One of the biggest changes introduced at this year's show is... Apple's display choice. This year, the company introduced what it calls the Liquid Retina XDR panel, complete with a new mini-LED backlight system. Since each lighting element is much smaller than what you'll find on a typical LCD panel, Apple could fit more of them into every square inch of the display - about 10 LEDs in total. This means (among other things) more tightly controlled lighting for certain parts of the screen for a significant improvement in contrast and significantly higher overall brightness. (For the curious, maximum full-screen brightness is 000 nits, up from last year's model's 1000 nits.) Unfortunately, the rumors are true: This new screen technology seems to be exclusive to Apple's largest iPad, at least for now.
With all that said, if there's one standout addition to this year's iPad Pro it's the Apple Silicon M1 chipset. Both new models feature the same processor as later MacBook Air and Pro models, as well as the recently announced iMac, ending a nearly decade-long streak of Apple exclusively using upgraded smartphone chips in its tablets. To be honest, we can't say we expected this: Early reports suggested that Apple would use an improved version of its A14 chipset based on the M1 design, but the company has apparently decided to just completely replant its desktop-grade chip.
The company's pro-grade iPads have always been the most powerful tablets in their stable version, but the release of the 2020 iPad Air, which uses the same A14 chipset as Apple's popular iPhone 12 series, has given this more affordable tablet a slight singles edge. - main performance. With the addition of this new (and unexpected) silicon, the iPad Pro should once again comfortably sit at the top of Apple's lineup.
Apple has found other ways to make the iPad Pro more professional, in addition to increasing performance. As a nod to the most demanding users, the new iPad Pro's USB-C port can be used as a Thunderbolt port with USB 4.0 support. Apple says peak throughput for wired connections will reach roughly 40Gbps with these improvements, and that people will be able to use "high performance" accessories like ultra-fast external storage and high resolution displays like the pricey Pro Display XDR for the price of it. full resolution 6K.
The 2021 iPad Pro will also be the first Apple tablet to ship with 5G support. We expect the cellular models of these iPads to work well with readily available deployments of less than 6, and to our surprise, it looks like all cellular versions of the iPad Pro in the US will support mmWave 5G networks out of the box. (Unfortunately, it is not yet clear if mmWave models will go on sale overseas.)
The list of improvements does not end there. The new 12MP ultra-wide front camera should make your repetitive video calls a little better, and a feature called Center Stage will take advantage of that wider field of view to ensure you're always in the center of the call window. The ceiling for onboard storage, meanwhile, has been raised to a whopping 2TB here, which is nice considering the rear camera is supposed to take much prettier photos than you'd expect from a tablet. (That's because it uses the same Smart HDR 3 processing you've seen if you've taken photos on the iPhone 12.)
Apple is no stranger to exaggeration, but it's not kidding when it calls them the "most powerful and advanced" iPads ever. We'll have to spend some time thinking about these announcements and what they mean for the company's strategy - along with the future of the personal computer - but you should be able to order one soon if you're already convinced.
Both models will go on sale on April 30, and will appear on the market in the “second half of May”. Here's what you can expect in terms of pricing:
128 GB | 256 GB | 512 GB | 1 TB | 2 TB | |
iPad Pro 11 inch (Wi-Fi) | $ 799 | $ 899 | $1 | $ 1499 | $ 1899 |
iPad Pro 11 inch (Wi-Fi + Cellular) | $ 999 | $1 | $1 | $1 | $2 |
iPad Pro 12,9 inch (Wi-Fi) | $1 | 1199 USD | $ 1399 | $1 | $ 2199 |
iPad Pro 12,9 inch (Wi-Fi + Cellular) | $1 | $ 1399 | $1 | $1 | $ 2399 |
