We’ve long anticipated this new OLED iPad Pro, growing almost bored with the wait, and yet the new tablet announcement was weighty enough that it still managed to leave us winded. Sure, the updated iPad Air with M2 and a 13-inch variation would be par for the course for Apple’s standard refreshes, but the iPad Pro now has an OLED screen, a new M4 chip, and a slimmed-down chassis. All that combined, and it’s certainly the most exciting iPad announcement since the Cupertino company shared the details on its first tablet. Oh, and that’s not all. The new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil could push the iPad’s versatility far beyond even a MacBook Air.
For starters, the $1,699 11-inch and $2,199 13-inch iPad Pro are packing not one but two layers of organic light-emitting diode displays. Why is that significant? Because OLED screens are notoriously some of the best for great contrast and deep, deep blacks. One of the few drawbacks of OLED displays has traditionally been brightness, but Apple claims the two layers of OLED actually push the SDR and HDR brightness past 1,000 nits. On HDR, Apple says you’ll manage to get 1,600 nits of peak brightness.
It wouldn’t be Apple if it didn’t create its own nomenclature for its displays. The new tandem OLED design is what the company calls “Ultra Retina XDR.” Look at the slides and judge for yourself whether the OLED panels make a difference, but they’re striking in person. Also, take a look at the size difference between the old and new iPad Pros. The 11-inch iPad Pro is now 5.3 mm, while the 13-inch is just 5.1 mm thick. Apple made the point that it’s now “thinner than an iPod Nano,” so if anybody still has one of those MP3 players in the back pocket of their old pair of pants, you might have a somewhat antiquated form of comparison.
The tablet entry would be strong enough, but the accessories might push the iPad Pro over the edge. A new Magic Keyboard now uses aluminum in its base, and yet it’s lighter than previous iterations with a better trackpad. Plus, the full-function row gives you the full MacBook experience. The real star is the new $219 Apple Pencil Pro, a stylus that has subtle haptic feedback, a new squeeze function to access in-app menus, and, most importantly, a “barrel roll” sensor that will detect the position of the roll of your pencil. Also, it finally has access to Find My.
Give it enough time, and we’ll see if it truly becomes the best iPad you can buy, let alone the best among current-gen tablets. Hell, we’ll want to finally determine whether the OLED iPad Pro is so good that we’ll finally ask why we should even buy one of the smaller MacBooks.
Take a look at everything that was announced overnight here.
iPad Pro Comes in 11-inch and 13-inch varieties.
The 11-inch iPad Pro and 13-inch iPad Pro are equivalent in performance, though the bigger model is just slightly thinner and a bit heavier, but not enough to make a difference in hand.
Two Very Thin Tablets
The iPad Pro is thinner than the iPad Air, which at both 11 and 13 inches measures 6.1 mm compared to the iPad Pro’s 5.3mm and 5.1mm for the 11- and 13-inch models, respectively.
The Camera is Now Positioned on the Landscape Side
Zebras Help Emphasize the Inky Blacks of OLEd
The New Nano Texture Glass on iPad Pro is Supposed to Help Reduce Glare
Apple Promises 3D Modeling and Rendering is Speedy on MacBook Pro with M4
There’s Also Some Gaming Capability, with Apple Showing off the iPad Pro Running Diablo Immortals
The iPad Pro Also Has Some AI Upscaling Abilities for Photos
The New Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro Comes With New Aluminum, a Better Trackpad, and a Function Key Row
All Folded Up, the New iPad with Magic Keyboard is About as Thin as a MacBook Air 15
It’s Also Far More Thin Than the Previous Pro with Magic Keyboard
The Apple Pencil Pro Can ‘Do a Barrel Roll’ to Do Different Lines Based on the Pen’s Orientation
The New Apple Pencil Pro Also has a Rotational Undo Function for Every Stroke
The Squeeze Function on Freeform Brings Up a Menu to Select Different Pen Tools
The iPad Pro’s 12 MP Main Camera Array Also Includes a LiDAR Scanner
Meanwhile, the iPad Air Comes With a New Size Option, Though Not the New Magic Keyboard
Still, it Has Moved the Internal Camera to Landscape, Finally
