First OLED display, slimmer body, and new processors: Apple showed the iPad Pro (M4)

Apple’s planned presentation, as expected, was devoted to new iPad models. Among them, the company also showed an updated flagship line of iPad Pro tablets in both sizes. Or simply iPad Pro (M4), as the model is listed in the manufacturer’s gadget list. And this time, there are much more updates than you might think.

To begin with, the new iPad Pro is offered with 11- and 13-inch screens. That is, the largest model of the manufacturer has increased the diagonal quite a bit. And if this is not a very fundamental point, the situation with the size of the case is more interesting:

That is, while retaining the aluminum body, the new models have gained a little bit in height and width, but have noticeably lost in thickness and weight (especially the larger model). As noted at the presentation, the new iPad Pro is thinner than the iPod nano, making it Apple’s thinnest tablet yet. And this is definitely a pleasant moment for users who often take their iPad Pro with them instead of leaving it at home or at the workplace.

Also, both iPad Pro (M4) are presented in two colors: standard Silver and darker than its predecessor Space Black (previously Space Gray).

 

More importantly, the iPad Pro (M4) became the company’s first tablet with OLED matrices – Ultra Retina XDR display. Let me remind you that the predecessors used IPS-matrices with Mini LED backlighting. And here the manufacturer resorted to an interesting “trick”. To get the desired level of backlight, the matrix consists of two layers of diodes – the technology is called Tandem OLED.

Thus, the maximum brightness level for SDR content was increased from 600 to 1000 cd/m², while XDR and peak values for HDR images remained at 1,000 and 1,600 cd/m², respectively. So not only has the normal image become brighter, but it should also improve the reproduction of shadows and true blacks. And at the same time, such matrices are available for both screen sizes, whereas previously Mini LED was an option only for the larger version.

And that’s not all. For 1TB and 2TB models, the option of Nano-textured glass is available, an anti-reflective coating that should improve performance in bright light or direct sunlight.

Among other things: the resolution for 11 inches is 2420×1668 pixels, and 13 inches – 2752×2064 (a slight increase compared to previous generations); there is support for dynamic refresh rate from 10 to 120 Hz (ProMotion); automatic color temperature adaptation (True Tone); and support for DCI-P3 color space.

A minor update is the placement of the 12-megapixel front-facing camera, which now matches that of the iPad Air, i.e., it has shifted from portrait to landscape orientation. FaceID face scanning sensors are located next to the front camera.

The main camera unit remained with only one wide-angle sensor with a resolution of 12 MP (ƒ/1.8, Smart HDR 4, 5x digital zoom, 4K and ProRes video recording). LiDAR was not removed. And the flash has been updated to Adaptive True Tone, and now it, along with proprietary software solutions, will help you scan documents better.

The number of speakers in both sizes of iPad Pro has not changed, leaving four for each tablet. However, the number of microphones has decreased from five to four. 

Another big part of the iPad Pro tablet update was the processors. The new models skipped Apple’s M3 chips and immediately received M4. This is the second generation of 3-nanometer manufacturing technology. Depending on the configuration, the user will have access to 9- or 10-core CPUs (3-4 productive and 6 energy-saving cores), which will offer up to 50% faster speed than M2. The new architecture of 10-core graphics accelerators will support Dynamic Caching, Mesh shading and Ray tracing technologies, and will also increase the rendering speed four times compared to M2. AV1 decoding has been added to the media processing capabilities.

Separately, it is noted that M4 chips are capable of delivering the same level of performance as M2, while using only half the energy of its predecessor. Moreover, the M4 in the iPad Pro is able to provide the same level of performance as “thin and light” laptops, using only a quarter of the power (although the exact model of the laptop was not specified at the presentation). The iPad Pro also improves thermal regulation by 20%.

M4 also has a 16-core Neural Engine for processing artificial intelligence tasks, providing up to 38 trillion operations per second. This is 60 times faster than the first Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic. The company emphasizes that its NPU is currently the fastest on the market when it comes to custom solutions.

The memory bandwidth has also increased, now reaching 120 Gbps. The storage capacity of the new models starts at 256 GB and goes up to 2 TB. The 1-2TB models will be accompanied by 16GB of RAM, while the cheaper options will have 8GB.

The overall performance of the new tablets is 4 times faster than its predecessor, and 10 times faster than the first iPad Pro.

As for iPadOS, it was mentioned minimally, while new versions of Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 were presented. However, the company will announce more significant changes to the OS with the next update, which will be announced in a month at the annual WWDC 2024 developer conference.

There are practically no changes in the communication section: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, navigation… And options with a 5G module are also available for both models, except that there are no Nano-SIM slots now (at least for tablets for the US market), and only eSIM remains, as happened with the iPhone last year. To connect external devices, there is Thunderbolt/USB 4, a magnetic mount for the Apple Pencil, and a Smart Connector for the keyboard.

By the way, new keyboards for the new iPad Pro have been created accordingly (Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (M4)), which now have a number of function keys and a larger trackpad. If necessary, the user also has options with branded styluses, which support the new Apple Pencil Pro and the simpler Apple Pencil (USB-C).

The battery life of the new models has also remained at the same level: up to 10 hours of browsing the Internet or watching videos when connected to Wi-Fi, or an hour less with a cellular connection.

Finally, the most painful thing is the price. The iPad Pro 11 (M4) in the United States will start at $999 for 256 GB of storage, and increasing its capacity to 2 TB will “raise” the price tag to $1999. The Nano-textured glass option will cost another $100. In turn, the iPad Pro 13 (M4) with the same memory options will cost $1299-2299, with the same surcharge for the optional glass coating. And if that’s not enough, the presence of a cellular module will increase the cost of the 11- and 13-inch models to $2299 and $2599, respectively.

Pre-orders in the US are already open, and the new products will be available on May 15. The launch date in Ukraine and local prices have not yet been announced.

Watch the full recording of the Apple Let Loose presentation: