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you may have misunderstood me on this. External monitor support does not require more RAM by itself, but if done like on a PC, or even a Samsung high end tablet, it enables a much more sophisticated multitasking than it's currently possible on iPad (4 or more separate apps at the same time, interacting).
Where Apple will put the entry line for this feature, if it ever comes, is anyone's guess...

Ah got you, thanks for the context!
 
ipad 9 is too difficult for apple: they need to upgrade screen, they need to upgrade SoC, they need to upgrade RAM, and they need to keep the price.
that is just too much of an upgrade.

people who use ipad 6 and ipad 7 as a logic behind keeping the same SoC (A10) don't see that A10 for ipad 7 was a mistake. it should have been A11, but apple decided to use A10 for whatever reasons. that is why they "skipped" a generation for ipad 8. but if ipad 7 would have had A11, it made for a steady SoC upgrade: ipad 6 / A10, ipad 7 / A11, ipad 8 / A12, ipad 9 / A13. so most probably ipad 9 will have A13, but the thing is it also have to be upgraded with laminated screen, and apple didn't fix ipad pro 10.5/air 3 spot issue. so they know 10.5 air 3 body will have issues. they also need to upgrade RAM, because 3Gb is just not futureproof anymore as of 2021.
so, as there are still no rumours about ipad 9 it seems apple still don't quite understand what to do with ipad 9. they got Pro, Air and Mini.. should they just ditch ipad altogether?) in other words, ipad 9 may not come to light any time soon.
 
ipad 9 is too difficult for apple: they need to upgrade screen, they need to upgrade SoC, they need to upgrade RAM, and they need to keep the price.
that is just too much of an upgrade.

people who use ipad 6 and ipad 7 as a logic behind keeping the same SoC (A10) don't see that A10 for ipad 7 was a mistake. it should have been A11, but apple decided to use A10 for whatever reasons. that is why they "skipped" a generation for ipad 8. but if ipad 7 would have had A11, it made for a steady SoC upgrade: ipad 6 / A10, ipad 7 / A11, ipad 8 / A12, ipad 9 / A13. so most probably ipad 9 will have A13, but the thing is it also have to be upgraded with laminated screen, and apple didn't fix ipad pro 10.5/air 3 spot issue. so they know 10.5 air 3 body will have issues. they also need to upgrade RAM, because 3Gb is just not futureproof anymore as of 2021.
so, as there are still no rumours about ipad 9 it seems apple still don't quite understand what to do with ipad 9. they got Pro, Air and Mini.. should they just ditch ipad altogether?) in other words, ipad 9 may not come to light any time soon.
Apple has a clear strategy (upgrading every single year, but diluting the features that are upgraded) and it's working very well for them... regardless of what some enthusiasts might think (the base iPad sells more than all the other iPads combined, pro, air and mini). And whether they reuse A12 and leave the A13 as iPhone only, or use the A13, it won't make much difference (even less than reusing A10, since the jump from A10 was bigger, thanks in good part to the neural engine). And they don't need to increase the screen to 10.5, they can make a laminated version of the 10.2
 
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yep they can make a laminated version of 10.2, but they did such a move only once moving from Air 2013 to Air 2 2014, and after that they reused Air 2013 body twice for ipad 6 and 7, while shrinked Air 2 body was reused for Pro 2016. that is to illustrate apple prefers path of least resistance so imho it is unlikely they gonna make new shrinked body for 10.2 ipad as they will unlikely be able to reuse it. apple will only be able to use it for the base ipad. it is already outdated in comparison to Pro and Air, and in several years it will look downright detrimental to apple's public image. at least Air 2013 body served them for 5 years and 5 models, and the shrinked Pro and Air ones were much more expensive than base ipad.
 
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Unlikely that the 9th Gen will have a laminated screen, as these are fragile to an extent and not as durable/repairable as the non-laminated screens. This is very important when you consider that many schools and educational establishments use the base ipads for students to use in class etc.
 
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that is true and i personally would prefer unlaminated screen, but then again the share of educational system in total purchases may be very little, and apple understands that their base ipad is the only umlaminated screen device currently on the Android/iOS market. it is very outdated. too many possible buyers are turned down by unlaminated screen on an apple device in 2021. that is why i am sayin ipad 9 is difficult for apple. they just can not go on by using the same pattern any more. they are basically at the pressing point of inventing new ipad, which they of course not gonna do. they need new device, but not new enough to compete with other ipads. so my guess ipad 9 will be Air 3 body, A13, 3Gb Ram, 32 Gb storage. it will have white spot issues. it won't be future proof and may have problems with iPadOS 17 due to small RAM.
 
There are rumors of the Mini 5 having the A14. Last refresh got the A12, just like iPad 8th generation, with rumors of this one having a faster processor, which can only mean A13 or A14.

Do you guys think it's possible for the iPad 9th generation to get the A14?

In my book that would seriously hurt the iPad Air 4.
No chance It’ll get the A13 Bionic chip, that chip is no joke, it destroys the latest chipsets in the so called android flagships.

 
When do you guys actually think which apple event the new ipads will be at? will it be the one next week with the iphone or will it be sometime in oct or even nov ? ty
 
I sure hope it gets announced next week and available friday. Would be awesome.
 
Mini upgrades are inconsistent, but when the 5th gen came out with the A12 the iPad still had the A10. It's unlikely that the iPad will get the A14 this year, it will probably be the A13.
 
Unlikely that the 9th Gen will have a laminated screen, as these are fragile to an extent and not as durable/repairable as the non-laminated screens. This is very important when you consider that many schools and educational establishments use the base ipads for students to use in class etc.

exactly. The laminated display crowd forgets about the educational market and how they complained when they got iPad Air 2’s back in the day when the screen dropped and wait for the bill to replace them

I’m shocked and annoyed about how many people think this iPad will get A14. Are you people serious. Why would apple give it the latest A14 chip, all the rumors have said A13, and A13 is more likely for it

I don’t see a budget iPad getting something that quick like A14. Plus A13 is still solid

not sure about RAM though but I’m hearing 4GB so hopefully 4GB
 
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I was surprised they gave the base model the front camera set up from the pro model. Nice little surprise there, overall a decent spec bump, plus it got True Tone this year
 
I was surprised they gave the base model the front camera set up from the pro model. Nice little surprise there, overall a decent spec bump, plus it got True Tone this year

Agreed. This will be a good upgrade for my mom. She currently has a 128GB iPad Pro 9.7 that she's been using a lot for video calls. Alas, I think the RAM's a bit too tight or it's having a hard time decoding multiple video streams (some black boxes when doing 8-way calls).

I was originally planning on getting her the M1 iPP 11 for the front camera but the lack of Home button is a major con for her. Hard to decide between 64GB and 256GB though. A 128GB option for $379 WiFi/$509 LTE would've been perfect.
 
Agreed. This will be a good upgrade for my mom. She currently has a 128GB iPad Pro 9.7 that she's been using a lot for video calls. Alas, I think the RAM's a bit too tight or it's having a hard time decoding multiple video streams (some black boxes when doing 8-way calls).

I was originally planning on getting her the M1 iPP 11 for the front camera but the lack of Home button is a major con for her. Hard to decide between 64GB and 256GB though. A 128GB option for $379 WiFi/$509 LTE would've been perfect.
Yea my moms on the 5th Gen iPad, starting to have a few hiccups for her. She’ll probably hold onto it another year knowing her though lol. She’s managed with a 32gb Wi-Fi model so far but I guess it depends how much storage your noms using of her 128gb.

Oddly enough for my mom that’s her closest thing to a computer she owns and still manages on the 32gb model and just uses iCloud storage for photos. Basically just uses it for Facebook and safari.

Would be nice if this model got 4gb of Ram but that’s doubtful.
 
Yea my moms on the 5th Gen iPad, starting to have a few hiccups for her. She’ll probably hold onto it another year knowing her though lol. She’s managed with a 32gb Wi-Fi model so far but I guess it depends how much storage your noms using of her 128gb.

Oddly enough for my mom that’s her closest thing to a computer she owns and still manages on the 32gb model and just uses iCloud storage for photos. Basically just uses it for Facebook and safari.

Would be nice if this model got 4gb of Ram but that’s doubtful.

My dad's like that. He's fine with 32GB.

My mom gets frustrated when the internet's slow and her photos aren't loading so I have her iPhone and iPad set to Download and Keep Originals. Those would actually fit fine on 64GB. Problem is she likes to load up on TV seasons when she's vacationing in the Philippines.

It would be nice if iOS allowed local iCloud syncing. That way, she could keep her photo library on the iPhone while storage on the iPad could be dedicated to videos.

Yeah, doubt it's getting 4GB either but 3GB is at least better than 2GB.
 
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