The iPad Pro (2024) just landed with a super-powerful M4 chipset and a new OLED screen
The new Apple iPad Pro (2024) has just landed with a range of massive 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 face a new tandem OLED display, which apparently reaches 1,000 nits of brightness (or 1,600 nits for HDR). And under their hood is that new M4 chip, making its debut in the new Pros and offering, Apple claims, 50% faster CPU performance than the M2 chip in the old iPad Pro.
The M4 chip promises to power through professional applications like the updated Final Cut Pro, and should also be a boon for battery life; Apple says it can deliver 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 draw for upgraders. It promises to increase contrast, provide more detail in the shadows and display 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 offer a matte screen (on the 1TB and 2TB models), called Nano-texture Glass, for an additional $100 / £100 / AU$180. And there’s good news for video calls too, as the iPad Pro (2024)’s front camera is positioned for landscape orientation calls.
You can pre-order both the 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the iPad Pro (2024) now, with availability starting May 15. Base storage for both is now 256GB, with prices starting from $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 a power shift of sorts 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 that can effectively turn them into thin and light laptops.
An updated Magic Keyboard has arrived with a larger trackpad, aluminum palm rest and a function row that gives you MacBook-like access to volume buttons and screen brightness. Apple even goes so far as to say that “the entire experience feels just like using a MacBook.” It’s also available in 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 pinch gesture to change modes within apps and a new barrel roll option that lets you, for example, rotate the pencil around in 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 updated iPad Pro (2024) has been more than worth the wait. Packaged in these new, thinner designs (5.1mm for the 13-inch version, or 5.3mm for the 11-inch model), you get a new Ultra Retina f/1.8 camera and a front camera that is in landscape orientation for a better video calling experience. We can’t wait to try them out soon.