Neil Hughes
The lines between Mac and iPad were further blurred on Tuesday, as Apple announced a next-generation iPad Pro lineup featuring the same M1 chip found in the new iMac, as well as the MacBook Pro, Mac mini and MacBook Air.
The new iPad Pro is "the fastest device of its kind — it's not even close," Apple said in unveiling the new tablet at its "Spring Forward" event. In addition to the M1 chip, the iPad Pro also has a Thunderbolt port capable of USB-4, bringing it in line with the latest Macs.
The iPad Pro has also been upgraded with more storage, offering buyers a 2-terabyte configuration and storage that is twice as fast.
Apple has also added 5G connectivity to the cellular version of the iPad Pro, matching the blazing fast next-generation data introduced last year with the iPhone 12.
Apple says that with the M1 chip, the iPad Pro boasts graphics that are 40 percent faster than the last-generation model. In fact, Apple says the M1 makes the new iPad Pro 1,500 times faster than the first iPad released more than a decade ago.
The forward facing camera system has also been upgraded to a 12-megapixel sensor with a 120-degree field of view. This allows a new feature called "Center Stage," which recognizes a user and keeps them in the center of the view. The system automatically pans around and follows users while on a FaceTime call.
The 11-inch iPad Pro features the same LCD Retina display as its predecessor. That's different from the 2021 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which gains a new mini LED Liquid Retina XDR display, offering greater contrast and improved battery life over legacy LCD technology.
Apple last updated its iPad Pro lineup in March of 2020, offering buyers a minor spec bump with an A12Z Bionic processor adding one additional GPU core over the A12X CPU that launched in 2018. The 2020 iPad Pro also added Wi-Fi 6, larger entry-level storage of 128 gigabytes, and a revamped camera system featuring a LiDAR scanner for improved augmented reality capabilities.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
39 Comments
Called it.
https://forums.appleinsider.com/discussion/comment/3272073/#Comment_3272073
Slide said up to 16gb of ram. M1 has 8gb of ram minimum. macOS requires 8gb of ram to run. Maybe someone will get macOS or windows on arm running on this new iPad Pro. That would be epic!
That's the end of the X series then. It also further explains the A12Z choice in 2020. Wasn't just about introducing the LiDAR capability to developers. I didn't think that using an M1 made sense for the iPad Pro until I saw that they were using the Pro Display XDR as the template for the 12.9" screen. That makes sense.
Huh so this is going to take some pondering. I had just about convinced myself to go with the Air, but this is a huge upgrade. RAM doubles from my iPP 10.5. I am surprised with the M1 in the 11 inch, I want to see benchmarks for this thing. It’s enough of an update I’m now thinking of going with the bigger model.
Does anyone know what they mean by 8 or 16 GB of RAM? I just went to the Apple Store and played with configuring one and there was no option for configuring RAM.