Apple iPad 9.7″ 6th Gen (Wi-Fi/Cellular) 32, 128 GB Specs

Marketed with an increased emphasis on the education sector, but also sold to the general public, the 9.7-Inch iPad (6th Gen) — introduced in “Early 2018” — is notable primarily because it is the first non-Pro iPad series to support the Apple Pencil. In basic terms, it brings together many of the internals from the iPhone 7 in a design quite similar to the iPad (5th Gen) that it replaced.

All iPad (6th Gen) devices — including this Wi-Fi and Cellular-equipped model — are housed in white and gold colored, white and silver colored, or black and medium toned “Space Gray” cases and feature a 9.7″ 2048×1536 (264 ppi) LED-backlit IPS touch-sensitive “Retina” display that is not fully laminated and that does not have an antireflective coating but does support the Apple Pencil. It has a “Touch ID” fingerprint sensor, as well. Each is powered by a four core 2.3 GHz Apple A10 Fusion processor, has 2 GB of RAM, and has 32 GB or 128 GB of flash memory storage.

Other notable features include dual cameras — a rear-mounted 8 megapixel “iSight” camera capable of shooting stills, Live Photos, and 1080p 30 fps video and a front-mounted 1.2 megapixel “FaceTime HD” camera capable of shooting stills, Live Photos, and 720p video — dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, HT80 with MIMO support (backwards compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n), and Bluetooth 4.2 in addition to stereo speakers. Connectivity to computers, if desired, and power is provided by the Lightning port. It does not have a “Smart Connector” for the Apple Smart Keyboard, but it can be used with a Bluetooth keyboard.

The battery life of this iPad (6th Gen) model is reportedly 10 hours “surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music.”

This Wi-Fi/Cellular-equipped iPad (6th Gen) model has support for A-GPS/GLONASS, GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA, CDMA EV-DO, and most importantly LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, and 41. In the US, this single device is designed to run on the AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks and even ships with an “Apple SIM” that is intended to allow one to switch between carriers around the world more easily.

Compared to the iPad (5th Gen) that it replaced, this iPad (6th Gen) model is faster, offers more LTE bands, and adds Apple Pencil support as well as support for Retina Flash. It was sold at a lower price point for educational customers, as well.