Apple announced two new iPads during an online presentation. Both tablets are available in 11 and 13 inch screen sizes. This concerns new iterations of the iPad Air and the iPad Pro. What can you expect from these new devices?
The new iPad Pro iterations are the first iPad upgrades that Apple has released since October 2022. Both variants are the thinnest tablets so far: the model with an 11-inch screen is 5.3 millimeters thick, while the 13-inch variant is only 5.1 millimeters thick. Both tablets also have the same type of screen: an Ultra Retina XDR display with tandem OLED technology. Apple has stacked two OLED panels on top of each other for this, which produces a high peak brightness for both SDR and HDR content (1000 and 1600 nits respectively).
This is the new iPad Pro
You can equip the screen with a layer of nanotexture. This costs an extra 130 euros and is only possible with the version with 1 and 2 TB. This way you prevent reflections on the screen, while maintaining image quality. The tablet is powered by the new M4 processor (built on a 3-nanometer process). The number of cores varies per storage variant of the iPad Pro. The 1 and 2 TB variants have four fast and six slower but efficient cores, while the other storage configurations have to make do with one faster core less.
The new CPU is one and a half times faster than the M2 from the previous iPad Pro. In addition, the latest generation has functions such as dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing with hardware acceleration (which is completely new). In addition, the well-known Neural Engine (for applications based on artificial intelligence) is good for 38 trillion operations per second.
The iPad Pro is also equipped with a USB-C connection with support for Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4. In addition, two separate versions will be released: one with WiFi only and one that supports both WiFi and the mobile network.
Other hardware and accessories
The iPad Pro with the M4 chip has four microphones and two 12-megapixel cameras. The front camera supports FaceID, while a LiDAR scanner is mounted on the back. This time there is no wide-angle lens, but there is a so-called True Tone flash. With some help from artificial intelligence, it removes shadows when they get in the way. Furthermore, the thinner and lighter Magic keyboard has been updated: it now has a row of function keys and a palm rest made of aluminum.
That is not the only important accessory, because there is of course also a new Apple Pencil. The new Apple Pencil Pro has a pinch sensor, and when you press it, you can adjust the line thickness. You can also switch brushes with this. The brush stroke is also automatically adjusted to the angle at which you use it. The Pencil Pro measures this thanks to the built-in gyroscope. Furthermore, this model works just like the old version. This means that the stylus is pressure and tilt sensitive and also has Hover functionality.
Want to buy an iPad Pro?
The new iPad Pro is available in various configurations. You can equip it with 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB of storage space. In terms of colors, you can choose from silver and dark gray. The cheapest variant with the smaller 11-inch screen and WiFi only will cost you 1219 euros, while the model with 5G connectivity costs at least 1469 euros. For the large model you pay at least 1569 or 1819 euros.
Then we have the two most important accessories: the Pencil Pro costs 149 euros, while the Magic Keyboard costs 349 or 399 euros. That of course depends on the size you choose.
And what about the new iPad Air?
For those who don’t mind a little less, Apple is releasing the updated iPad Air. For the first time, the Air is also available in two screen sizes, namely 11 and 13 inches. The LCD screens are called Liquid Retina displays and have an anti-reflective coating, True Tone technology, high brightness and a P3 color display. This time the front camera is in the long side of the tablet, and there is a thought behind it. When people make video calls (via Facetime), they generally place their tablets horizontally. Then of course that position makes so much sense.
The new iPad Air models do not have Face ID, but they do have a fingerprint scanner in the power button. That is exactly as was the case with the previous models. The tablets also have horizontally placed stereo speakers with spatial audio. The 13-inch model has better sound quality with twice the bass, Apple said. Probably because the size of the tablet offers more space for such a function; this gives a little more sound space. However, these are things that you really have to experience yourself in practice.
Two to three times faster
Under the hood is an M2 processor, which has eight cores. This should make the new iPad Air up to two times faster than its predecessor (with M1 processor). If you still have an Air with an A13 Bionic CPU, you can even triple the performance boost.
Thanks to the addition of the M2 processor, the new iPad Air is also a capable partner when it comes to artificial intelligence, which can be especially useful if you want to edit photos locally. Otherwise you have to rely on options in the cloud, such as Copilot.
The new iPad Air has a USB-C port and also supports standard WiFi. But you can of course also go for the version with 5G and WiFi. The new Apple Pencil Pro also works with this device, but the first-generation Pencil is also at your disposal.
You can buy the tablet in the colors blue, purple, starlight and space gray, with a storage capacity of 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB. You pay at least 719 or 889 euros for this; the 13-inch variant costs 969 to 1139 euros. The iPad Air will be officially available from May 15.
And for those who want to watch the announcement event for themselves: check out the video below.
