New iPads and Apple TV 4K: The coolest stuff is in the fine print

Apple just put a handful of products directly on its website without an event. The glossy marketing pages for the new M2 iPad Pro, 10th-gen iPad and Apple TV 4K all highlight hot new features, but there are plenty of little details that might be important to you if you take a closer look. Here are a few of the little things you might have missed in Tuesday’s barrage of announcements.

The 10th generation iPad has a landscape-oriented camera

The 10th generation iPad is the first to have the front camera on board long Edge so it’s on top when your iPad is in landscape orientation. Given the preponderance of keyboard docks for iPads, it seems silly that the front camera is on the short side, on top when in portrait mode. You’ll find yourself constantly glancing sideways during Zoom meetings or FaceTime calls.

While the new iPad Pro still has a portrait camera, we think that’s only because the body hasn’t changed at all – the landscape camera will likely come to all iPad models once each gets a sizeable design update .

There is no more Space Gray iPad

The regular iPad has come in silver and space gray for years. The new 10th-gen model has four bright colors in addition to silver, but the Space Gray color is gone. Luckily, you can still get the 9th-gen iPad, iPad Pro, and iPad Air in Space Gray.

Apple Pencil requires (and comes with) a $9 adapter

While the 10th-gen iPad has a similar design to the iPad Air, with flat sides, no home button, and Touch ID on the side button, it does Not supports the 2nd generation Apple Pencil. Instead, you still have to use the first-gen stylus, which charges by awkwardly plugging a Lightning connector under a cap at the end into your iPad’s charging port.

But wait, doesn’t the new iPad have a USB-C charging port? Yes, it does! As a result, the first-generation Apple Pencil now comes with a USB-C to Lightning adapter that you can connect to a Lightning cable and your Pencil the load.

In fact, first-gen Apple Pencils now come with two adapters, as there’s a Lightning-to-Lightning adapter that allows them to charge with a Lightning cable as well. If you already have a first-generation Apple Pencil, you can purchase the USB-C to Lightning adapter separately for $9.

Apple

Bluetooth 5.0, 5.2, 5.3…

Apple products have had Bluetooth 5.0 for a while, but they’re starting to make the move to Bluetooth 5.2 and higher, as evidenced by the new iPhone 14, AirPods Pro, and Apple Watch Series 8, all of which support Bluetooth 5.3. It’s a bit of a menagerie when it comes to new products: the new Apple TV 4K still has Bluetooth 5.0, the 10th-gen iPad has Bluetooth 5.2, and the M2 iPad Pro has Bluetooth 5.3.

Why is that important? Not at the moment because Apple isn’t doing anything obvious that requires the newer standards. But LE Audio is the next big thing in Bluetooth audio and requires at least Bluetooth 5.2.

The M2 iPad Pro is Apple’s first Wi-Fi 6E device

Speaking of newer wireless standards, the new M2 iPad Pros are the first Apple devices to support the Wi-Fi 6E standard. There aren’t many Wi-Fi 6E routers out there just yet, but it’s nice to have some future-proofing when you’re spending that much on a tablet.

The 10th generation iPad does not support mmWave 5G

If you choose the cellular model of the new iPad 10th gen, you’ll be glad that it supports 5G. Note, however, that it only supports the sub-6GHz bands, not mmWave. If you want that super-fast (and short-range) mmWave 5G network, you need to get an iPad Pro.

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The cheaper Apple TV 4K has neither Ethernet nor Thread

We’re in the odd position of actually recommending this expensive version of the Apple TV for once. Both models get double the storage space of the previous generation, which most people don’t even need. However, the 64GB model ($129) doesn’t have Ethernet or Thread wireless networks. Doubling up the memory, ethernet, and thread only costs $20 more ($149), so you might as well go for it.

The new Apple TV 4K is smaller and fanless

Although it looks about the same in photos, the new Apple TV 4K is smaller than the previous model. It’s only 3.66 inches square (from 3.9) and 1.2 inches tall (from 1.4 inches). That brings the volume down from 21 cubic inches to about 16 cubic inches, or about 23 percent smaller. It also weighs half as much: 7.5 ounces instead of 15 ounces. And it’s now completely fanless, although at no point would the old Apple TV 4K’s fan spin high enough to be audible even in a quiet room.

The Siri Remote is now USB-C

The 10th-gen iPad isn’t the only product making the jump to USB-C — the Siri Remote for the Apple TV 4K also has a USB-C charging port. Oh, and there’s no longer a charging cable in the box, so every few months you’ll have to use one of the two dozen USB-C cables you have laying around the house to charge the remote.

Apple’s transition away from lighting and toward USB-C will likely continue over the next year or so. Here is a list of all of the products that Apple will eventually need to transition or discontinue to comply with an upcoming EU regulation.