- The new iPad Pro has an amazing OLED screen and M4 chip.
- It does nothing you couldn’t do on your old iPad Pro.
- You’ll need a new Apple Pencil and keyboard—the old ones aren’t compatible.
The new iPad Pro is an incredible piece of hardware, like a computer from the future—with one huge, and sadly way-too-familiar, downside.
The new iPad Pro hardware is a win in every way. The OLED screen looks better, uses less power, and is a big part of the new model being so thin. The Apple Pencil Pro looks great and comes in at the same price as the previous model, while some iPad configurations are actually cheaper than the last-gen models. But is all this enough to upgrade, even from an old 2018 iPad Pro model? Does the new iPad Pro actually do anything you couldn’t do before? Not really.
“Apple has evolved the iPad a lot since 2018, but the product still exposes a remarkable imbalance between the incredibly confident and skillful march forward by the company’s hardware design and processor architecture groups and the erratic advancement and limited functionality of iPadOS,” says long-time Apple journalist Jason Snell on his Six Colors blog.
That Screen
The screen is, according to all reports from the hands-on press areas, totally OMG gorgeous. OLED screen tech gives brighter colors, darker blacks, and more contrast. OLED screens light up every pixel individually instead of using a backlight shining through colored dots, which means that they only light the parts of the screen in use. This is why the blacks can be so great and also why they use less power–only the in-use pixels are lit, and there’s no always-on backlight-sucking power.
But OLEDs have one major drawback. They’re highly susceptible to burn-in. Also, if you run them at full brightness, they will deteriorate faster. Apple’s answer is to layer two OLED panels, one on top of the other, and run them at a lower output. That means pushing around a lot of pixels, which is why it skipped the M3 chip generation entirely and went with the M4, which Apple says has a redesigned display controller just for this purpose.
Considering that the iPad is basically a screen with a computer inside, it makes sense that it’s Apple’s best-ever screen to date.
“This upgraded display, with exceptional color accuracy and clarity, offers photographers and filmmakers an invaluable tool for on-site editing and immediate content review. In my workflow, the ability to accurately review tones, shadows, and highlights on a portable device helps in making swift, critical adjustments, saving time during post-production,” professional photographer Jodi Blodgett told Lifewire via email.
Wait One Second
But it’s not all great news. Despite the amazing screen, this is still the same old iPad we’ve known since the beginning. It still only has a single USB-C/Thunderbolt port for charging and accessories, for example.
“However, the limitation of a single USB-C/Thunderbolt port on a powerful machine like the iPad Pro continues to be a major drawback. In my practice, the ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously—such as SD card readers, external drives, and monitors—is crucial. The lack of ports necessitates additional investments in docks or adapters, complicating what could be a streamlined workflow,” says Blodgett.
And if you want to use a keyboard and the new Apple Pencil Pro with it, it’s going to cost you. Whereas the new iPad Air, also announced yesterday, continues to work with the last-gen Magic Keyboards, the new iPad Pro requires all-new accessories. This takes it into MacBook Pro territory, price-wise.
But the biggest let-down is the software. The iPad Pro is still hobbled by running what is essentially still a beefed-up iPhone operating system. Yes, you can plug this thing into an external display, but juggling multiple windows is still a pain. Podcasters still cannot record their own audio and a video call at the same time. And so on.
These are fairly high-end pro features, but this is the Pro iPad, which costs way more than a MacBook Air that can do all this and more just fine.
It’s tempting to think that Apple will fix this with the announcement of iPadOS 18 at WWDC in June, but as a long-time Apple-watching journalist, I’ve made that hopeful mistake every single time Apple has updated the iPad Pro to improve the hardware while ignoring the software.
The new iPad Pro looks incredible, literally, and if you are happy with your current Pro but want a nicer screen, and you’re happy to pay to get it, then go ahead. But for anyone hoping that this new iPad would offer anything new? Stick with the iPad you have. Or take a look at the official Apple refurb options because those prices always drop when new models come out.
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News Summary:
- New iPad Pro Is All About That Beautiful OLED Screen, and Not Much Else
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