The new iPad Pro got a decent redesign, making them the thinnest Apple products ever, at least according to the announcement, with the 11-inch model measuring 5.3mm and the 13-inch one at just 5.1mm. The aluminum body is made out of 100 percent recycled materials and is available in Silver and Space Black colors.
The star of the show is the new OLED screen, or as Apple calls it, tandem OLED displays, which is basically two OLED panels layered on top of each other, and featuring high 1,600 nits of brightness for HDR content. The screen also gets 10 to 120Hz refresh rate with ProMotion. The 11-incher comes with 2420x1668 resolution while the 13-inch has a higher 2,752x2064 resolution, leaving them both with the same 264ppi pixel density. There is also an optional protective glass with reduced glare which is only available on premium 1TB and 2TB models.
iPad Pro gets the M4 chip, with a cut-down version for base options
Another big update is the new M4 chip, built on a second generation 3nm manufacturing process, and promising 1.5 faster CPU performance, 4x higher GPU performance, and a whole new Neural Engine, capable of up to 38 TOPs, all rather strangely compared to the M2 chip. The M4 chip packs up to 10 CPU cores, with four performance and six efficiency cores, as well as a 10-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, but not all iPad Pro models will get the fully enabled chip.
Apple is also launching a whole new Apple Pencil Pro, which gets squeeze and roll gestures, haptic feedback, support for Find My, and more. The new Apple Pencil Pro will be available at $129.
The whole new Apple Air comes in 11- and 13-inch sizes as well, but with M2 chip
The new iPad Air 2024 models will now also come in two sizes, with 11- and 13-inch screens.
They still use the same 60Hz IPS Liquid Retina screen with 2,360x1640 resolution for the 11-inch model and 2,732x2,048 resolution for the 13-inch one. The 11-inch peaks at 500 nits, while the 13-inch gets slightly higher 600 nits maximum brightness.
The design did not change from the 2022 model, but Apple did move the front 12MP camera, which should provide a better video call experience. It still has a single 12MP camera on the back as well.
The biggest update is the Apple M2 chip with 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, pairing it up with 8GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. It also supports the new Apple Pencil Pro and Apple's Magic Keyboard as well. These also come in WiFi-only and 5G versions.
Availability and pricing
According to Apple, the new iPad Pro 2024 models will be available in 29 countries as of May 15. It is available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB options, with 256GB and 512GB getting a cut-down version of the M4 with three performance cores and 8GB of RAM, while 1TB and 2TB get the full chip, as well as 16GB of RAM. All models also come in WiFi-only and 5G versions, where the 5G option adds an additional $200 to the price.
The iPad Air models will come in several colors, and start at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch one and should be available in stores as of next week.