According to the rumor mill, Apple was supposed to release a new 11th-gen iPad on Tuesday. Instead, all we got was a new $79/£79 Apple Pencil with a USB-C port and nothing else. But it turns out that Apple did ship a new iPad on Tuesday–kinda, sorta.
As pointed out by 9to5Mac, Apple announced that in China, the 10th-gen iPad has been updated with eSIM support. As the Apple Pencil (USB-C) press release on the Apple China website says (translated), “The updated iPad (10th generation) wireless LAN + cellular model will support the eSIM cellular network data plan in mainland China, enabling fast, smooth, and secure cellular data connections without the need for a physical SIM card.”
So that was the new iPad that all the leakers and analysts were talking about. But it’s not a whole new iPad, it’s just a spec update specific only to China. Ho hum. U.S. iPads already have eSim support, so there’s no need for an update here.
So, if you are in the market for a new iPad and were waiting for the rumored 11th-gen iPad to arrive this month, well, you can probably stop waiting. That new iPad isn’t coming–if it was, Apple would’ve released it alongside the new Apple Pencil (USB-C) and had no reason to update the 10th-gen iPad with eSIM in China.
Go ahead and buy one (it’s actually on sale at Amazon today for $50 off today). Oh, and good luck with figuring out which Apple Pencil to get.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.