The popularity of tablets (such as iPad) and smartphones (such as iPhone) has changed people's daily working habits, and they have gradually become the main tools for more and more people to perform work tasks.
However, even though the iPad's capabilities have been significantly enhanced, including the introduction of a larger screen, an attachable keyboard, and a Mac-level chip, Apple is still pushing the iPad on the path of “why should your next computer be a computer?” Many challenges remain.
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The iPad has yet to completely replace laptops. The main pain point is its shortcomings in multitasking.
Although Apple is trying to enhance the multitasking capabilities of the iPad by launching new features (such as “front-end scheduling”) and upgrading chips and other hardware, and through ecological advantages and appeals, Apple has successively integrated desktop-level productivity software such as Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro into Completely ported to iPadOS.
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But these efforts don't seem to be enabling most users to completely wean themselves off their laptops. In addition, Apple has not made major updates to its tablet series since October 2022, and its focus once shifted to MacBook products, leading many consumers to believe that Apple will slowly abandon the iPad product line.
Facts have proven that tablets are still regarded by Apple as a key device for future work and life. On May 7 this year, Apple held a special event called “Let It Fly”, with the focus on the iPad.
This time Apple’s iPad products are “double swords”.The new iPad Pro series is available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, both of which use OLED screens for the first time and are equipped with M4 chips; the new iPad Air series is also available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions, both of which will be equipped with Apple's M2 chip.
This time, the new iPad Pro skips Apple’s latest M3 series chips and directly launches with the new M4 series chips.With a new neural engine and significantly enhanced AI capabilities, it is intended to be Apple's first truly AI-driven device and will usher in the “AI era” of Apple devices.
Apple said that the performance of the M4 chip is powerful enough to surpass today's AI PCs.
Judging from the parameters, the M4 chip is built with the second-generation 3-nanometer process technology and adopts SoC architecture. It has a new central processor with up to 10 cores (4 performance cores and 6 energy efficiency cores). Compared with the previous generation iPad Pro, The CPU performance of M2 chip and M4 chip is improved by up to 1.5 times.
The M4 chip also has a 10-core graphics processor built on the new generation graphics processor architecture of the M3 series of chips.
Bringing dynamic caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and hardware-accelerated mesh shading to iPad for the first time. Makes shadows and reflections more realistic in games and other graphics-intensive experiences, while helping various games and graphics-intensive apps achieve more visually complex scenes.
The M4 chip integrates Apple's fastest NPU (neural network engine) to date, with a computing speed of up to 38 trillion operations per second, leading the industry.
Coupled with faster memory bandwidth, a new generation of machine learning accelerators built into the CPU, and a high-performance graphics processor, the M4 chip gives the new iPad Pro super performance.Making it an ideal device for handling artificial intelligence tasks.
Apple said that using the iPad Pro equipped with the M4 chip, you can easily separate the subject in the 4K video from the background with just one tap in Final Cut Pro, and in StaffPad, you can automatically generate a musical score in real time while playing the piano.
In addition, the iPad Pro uses an OLED screen for the first time, which is officially called the Super Retina XDR display.
The newly upgraded OLED display will use self-luminous technology, have a higher contrast ratio than the mini-LED screen used in the previous generation product, and can significantly save energy consumption. Industry insiders have said that the OLED panel used by Apple this time is currently the highest quality OLED panel in the industry.
In terms of screen brightness, the new iPad Pro supports extraordinary full-screen brightness of up to 1,000 nits, perfectly presenting SDR and HDR content, and the HDR peak brightness is as high as 1,600 nits.
For professional users who work with advanced color management or have extremely complex lighting conditions, iPad Pro debuts a new nano-texture display glass option. Precisely etched at the nanoscale, the nano-texture glass panel scatters ambient light to reduce glare while maintaining excellent image quality and contrast.
In contrast, the previous generation iPad Pro 11-inch uses an LCD display, supports P3 wide color gamut, and has a maximum brightness of 600 nits; while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro uses a mini-LED display, supports P3 color gamut, and has a maximum brightness of 600 nits. Brightness up to 1600 nits.
What are the advantages of OLED?
Currently, OLED, Micro LED and Mini LED are considered to be more advanced screen technologies than LCD. These new technologies offer advantages such as higher contrast ratios, more vivid colors, thinner screens, and lower power consumption.
This allows these screens to provide a more realistic experience when watching movies, playing games and processing images. In recent years, many manufacturers have also used OLED screens as the main selling point of high-end products.
However, considering factors such as brightness, lifespan, cost, and eye protection, OLED screens still have some controversy. Whether the dual-layer series connection technology used in the OLED screen of iPad Pro can solve the problem of “screen burn” of traditional OLED remains to be verified later.
It is worth mentioning that the new iPad Pro adopts an extremely thin and light design, and Apple calls it the slimmest product ever launched. The 11-inch model is only 5.3mm thick, while the 13-inch model reaches 5.1mm. At the same time, both models are just as solid as their predecessors. The 11-inch model weighs approximately 454 grams, while the 13-inch model is nearly 113 grams lighter than its predecessor.
The new iPad Air also ushered in a landmark upgrade, appearing in two sizes for the first time – unlike the previous 10.9-inch model, Apple's new iPad Air uses 11-inch and 13-inch displays respectively. Since then, the new iPad Air has also formed a “large and small screen” product matrix that is similar to the MacBook Air.
The storage of the new iPad Air has been upgraded to 128GB and above, and 512GB and 1TB storage options have been added. It supports spatial audio, supports 5G communication, redesigned the front camera, and supports the portrait center display function.
The appearance comes in four colors, including blue/purple/starry gray/space gray, and uses a 100% recycled aluminum body.
The new iPad Air is equipped with an M2 chip. According to the official introduction, compared with the previous generation iPad Air equipped with the M1 chip, the performance is improved by 50%, and compared with the iPad Air equipped with the A12 chip, the performance is improved by 3 times.
In terms of system, iPadOS 17 has undergone many optimizations and upgrades. In addition to the front-end scheduling function, it also has full support for external monitors (up to 6K resolution). iPad Pro users can extend their workflow as they please.
In addition, Apple has also released applications such as Logic Pro 2 for iPad and Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad to further expand the creative capabilities of iPad.
In addition to new iPad products, Apple has also launched a new Magic Keyboard specifically for the new, lighter and more powerful iPad Pro.
In addition, the new Apple Pencil Pro is equipped with tactile feedback, which is a major update after 6 years.
Apple Pencil Pro is equipped with a new sensor that supports “pinch” and “side-turn” sensing operations, which allows users to easily bring up the tool tray and quickly switch between different tools, line thicknesses, colors, etc., providing users with a more natural and convenient writing experience. .
The Apple special event prepared for the iPad is a rare offline launch event by Apple in recent years, which highlights Apple's high priority and firm confidence in new products. Industry experts also generally believe that the release of the new iPad Pro will bring revolutionary changes to the tablet market.
As consumers' demand for excellent visual experience and AI applications grows day by day, Apple's first choice in this “AI PC” battle is to use the new iPad to lead the industry forward, which is bound to remind people once again “your next step” Why does a computer need to be a computer?”
summary:
As technology continues to leap forward and innovate, tablets and smartphones have become indispensable partners in our daily lives.
Although they cannot completely replace the functions of traditional laptops in some specific areas, their unparalleled portability, intuitive and easy-to-use interface, and rich application ecosystem are enough to meet the daily needs of most people.
As a leader in the technology industry, Apple's release of its new iPad Air and iPad Pro further confirms that tablet computers will play a more important role in the future and demonstrate their unique value and potential in more fields.
However, if you want the iPad to become your main PC, you still have to pay a certain amount of learning costs.