The iPad Pro is now the most powerful and thinnest Apple device out there.
Apple finally took the wraps off the new iPad Pro series that runs on the powerful new M4 chip and includes what the company is calling a “tandem” OLED screen. It also revealed a brand new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard to go along with the iPad Pro line (though they’ll also work with the new iPad Air models).
During the iPad announcement, streamed at 7 am Pacific time on Tuesday, Apple noted that the new iPad Pro 13-inch is now the thinnest Apple product ever at 5.1 mm, with the iPad Pro 11-inch coming in just behind at 5.3 mm. The 11-inch weighs less than a pound, while Apple has been able to shave off one-quarter of a pound from the larger model.
“iPad Pro empowers a broad set of pros and is perfect for anyone who wants the ultimate iPad experience — with its combination of the world’s best displays, extraordinary performance of our latest M-series chips, and advanced accessories — all in a portable design. Today, we’re taking it even further with the new, stunningly thin and light iPad Pro, our biggest update ever to iPad Pro,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, in a statement. “With the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display, the next-level performance of M4, incredible AI capabilities, and support for the all-new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard, there’s no device like the new iPad Pro.”
iPad Pro M4
Apple leapfrogged its own M3 chip and announced a new generation M4 chip to power the iPad Pro line, promising silicon that can outperform anything else out there. The CPU promises up to four performance cores and six efficiency cores, perfect for machine learning acceleration. Apple says the new chip can deliver up to 1.5 times the speed of the current iPad M2 devices and adds things like Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated mesh shading, and ray tracing, all new to the iPad device line. Apple also says its new silicon uses half the power for the same performance as its M2 chips and a new advanced Media Engine to take advantage of AV1 decoding, which will use less power when playing back high-resolution streaming video.
iPad Pro Ultra Retina XDR Tandem OLED Screen
The iPad is all screen, so it makes sense that Apple would continue to push the boundaries of display-making in its flagship tablet line. The new iPad Pro models debut what the company calls Ultra Retina XDR with tandem OLED screens that work together to combine the light from each into one high-resolution display.
The screens on the iPad Pro now support 1000 nits of brightness for both SDR and HDR content, with 1600 nits peak for HDR. Apple notes that the tandem OLED tech can let the device handle “sub-millisecond control” over the brightness and color of each pixel, allowing for more dynamic, stunning visual details. A new nano-texture glass is also involved, which maintains high-end visual acuity while scattering ambient light for less glare.
iPad Pro AI and Camera
Apple says that the new M4 iPad Pro offers faster Neural Engine performance, too, with the ability to manage 38 trillion operations per second (60 times as fast as the Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic chip). AI-powered tasks like isolating images from backgrounds in 4K video will be much faster and easier on iPad, Apple says, than any other computing device around. We’ll also likely see even more AI uses in apps as developers get a handle on this new Neural Engine.
The 12MP front camera with Center Stage has moved from the portrait side to the landscape side, of course, which is ideal for video calls on Zoom or Facetime. The rear camera boasts 12MP with Smart HDR and four “studio-quality” mics, along with a new AI-powered adaptive True Tone flash system that should help with document scanning, too.
Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard
Accessories for iPad Pro are on offer now, too, with a brand-new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard.
The new Apple Pencil Pro adds a new squeeze sensor in the barrel of the device, which lets you do things like switching tool palettes, line weights, colors, and more without having to tap on the screen. There’s a new haptic system, too, which will tap at you when you squeeze, double tap, or snap an item to a grid. There’s a gyroscope for rolling the Apple Pencil Pro around, and rotating the stylus will change the orientation of various pens and brush tools, just like the real thing. On top of all that, there’s a new hover feature that lets you preview what the tool will do before you place it down on the glass.
Best of all, Apple Pencil now takes advantage of Apple’s Find My system, making losing the thing around your house a much more distant possibility, even if you forget to magnetically attach it to the side of the iPad Pro to charge and store it.
The new Magic Keyboard is thinner and lighter than the last iteration, with a new function row to manage brightness and volume controls like a MacBook. It’s got a bigger trackpad with haptic feedback, too. It all attaches magnetically and is powered via the Smart Connector as before. There are two colors, black and white, each with an aluminum palm rest.
iPad Pro Pricing and Availability
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 for Wi-Fi and $1,199 for Wi-Fi plus cellular. The 13-inch model starts at $1,299 for Wi-Fi and $1,499 for cellular. The Apple Pencil Pro will run you $129, while the Magic Keyboard is $299 for the 11-inch version and $349 for the 13-inch version.
You can order the new iPad Pro with M4 today at the Apple Store website or in the Apple Store app in 29 countries and regions including the US, with retail availability starting May 15.
Thanks for letting us know!
News Summary:
- New M4 iPad Pro Has a Tandem OLED Screen
- Check all news and articles from the latest Tech updates.
- Please Subscribe us at Google News.