Apple has just unleashed some upgrades to its iPads, and this is especially significant since there were no iPad upgrades for the entirety of 2023.
Here is a guide to everything you need to know about the new iPads and the new Apple Pencil Pro.
The iPad Air grew up! (with a refresh)
For the first time ever, there are two sizes for the iPad Air: a standard 11″ model that is not too different in dimensions from the older 10.9″ model, and the all-new larger 13″ model!
As for the overall hardware, the 11″ iPad Air is not too different from its 10.9″ predecessor, with a similar display, similar aluminium build, similar battery performance and the same 20 watt wired charging. It has support for WiFI 6E and 5G (on the cellular model) via eSIM.
However, there is a much requested change that Apple has finally made: it now starts at 128 GB of base storage, up from the paltry 64 GB storage on prior models. It also has a landscape selfie camera (finally!), and also supports the Apple Pencil’s hover feature, which was earlier reserved to the iPad Pro.
All of these new improvements are also carried over to the new 13″ iPad Air, which is great to see. Both of them are available in four storage configurations (128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB), and four colours (Space Grey, Starlight, Purple, Blue).
However, the display still refreshes at 60 Hz, both on the 11″ and the 13″ models of the iPad Air.
The 11″ iPad Air starts at INR 59,900/$599 and the 13″ iPad Air starts at INR 79,900/$799. Sales kick off from next week (15th May).
The massive iPad Pro upgrade!
The biggest changes this year are reserved to the iPad Pro, which ended up being a massive upgrade from the older generation. It has two models as always: the 11″ variant and the 13″ variant)
MiniLED is no more, since we now have an OLED panel on the new iPad Pro models. It is a tandem OLED panel, which involves two panels layered one over another to boost brightness numbers. This allows the company to achieve 1000 nits of full-screen brightness and 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness.
Furthermore, the OLED panel also has LTPO technology, allowing 10-120 Hz ProMotion variable refresh rate. Users can also opt for a nano-texture glass on certain variants of the iPad Pro, which will reduce glare and display reflections.
The second upgrade is with the chipset. The iPad Pro now has a generational leap, skipping the M3 entirely and going to the new Apple M4 chip.
The Apple M4 is made on TSMC’s 2nd generation 3 nm fabrication and has the fastest NPU ever, capable of as many as 38 trillion operations per second. It has a 10-core GPU which supports Ray Tracing and upto 10 CPU cores (more on this later). It also has a dedicated Display Engine to drive the new OLED panel.
They are also Apple’s thinnest iPads ever, with the 11″ Pro being 5.1 mm thick and the 13″ Pro being 5.3 mm thick, with weights of as low as 0.98 lbs and 1.28 lbs respectively.
The company also debuted a Multistage camera feature to run the viewfinders of multiple iPhones on the iPad Pro at the same time, alongside new versions of the Final Cut Pro and the Logic Pro apps.
It has the same all-day battery promise of its predecessors and 20W wired charging.
However, there are two conditions to note with the new iPad Pros:
- The 256 GB and 512 GB variants of both the 11″ Pro and the 13″ Pro have a weaker version of the M4 chip with a 9-Core CPU, while the 1 TB and 2 TB variants get the full 10-Core CPU version of the chip.
- The Nano-Texture Glass is only available on the 1 TB and 2 TB variants as an optional extra, costing INR 10K/$100 extra.
The 11″ iPad Pro starts at $999/INR 99,900 and the 13″ iPad Pro starts at $1299/INR 1,29,000 for the base 256 GB variant. Sales begin next week (15th May).
Also Read: Discover the Amazing Hidden iPhone Features Apple Doesn’t Advertise – Part 2
The Apple Pencil Pro
This is the replacement for the second-generation Apple Pencil, bringing a whole host of major changes and improvements.
It has three new gestures. The squeeze gesture can be used to switch tools, line weight and colors. The roll gesture changes the precise control of the tool in use (for example, a different orientation to a pen tool), and this is aided by the help of a built-in gyroscope sensor.
It has a new hover gesture which visualises the orientation of tools before touching them on the iPad. Furthermore, the new Apple Pencil Pro has integrated haptics, which registers feedback when using these gestures.
Additionally, you won’t lose your Apple Pencil Pro anytime soon, due to the addition of the Find My functionality, which means that you can track the location of your Pencil Pro by using your iPhone or iPad.
The new Apple Pencil Pro is priced at $129/INR 11,500, and will be available starting 15th May. It is supported on both the new iPad Air and the new iPad Pro (both the 11″ and 13″ models).
conclusion
Alongside these new launches, Apple also permanently slashed the prices of the iPad 10th generation to $349 (and it is already available for as low as INR 30,990 in India), making the iPad lineup more affordable to everyone.
While the iPad Pro is a major leap forward and leaves its Android competition in the dust, the Air does with a good & practical update, with the only viable competitor to the Air being Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9.
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Read More: Discover the Amazing Hidden iPhone Features Apple Doesn’t Advertise – Part 1
