Four new iPads
Apple Launched the new Ipad Pro with substantial improvements in screen, performance and format, and Ipad Air in two sizes.
(The news is updated)
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It's been 1.5 years since Apple last launched new iPads, and declining hardware sales have made Apple look weak, so Apple needed a new iPad launch that didn't feel tired. And the new Ipad Pro really felt new.
Firstly, it has a completely new and significantly thinner design and lighter weight. The 11-inch iPad Pro is 5.3 mm thick and the 13-inch variant 5.1 mm. That makes them the thinnest Apple gadgets ever, but according to Apple they should still be just as robust.
The screen is of a completely new type that Apple calls Ultra Retina XDR, which is the first OLED screen in an iPad. But since it was not thought that OLED screens could deliver sufficient brightness, they have combined two layers with OLED panels, which gives a brightness of up to 1000 nits, and peak brightness of 1600 nits, which is impressively bright for a tablet. The OLED screen also provides better blackness and contrast than on older iPads. The screen's glass also has a nanostructure that means you get less reflections in the screen, much like we previously saw on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
We expected Apple's M3 chip from the latest computers to make an appearance here too, but instead it was a brand new M4 chipset making its debut. The new chipset's increased performance with less power consumption is what makes it possible to make the iPad Pro so much thinner.
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The iPad Pro also gets new accessories. The Magic keyboard comes in a thinner and lighter version with function buttons and a larger touchpad with haptic feedback. Apple is also launching a new stylus, the Apple Pencil Pro. It also has haptic feedback and senses if you squeeze it and with what force. In addition, you can twist the pen, so you can have pens and brushes that you can use on different joints just by spinning the pen.
Ipad Air also comes in two new variants, one with 11 inches, and one with 13 inches. It too can use the new stylus, but the tablet is thicker, has larger edges around the screen and has to make do with Apple's M2 chip and LCD display.
The new Ipad variants are available for purchase next week. Apple keeps the Ipad Mini and the latest regular Ipad in the range as cheaper variants but these were not updated in this launch.
And what about AI? Apple did mention artificial intelligence a number of times which was probably carefully balanced to highlight the capabilities of the M4 chipset but not so often that it came across as desperate.