There were plenty of rumours surrounding the new iPad announcements, but I did not know just how innovative Apple was with the new M4 iPad Pro. This incredibly thin and light device packs an incredible amount of power and cutting-edge features into a sleek, portable form factor that feels like something from the future, capable of doing things that many desktops would struggle to do. It’s a dream machine for content creators, professionals, and anyone who wants the ultimate iPad experience.
Having gotten a glimpse of what the new iPad Pro would bring to the table, I hopped on a plane and had the privilege of getting some hands-on time with the tablet before it launches on May 15th. Walking into the demo area, I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. Apple built up a lot of hype around the new iPad, and I wanted to see just how much of it was PR spin and how much lived up to the promise. Let’s start with the design because it’s impossible to ignore just how thin and light this new iPad Pro is at just 5.1mm thick for the 13-inch model and 5.3mm for the 11-inch.
Apple is touting this as the thinnest product they’ve ever made, and it feels it. Just to give you context, that’s thinner than an Apple Pencil, and let’s not forget it is also light and feels great to hold. Yet somehow, it still feels solid and substantial in the hand. The squared-off edges and matte aluminum give it a premium, professional vibe. I mentioned futuristic, and this is the first I have felt like I was holding something out of science fiction and having it actually work as intended.
While the design is striking, the real magic happens when you turn on that gorgeous new display. Apple has ditched the mini-LED of the previous 12.9-inch Pro and gone OLED for both sizes. And not just any OLED — this is a custom tandem OLED panel that combines the light from two separate layers for unrivalled brightness, contrast, and colour accuracy. Blacks are inky, while highlights shine with 1600 nits of peak HDR brightness, and the iPad Pro pops when you look at it.
I tried taking some photos and video of the device, and honestly, it was impossible to do it justice. The ProMotion 120Hz smoothness is still there, as are P3 wide colour and True Tone, but this new OLED takes it all to another level of stunning. It was said many times during the demos that the iPad Pro is like a portable reference monitor you could do full editing with and they were right about that. There is something satisfying about being able to work on a project and know it is displaying colour as it should be seen, from photography to video, and that is not even touching on the capabilities of the M4 processor.
Apple has outdone itself with the guts of this new iPad Pro. This is the first time a new generation of Apple Silicon has debuted in an iPad before a Mac, and it’s clear why they chose to do that here. The M4 is an absolute beast, with up to 50% faster CPU performance and 4x faster GPU performance compared to the M2. Granted, in demos, you can only see so much of what a device can do, but games like Diablo Immortal looked absolutely stunning, using the raytracing capabilities of the M4 to bring the game to life in some fantastic ways, but the real thing that makes the iPad Pro so exciting is the content creation potential.
The new media engine and AI capabilities—the reasons why this chip was made for the iPad Pro—are on full display. There’s hardware-accelerated ProRes, ProRes RAW, and 8K video, perfect for video editors and content creators to take full advantage of that HDR display. The Neural Engine can crunch an insane 38 trillion operations per second, enabling all sorts of machine learning and AI wizardry in apps, and powers some incredibly impressive effects and features without slowing the device down.
“…the real thing that makes the iPad Pro so exciting is the content creation potential.”
There were plenty of demonstrations showing the many ways the iPad Pro with M4 can be integrated into your creative pipeline. From 3D rendering to animation and, of course, video. Version 2.0 of Final Cut showed off the full potential of what the new iPad Pro could do, offering new ways to interact with footage, allowing for some impressive effects, and even allowing for a multi-camera setup if you have enough compatible iOS devices to make it a reality. I should note that many of these features are available on previous generation devices, but the iPad Pro with M4 makes it all much faster and more seamless, meaning you can take full advantage of what this could do for your workflow.
That Neural Engine, combined with the CPU, GPU, and faster memory bandwidth, make this the most powerful device for AI and creative tasks ever put in a tablet form factor. During my time at the event, an Apple rep showed off some pretty striking examples of what’s possible, like real-time 4K background removal and effects, with even the ability to animate and draw in real-time, opening up a new world of creation possibilities. It feels like the iPad Pro has gained some real superpowers, especially when combined with the new Apple Pencil Pro.
“For the right user, the new iPad Pro with M4 feels like an artist’s dream come true.’
Yes, there’s a new Apple Pencil! The Apple Pencil Pro adds some very welcome enhancements like a customizable double-tap gesture; built-in Find My support, and a new hover mode that lets apps anticipate your interactions and provide rich visual previews. The USB-C Apple Pencil is also still supported, but unfortunately, the last generation Pencil, which charged through the tablet, is not supported; they had to redesign the charging mechanism, so it can not work with this new tablet.
The cameras have also gotten a nice upgrade, with an updated 12MP wide camera, LiDAR scanner, and new flash on the back. But the real star is the front-facing camera, which has been moved to the landscape edge. Finally, your FaceTime calls can be framed properly! Center Stage is still here to keep you in view, too. There are tons of other little improvements throughout, like Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and faster 5G on the cellular models. The four-speaker audio system sounds fantastic. And battery life is still an impressive 10 hours, despite that always-on display.
After spending some hands-on time with the new iPad Pro, it’s clear that Apple has thrown down the gauntlet for what a tablet can be in 2024. This is a device that blurs the line between tablet and laptop more than ever before, one that pushes the boundaries of mobile computing power and portability. And it’s all wrapped up in a stunningly slim design with a display that has to be seen to be believed.
For the right user, the new iPad Pro with M4 feels like an artist’s dream come true. It’s overkill for a lot of people, but if you’re someone who pushes your tablet to the limit, this is the new benchmark. Apple has taken the iPad Pro to a whole new level, and I can’t wait to see how developers and creators put all that power to work. The future of mobile computing looks brighter (and more colourful) than ever. We will have a full review once we have more hands-on time with the iPad Pro, but for now, we are impressed and excited to see more.
