It is a common practice for Apple to use limited amount of RAM for its devices. Highly optimized software and hardware combination ensures that the iPhone and iPad could perform very well, although they don’t have much RAM. Apple has surprised us with the 2021 models of iPad, because they offer a lot of RAM. Instead of using another Bionic processor, the new iPad is powered by the M1 chipset, which is also used for new iMacs, Mac minis, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. For mobile device sector, the inclusion of M1 chipset is a pretty big deal, because users can get significant performance level.
The latest version of iPadOS ensures excellent multitasking performance. Although the new iPad won’t beat high-end laptops with powerful CPUs and dedicated GPUs, it is still a huge development in the mobile market. For many years, Apple has never talked about RAM and it’s not considered as strong points of Apple devices. Even so, the extra RAM in the new iPad will definitely ensure that all apps and games will run effortlessly. Multitasking performance will be much better, because users can keep many apps running on the background. The new iPads will also capable of running more demanding apps. We heard that Final Cut Pro will be available for iPad and the extra RAM will ensure good productivity. For iPad Pro with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB of internal storage, users will get 8GB of RAM. For iPad Pro with 1TB and 2TB of internal storage, it comes with 16GB of RAM. Without doubt, this is a substantial change in Apple’s lineup.
It’s a good thing to know that Apple has broken its tradition and its devices finally have more RAM. It’s worth mentioning that 16GB of RAM in an Apple’s mobile device is quite huge. The 2020 model of iPad Pro had 6GB of RAM, so it is a natural progression for Apple to offer 8GB and 16GB RAM this year. The big question is why Apple finally decides to include significant amount of RAM in its mobile devices. We could expect that Apple will offer significant software upgrade that requires more RAM for smoother performance. As mentioned above, the Final Cut Pro could be available later for iPad devices. The next question is whether older iPad models with 4GB and 6GB of RAM will perform more sluggishly for when using significant processing.
Also, the M1 chip is clearly more powerful than the A12Z Bionic, although both has eight cores architecture. It would be a nice thing to see that more apps for MacBook will be available for the iPad. This could also mean that we will see major updates of the iPadOS to support ports of macOS apps. We could expect that the WWDC 2021 will be a very special event. On June 7 this year, Apple may unveil new additions to its lineup and improvements in terms of hardware and software. If you are a long-time iPad user, recent developments are certainly a good thing. The new iPads would support your productivity tasks, especially when you work from home. Paired with separate mouse and physical keyboard, the new iPads are as powerful as new MacBooks. If you want something with lighter and more compact form factor, you should watch for upcoming developments in iPad series.
