. The USB-C port is up to 2x faster than the previous generation, with data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, allowing you to retrieve large amounts of photos and videos faster.
The 27.5cm Liquid Retina display is applied to increase the immersion. It is equipped with technologies such as 3.8 million pixels, 500 nits of brightness, full laminating treatment, wide color gamut support for P3, True Tone technology, and anti-reflective coating.
The new iPad Air is available in 64GB and 256GB storage capacity and comes in five colors: Space Gray, Starlight, Pink, Purple, and Blue. The price starts at 779,000 won.
Pre-orders will begin on the 11th in 29 countries, including the US, and will be officially released on the 18th. The domestic release date has yet to be determined.
Greg Joswiak, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, said, “A variety of users prefer the ‘iPad Air’, which provides amazing performance and various functions in a portable design. It is more powerful than ever with a front camera and ultra-fast 5G.”
/Reporter Minji Seo([email protected])
