Apple has announced an updated iPad Pro with a Mini-LED display, 5G cellular connectivity, an M1 chip and more improvements.
The new iPad Pro is available in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes, although the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has an all-new Liquid Retina XDR display that uses Mini-LED backlighting. This has over 10,000+ LED zones to deliver up to 1,000 nits of brightness, 1,600 nits of peak brightness and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
Both models come with the same M1 chip that’s used in the MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac, which Apple says provides up to 50% faster performance and 40% graphics compared to the previous generation iPad Pro. It was previously rumoured that the iPad Pro would have an A14X Bionic, an iteration of the A12X introduced with the 2018 models.
It supports up to 2TB storage, with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB configurations also available. The 1TB and 2TB models offer up to 16GB RAM, compared to only 8GB on the lower-end models.
The new iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera in the TrueDepth camera system, enabling a 120-degree field of view. A new Center Stage feature takes advantage of this, keeping people within the frame in video calls. It can also pan the camera to ensure they don’t move out of the view.
5G is also available on iPad Pro for the first time, although mmWave will only be supported in the United States.
The new models will start at $799 (11-inch, 128GB) and $1099 (12.9-inch, 128GB), respectively. The maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro, with 2TB storage, WiFi and 5G cellular, $2,399 without the Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard case or other accessories. Pre-orders will begin on April 30.
