The new Apple iPad Pro (2024) has just landed with range of huge upgrades, including Apple’s new M4 chip and an OLED screen. The two tablets are available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, both of which Apple says are the “thinnest Apple products ever”.
The new iPad Pros are fronted by a new tandem OLED display, which apparently hits 1,000 nits of brightness (or 1,600 nits for HDR). And under their hood is that new M4 chip, which makes its debut in the new Pros and offers, Apple claims, 50% faster CPU performance than the M2 chip in the old iPad Pro.
The M4 chip promises to blast through pro applications like the refreshed Final Cut Pro, and should also be a boon for battery life – Apple says it can provide the same performance as the M2 while using half the power.
But it’s that new Ultra Retina XDR display, available on both iPad Pro sizes, that will be an equally big a draw for upgraders. It promises to boost contrast, provide more detail in the shadows, and serve up brighter specular highlights – all very useful, whether you’re editing videos or watching movies.
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For the first time on an iPad, Apple will also be offering a matte display (on the 1TB and 2TB models) called Nano-texture glass for an extra $100 / £100 / AU$180. And there’s good news for video calls too, as the iPad Pro (2024) has its front-facing camera positioned for landscape-orientation calls.
You can pre-order both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the iPad Pro (2024) right now, with availability from May 15. The base storage for both is now 256GB, with prices starting at $999 / £999 / AU$1,699 for the 11-inch model, and $1,299 / £1,299 / $2,199 for the 13-inch version.
The most MacBook-like iPads yet
The new iPad Pro (2024) marks something of a power shift between the iPad and MacBook. Not only do Apple’s new flagship tablets debut the company’s M4 chip, they also have some new accessories to help you turn them into, effectively, thin-and-light laptops.
A refreshed Magic Keyboard has landed with a larger trackpad, aluminum palm rest, and a function row to give you MacBook-like access to volume controls or screen brightness. Apple even goes as far as to say that “the entire experience feels just like using a MacBook”. It also comes into colors (black and white) to match the iPad Pro, and costs $299 / £299 / AU$499 (for the 11-inch version) or $349 / £349 / AU$579 (for the 13-inch version).
Then there’s the new Apple Pencil Pro, which comes with new features like a squeeze gesture for changing modes within apps and a new barrel roll option which can, for example, spin the pencil around within the app, allowing you to manipulate 3D objects. The Pencil Pro costs $129 / £129 / AU$219, and works with both the iPad Pro (2024) and iPad Air.
Overall, it looks like the refreshed iPad Pro (2024) has been well worth the wait. Packed into those new thinner designs (5.1mm for the 13-in version, or 5.3mm for the 11-in model), you get a new Ultra Retina XDR display, M4 chip, an improved 12MP f/1.8 camera and a front camera that’s in landscape orientation for a better video calling experience. We can’t wait to take them for a spin soon.
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