Apple iPad 10th Generation Is Limited To USB-C 2.0 With 480Mbps Speed

Apple’s new 10th-generation iPad comes with a slower USB-C port than all other current iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini models. A test showed that – Apple had not previously communicated this.

This came out in the test report by The Verge. It was found that the device’s USB-C port was limited to USB 2.0 speeds of up to 480 Mbps for data transfer.

This means that despite the USB-C connector, the 10th gen iPad has the same data transfer speeds as the ninth gen iPad with the Lightning connector, so there’s no improvement in that area.

Faster is possible with other models

All other iPad models with a USB-C connection have faster data transfer speeds, which tease out the advantage of USB-C accordingly: For the iPad Pro models with an M1 chip and newer, Apple relies on Thunderbolt 3 compatibility and data transfer of up to 40 Gbit/s.

The fifth generation iPad Air achieves up to 10 Gbit/s, and the fourth generation iPad Air and the latest iPad mini achieve speeds of up to 5 Gbit/s. So far, Apple hasn’t mentioned the slower USB-C port when listing the technical details.

Following the report from The Verge, other testers have independently confirmed that the device is limited to USB 2.0 speeds.

What’s new in the iPad 10?

This limitation might not matter much to most customers, but it’s still important information when first reading about USB-C with faster capabilities. The main innovations of the 10th generation iPad compared to the previous entry-level model include a larger 10.9-inch display with slimmer edges, a new design, the more powerful A14 Bionic chip, a USB-C connector, Touch ID, FaceTime camera in landscape mode, 5G support, WLAN 6, etc.