Apple’s “Let Loose” event on May 7, 2024, lived up to its name, showcasing a significant update to the iPad lineup with the unveiling of the all-new iPad Pro. This latest iteration boasts a complete overhaul under the hood, promising a powerhouse performance and a visually stunning display. However, a looming question mark hangs over the upgrade cycle – can the software keep pace with the hardware’s impressive leap forward?
The centrepiece of the new iPad Pro is undoubtedly the M4 chip, the next generation of Apple’s custom-designed silicon. This chip succeeds the M2, offering a significant performance boost. Benchmarks suggest a CPU improvement of around 50% and a staggering 4x increase in GPU performance. This translates to smoother multitasking, faster processing for demanding creative tasks, and potentially groundbreaking capabilities for developers.
Complementing the processing power is a stunning new display technology. The iPad Pro now features a tandem OLED display, available in both 11-inch and 13-inch sizes. This cutting-edge display technology promises unparalleled visual fidelity with deeper blacks, richer colours, and incredible peak brightness. We can expect a peak brightness of 1000 nits for full-screen content and a jaw-dropping 1600 nits for HDR content, offering a truly immersive viewing experience.
Apple further bolstered the creative capabilities of the iPad Pro with the introduction of the Apple Pencil Pro. This new iteration features a built-in haptic motor that provides more natural feedback while writing or drawing, along with a new squeeze sensor that unlocks additional creative controls. However, a caveat does exist – the Apple Pencil Pro is only compatible with the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air as the magnets for charging had to be redesigned due to the repositioning of the camera. While this ensures optimal functionality, it might create an inconvenience for users with older iPad models.
Apple has released updates to its professional creative apps, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, with new features designed to leverage the power of the new iPad Pro and its M4 chip. Final Cut Pro gains multicam editing capabilities, allowing creators to connect and preview up to four iPhones or iPads running the free Final Cut Camera app simultaneously. Logic Pro 2 introduces AI-powered Session Players that act as virtual bass and keyboard players, and a new Stem Splitter feature that can automatically separate vocals, drums, and other instruments from a single audio file. A lot of people prefer using a MacBook over an iPad because they get more functionality on the Mac. However, with this update and the newer magic keyboard, the iPad Pro 13 bridges the gap between itself and the MacBook.
Despite the undeniable advancements in hardware, a question mark hangs over the iPad Pro’s immediate impact. The current iPadOS may not be fully optimised to harness the full potential of the M4 chip. With rumours of substantial improvements expected in iPadOS 18, slated for release sometime this summer in Apple’s World-Wide Developers Conference event, there’s a sense of an incomplete package. It might be wise to consider waiting for the software to catch up to the hardware. This could help ensure that the users can fully utilise the power they’re paying for.
In conclusion, the new iPad Pro represents a significant leap forward in terms of hardware. The M4 chip and the tandem OLED display offer undeniable improvements in performance and visual quality. However, the potential software limitations introduced by the current iPadOS create a situation where the hardware might be outpacing the software ecosystem. This creates a somewhat awkward upgrade cycle, with consumers having to weigh the benefits of the new hardware against the potential limitations of the current software.
