Budget 2021: The iPad Pro might have been used to table one of the nation’s most important documents

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul has just tabled the federal budget for 2021, with the Perikatan Nasional government aiming to boost the economy with a larger allocation compared to 2020. Budget 2021 also comes at a time of economic uncertainty for Malaysia amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and as such, all eyes were peeled on Tengku Zafrul this afternoon. But did you notice what the minister was using while presenting the budget?

If you look carefully, Tengku Zafrul appeared to be using an iPad Pro. Obviously, we can’t confirm this detail, but from what we can tell, it turns out that our Finance Minister shares the widely-held view that the iPad Pro is one of, if not the best tablet you can find.

Based on the proportions, it also looks like this is the top-of-the-line 12.9″ iPad Pro, although it isn’t clear if this is the 2020 edition of the Pro or near-identical 2018 version. The key to this is the black/dark grey Apple Pencil mount on the edge of the purported iPad, something that is pretty distinctive to the Pro. It also looks like the left side (from Tengku Azrul’s POV) of the iPad Pro is slightly raised, which matches the camera bump on the iPad Pro.

It may not seen like a crucial detail—and it isn’t, compared to federal budget allocations—but it’s still significant that the Finance Minister is using an iPad Pro to table one of the nation’s most important documents. Due to the ongoing political situation in Malaysia coupled with the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Budget 2021 is also one of the more controversial federal budgets of recent times.

Information that Tengku Zafrul referred to was clearly confidential in nature, which is a testament to the iPad Pro’s security and privacy features. The iPad Pro comes with Face ID for biometric authentication, and this data is then encrypted and protected by the iPad’s Secure Enclave—as opposed to being backed up on a cloud-based server. There are also other safeguards like Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention to prevent personal data from being collected via websites.

It isn’t supposed to be an advert, of course, which is why we can’t say with 100 percent certainty that this is the iPad Pro 12.9″. But that’s our educated guess. Take a look yourself, and let us know if you agree—we’d love to hear from you. Meanwhile, for the full coverage on Budget 2021, click here.

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