Apple launches new iPad line-up to boost tablet division
Apple launched a new artificial intelligence-driven iPad Pro and a bigger iPad Air in its attempt to bolster its struggling tablet division.
The company also launched its in-house M4 chips to add to its AI and machine-learning capabilities. The products were launched at a special event called Let Loose on Tuesday.
The latest iPad Pro is the first redesigned version of the Pro series since 2018.
Comparatively thinner and lighter, it comes in two different sizes – 13-inch and 11-inch. Apple said it has added one of the most advanced displays – ultra retina XDR display – in iPad Pro, which is powered with the latest M4 chip.
M4 chips enable the introduction of a new display engine to allow better precision, colour quality and brightness of the screen. The thickness of the 13-inch iPad Pro is 5.1mm, making it arguably the leanest Apple product so far.
This is the “biggest update ever” to iPad Pro, said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering.
Apple also announced the redesigned 11-inch and all-new 13-inch iPad Air with M2 chip.
Apple’s latest launch marks the conclusion of its lengthiest hiatus in introducing new iPads since the device was first unveiled by co-founder Steve Jobs in 2010.
The last update was in October 2022, with Apple introducing a faster chip to the iPad Pro and releasing a redesigned lowend model.
“Historically, the iPad has been a testing ground for Apple products, a less scrutinised line that allows the company to experiment without the risks associated with doing the same with the iPhone or the Mac,” Thomas Monteiro, senior analyst at Investing.com, told The National. “Apple can do two things with the iPad launch, which may be just as important as direct sales right now … test the functionality of the new M4 chips at a less risky part of the operation and create tremendous expectations for future iPhone and Mac products.”
Analysts said the new launches could drive investor sentiment back into the Apple stock, supporting the company at a “rather volatile moment in its recent history”. “If [chief executive] Tim Cook manages to show that the new chip line is finally the ground-breaking innovation for Apple products we have been waiting on for years, this could mark the start of Apple’s new growth cycle,” said Mr Monterio.
Apple shares have dropped more than 2 per cent since the start of the year.
Apple’s iPad sales in the last quarter dropped nearly 16.6 per cent annually to $5.6 billion amid a dwindling customer interest in its tablets. Industry experts consider the new iPad line-up as “groundwork needed for better, more innovative products in the months ahead”, Mr Monterio said.
The new iPad Pro with M4 chip is capable of 38 trillion operations per second, 60 times faster than Apple’s first neural engine in the A11 bionic chip.
With the new iPad Pro, users can perform AI-enabled tasks “even faster”, Apple said.
Bookings for iPad Pro and iPad Air have started online yesterday, with availability in stores beginning on May 15.
Prices for the 11-inch iPad Pro start at Dh4,199 ($1,143) for the Wi-Fi model, and Dh4,999 for the Wi-Fi plus cellular model. While prices for the 13-inch iPad Pro start at Dh5,499 for the Wi-Fi model, and Dh6,299 for the Wi-Fi and cellular model. The new 11-inch iPad Air is priced at Dh2,499. Prices for the 13-inch iPad Air start at Dh3,299.