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Apple Introduces Apple Watch Series 5 & New RM1,449 10.2-inch iPad
September 11, 2019 Andrew Cheng

The new iPhone 11 series was definitely the star of the show at Apple’s launch event earlier today, but the Cupertino company also introduced two other new hardware: the Apple Watch Series 5, and the 7th generation 10.2-inch iPad.

Let’s start with the new Apple Watch. Compared to its predecessor – which has been discontinued, curiously – the Series 5…isn’t all that different. It has the same design, case size, and the ability to measure EKG readings. What is new is a feature that many have been asking for: an always-on display.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bvcyIV4yzo

Despite the new always-on display, the Series 5 watch still boasts the same 18-hour battery life of its predecessor. This is thanks to the use of low-temperature polysilicone and oxide (LTPO) display, low-power display driver, and an efficient power management integrated circuit, as Apple puts it.

Another new hardware under the hood of the Series 5 watch is the built-in compass, which allows users to see heading, incline, latitude, longitude, and current elevation. While it’s not exactly a feature many folks will use, it’s certainly nice to have.

Customisation is also a big part of Apple Watch Series 5. In fact, the wearable is available in a wide variety of finishes, ranging from stainless steel, aluminium, titanium, and even ceramic. If you want to take things further, you can take advantage of Apple Watch Studio, which allows you to choose your preferred case and band combination.

However, it remains to be seen if Apple Watch Studio will be available in Malaysia. If it does, you can do your customisation right from Apple’s website.

Local pricing and availability of the Apple Watch Series 5 have not been revealed yet either, but for the US market, it will start shipping from 20 September onwards. The GPS-only model retails at $399 (about RM1,665), while the cellular variant goes for $499 (around RM2,085). Don’t quite dig the Series 5? Well, you can get the Series 3 watch instead: its price has been revised to RM849 for the Malaysian market.

Next is the new 7th generation 10.2-inch iPad, which replaces the 6th generation 9.7-inch iPad. Not only is the Retina display bigger now, the 10.2-inch iPad also comes with a Smart Connector. This, in turn, allows it to work with Apple’s Smart Keyboard case.

But beyond the bigger display and Smart Connector, the 10.2-inch iPad has a lot in common with the 9.7-inch model it’s replacing. It is still powered by the A10 Fusion chip, it still comes with 32GB or 128GB of internal storage, and it’s still compatible with the first generation Apple Pencil.

Pricing wise, the 10.2-inch iPad starts from only RM1,449 for the 32GB WiFi model; RM1,849 if you want 128GB of storage instead. The cellular model, on the other hand, go for RM1,999 and RM2,399 for the 32GB and 128GB configurations respectively. At the time of writing, Malaysian availability of the new iPad is not known yet.

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