iPad Pro with tandem OLED and M4
Apple's refresh of the iPad Pro lines makes a major and long-awaited change to the tablet, with OLED, M4, and a thinner case.
The rumored revamp of the iPad Pro has arrived, with Apple introducing the updated iPad Pro range after over a year without changes. A new display, landscape selfie camera, M4 processor, and thinner case design.
They have 11-inch and 13-inch displays, and the iPad Pro has been refined to make the cases slightly thinner than the previous generation. The size change also results in a small weight loss for both models.
The new iPad Pros are 5.3mm and 5.1mm thin, which is thinner than Apple's iPod nano. Apple says it is the thinnest device the company has ever shipped.
Partly driving the change is an overhaul in display technology Apple uses. While previously relying on LED and mini-LED backlighting, Apple has finally made the switch over to OLED, but in two layers with tandem OLED for better brightness.
OLED is a self-illuminating display technology that doesn't require backlighting, helping reduce the thickness of the tablets. It also offers higher levels of contrast, brighter pictures, and more accurate colors compared to traditional TFT LED screens.
New iPad Pro has 1,000 nits of brightness for SDR and HDR content. It has 1,600 nit peak brightness for HDR content.
A nano texture option is also available.
Making the leap to M4
Apple also included the M4 processor for a leap in performance. It has 4 performance and 6 effeciency cores.
The M4 has a 10-core GPU with hardware accelerated ray tracing and mesh mapping. It enables more powerful pro apps and high-end game rendering.
The new neural engine can perform 38 trillion operations per second, 60x faster than first in A11.
Apple introduced Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 alongside the new iPads. Final Cut Pro 2 gets 4x more streams than M1 models, and Logic Pro 2 gets AI instruments.
Other changes
Around the back is Apple's Wide Camera at 12MP. Once again, Apple packs a LiDAR sensor into the camera bump.
The Ultra Wide Camera has been removed.
The TrueDepth camera at the front uses a 12MP Ultra Wide camera with a 122-degree field of view and depth mapping capabilities. It has been moved to the landscape side of the iPad, though this doesn't interfere with Apple Pencil charging.
Magic Keyboard now has a function row. Apple also introduced the Apple Pencil Pro, built with new iPad Pro in mind.
Pricing and availability
Both the 11-inch iPad Pro and 13-inch iPad Pro are available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations. Nano texture glass adds $100 to the total.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $999, and the 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,299. Add $200 for the cellular modem option.
The Apple Pencil Pro is $129. The Magic Keyboard is $279 for the 11-inch model and $349 for the 13-inch model.
Pre-orders started May 7 and initial shipments will arrive on May 15.
