A new report points to an even less expensive 9.7-inch iPad next year.

When it comes to the tablet market, there’s the iPad and there’s everybody else. Apple dominates the market, especially in the premium price range. To hold on to its position, Apple has been kept things fresh with new models like the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and new technologies like Apple Pencil and ProMotion.

But the fundamental design of the iPad hasn’t changed much in years. That could all change in 2018, as Apple gives use the first holistic new iPad design in a very long time.

Apple wants to release a new, cheaper 9.7-inch iPad in 2018. The sources claim the model would start at around $259. That's considerably cheaper than the already rather affordable $329 iPad Apple sells today.

No specs or details were given, just an estimated arrival of "second quarter of 2018." Plausible? Apple's iPad sales have been in a slow downward slide from its heights in 2014, but have started to recover this year thanks in large part to the new lower-priced $329 model. It makes sense for Apple to keep the price pressure on. 

This may not be a new model, but just a tweaked version of the current model expected to sell at a lower price, with more advanced iPads and iPad Pros (see rumors below) filling out the rest of the pricing stack.

New A11X processor

This rumor was reported on November 28, 2017. Recent iPad models have come equipped with new A-series chips based on the same architecture that debuted in the previous year’s iPhones. For example, the A10 found in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus has two high-performance CPU cores and two high-efficiency cores, a six-core graphics processor, and up to 3GB of RAM. The A10X found in the iPad Pro has three high-performance and three high-efficiency cores of the same architecture, a 12 graphics cores, and up to 4GB of RAM.

In the same way, the top iPad models of 2018 are expected to feature an A11X derived from the A11 Bionic found in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. 

Source: macworld