Apple had its “Let Loose” event and the spotlight firmly shined on the iPad. From the new M4 iPad Pro to new accessories and apps, Apple wanted us to care more about the iPad. Here are the highlights from Apple’s Let Loose event.
We Get the M4 iPad Pro with OLED!
As mentioned in my preview, Apple didn’t launch a new iPad last year. This event changed that in a big way. The new iPad Pro has brought significant changes since the redesign in 2018. Apple touted how thin and light these new iPad Pros are. The 11-inch is now 5.3 mm thin and 0.98 pounds light, and the 13-inch is 5.1 mm thin and 1.28 pounds light. While that’s impressive, the two highlights of these new iPad Pro models are their new Ultra Retina XDR displays and Apple’s new M4 chip.
The Ultra Retina XDR displays use two OLED displays called Tandem OLED. The M4 iPad Pro’s display uses two OLED displays to show up to 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR and HDR content. That same display also shows up to 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness.
Hello, M4!
I didn’t believe Apple would show off the next generation of Apple Silicon this soon, let alone see it first in a new iPad! Powering the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros is Apple’s new M4 chip. It features a new display engine to power the Ultra Retina XDR displays. The CPU on this chip now consists of up to 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, while the new Neural Engine can better run AI-related tasks.
Apple Pencil Pro and New Magic Keyboard
Complementing the new iPad Pro models are a new Magic Keyboard and the new Apple Pencil Pro. Both expand what you can do with the iPad Pro.
The new Magic Keyboard is lighter than the previous one and now has a function row on the keyboard! Other than that, it still offers the same floating design you know and love.
While the Magic Keyboard feels like an incremental upgrade, the new Apple Pencil Pro is anything but incremental. This new Pencil brings a host of new functionalities enabled by the haptic engine inside. From the double tap to a barrel roll to a squeeze, you can take your drawings and writings to the next level. It also has Find My integration so you can find it when it gets lost via the Find My app.
The new 11-inch iPad Pro has a starting price of $999 (P72,990 in PH) for 256GB storage. Meanwhile, the new 13-inch iPad Pro starts at $1299 (P94,990 in PH) for 256GB storage. These new iPad Pros come in two colors: Silver and Space Black.
M2 iPad Air – Now in Two Sizes!
Alongside the new iPad Pros is a new iPad Air refresh! While we mostly keep what the iPad Air has been, it has two new things going for it. First is the bigger 13-inch iPad Air for those who prefer that larger canvas. The other new thing about these new iPad Air models is the M2 chip, which is fast enough for most tasks.
These new iPad Air models come in four colors: Blue, Purple, Starlight, and Space Gray. They also come in four storage configurations: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The 11-inch iPad Air is priced at $599 (P42,990) for 128GB storage. Meanwhile, the 13-inch iPad Air is priced at $799 for 128GB storage.
You can order the new iPad Air and iPad Pro today in the US and selected countries. They will be available for purchase in-store and online next week. There’s no word yet on when the Philippines will get these new iPads.
Other Things
Apple also announced the following things at its Let Loose event:
- Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 coming to iPad
- The 10th-generation iPad gets a price cut! The 64GB storage option is priced at $349 (P24,990 in PH).
What do you think of Apple’s latest iPads? Are they worth picking up? Sound off in the comments section below.