IPAD PRO 2021: SUPERCHARGED WITH XDR DISPLAY, M1 CHIP, & THUNDERBOLT
SUPERCHARGED WITH XDR DISPLAY, M1 CHIP, & THUNDERBOLT
The ipad Pro has become something of a workhorse in recent years, offering professionals an alternative to a laptop with cutting-edge capabilities and software. At this year’s Spring Loaded event, Apple supercharged its flagship tablet with the M1 chip and Thunderbolt support, unlocking even greater opportunities for creatives in need of an all-in-one machine.
BRINGING THE POWER OF THE MAC TO IPAD
Though this year’s ipad Pro refresh didn’t quite get the same level of attention as the allnew imac, which received its biggest design overhaul since its inception 22 years ago, it’s an impressive upgrade all the same. Following on from the success of the Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and Mac mini, which were supercharged with an M1 chip last year, Apple has decided to bring the power of its custom silicon technology to the ipad, which it says “takes the industry-leading performance of ipad Pro to an entirely new level.” For the first time, the ipad Pro features an 8-core CPU design and the world’s fastest CPU cores in low-power silicon, offering up to 50% faster CPU performance than the A12Z Bionic chip the M1 replaces, and an 8-core GPU offers 40% faster GPU performance than the previous generation.
It’s this powerful combination of technology and performance that helps to widen the ipad Pro’s lead as the fastest device of its kind, and with next-generation 16-core Neural Engine, an advanced image signal processor, a highbandwidth memory architecture with up to 16GB of memory, two times faster storage, and up to 2TB capacity, the ipad Pro is blazing.
Making the decision to introduce the M1 chip to the ipad Pro is a natural evolution, as Apple has, in recent years, marketed the ipad Pro as an alternative to a computer. Indeed, it used a controversial marketing campaign titled “What’s a computer?” to promote its capabilities, and the 2021 generation lives up to that hype. Of course, Apple’s Mac sales must also be a consideration when the company introduces new high-end technology in such a way, but when you consider that the ipad Pro retails for around the same price as a Macbook Pro, it’s clear Apple sees the product categories as complementary rather than competition. One of the most exciting things about the M1 on the ipad Pro is that Apple has created a new device that offers industry-leading power efficiency, offering all-day battery life and a thin and lightweight design, ideal for on-the-go.
Whether you’re a photographer, researcher or administrator, you can benefit from the power of the ipad Pro and ipados to get the job done, and because M1 shares the same architecture as Apple’s A-series chips, ipados is fully optimized to take advantage of the power of the chip. Whether users are answering an email, editing 4K video on the fly, or developing an app, the ipad Pro is more than capable.
Keen to hammer home that the ipad Pro is now more than an ipad, and is actually now closer to becoming a fully-fledged touchscreen Mac, Apple has also introduced a muchrequested feature: support for Thunderbolt and USB 4, making the USB-C port on the ipad Pro even faster and more versatile than before. Say goodbye to endless dongles and workarounds to connect your peripherals on
the fly. Apple says that the new port has four times more bandwidth for wired connections than the previous model, offering speeds of up to 40Gbps. Thunderbolt, on the other hand, supports 10Gbps Ethernet and opens up a massive ecosystem of high-performance accessories, such as superfast external storage and even external displays, like the Pro Display XDR at full 6K resolution, helping you enjoy a desktop experience using your tablet when you’re looking for more screen real estate.
INTRODUCING THE LIQUID RETINA XDR DISPLAY
One area where Apple never fails to disappoint on the ipad is in its displays, and the Liquid Retina XDR Display sets a new precedent for tablet technology. The Cupertino company said it learned lessons from the development of the Pro Display XDR and brought some of its most powerful features to the ipad Pro, using a cutting-edge mini-led design that relies on more than 10,000 LEDS across the back of the display. The display now features up to 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, 1600 nits of peak brightness, and a phenomenal 1 million-to-1 contrast ratio to enhance creative workflows, and the result is something that cannot be captured on screen. Professionals are already getting their hands on the new ipad Pro for review purposes, and overwhelming highlight the new Liquid Retina XDR Display as a key selling point. From watching films to editing 4K videos, the ipad Pro has you covered.
When developing the Liquid Retina XDR Display, Apple said it had hoped to create an experience that reflects what we see in the
real world. The new ipad Pro captures the brightest lights and details in the darkest of images, allowing creative professionals, from videographers and filmmakers to graphic designers and photographers, to edit true-to-life content, making the new model a must-have for anyone working in the creative industry. Other advanced technologies have also carried over from the previous model, including Promotion, True Tone, and P3 wide color support, which offers an unmatched mobile cinematic viewing experience for HDR and Dolby Vision content. Apple TV+ originals such as Servant and SEE have never looked so good on the ipad - we can’t wait to watch them!
UNLOCKING 5G SPEEDS FOR ON-THE-GO PRODUCTIVITY
Apple transitioned its iphone range to 5G modems in 2020 with the iphone 12, and since its release, adoption has surged. According to a Kantar study released this month, the United States will see a significant increase in 5G accessibility in the second half of this year, in part thanks to Apple’s investment in 5G modems and the rollout of 5G-enabled devices. The ipad Pro joins the family, allowing users to do more on the go with better performance and access to next-generation download and upload speeds - ideal for streaming video, collaborating with creatives, and Facetime in higher-definition. As with the release of 5G on the iphone, Apple was keen to stress the value of using cellular data over Wifi in public spaces, allowing you to send more sensitive files and content to clients and colleagues, without worrying about data being hijacked on public connections.
The new ipad Pro features more 5G bands than any other device of its kind and offers the broadest 5G coverage around the world. In the United States, the device supports the higher frequency version of 5G, which theoretically allows the device to reach speeds up to 4Gbps. For the first time, the model now also supports ESIM to sign up for a data plan on the go.
A BUNCH OF NEW FEATURES
Apple wasn’t done there - the new ipad Pro introduced even more great new features designed to streamline creative workflows and offer more advanced technology that sets users up for the future. The Truedepth camera system on ipad Pro, for example, has been upgraded with an all-new 12MP Ultra Wide front camera designed specifically for ipad, and it introduces Center Stage, which uses a larger field of view on the new front camera and the machine learning capabilities of M1 to recognize and keep users centered in the frame. The idea is that, when you move around the room, Center Stage will automatically pan to keep you in the shot. When others join you in the room, the camera will zoom out so everyone’s in view and stays part of the conversation, ideal for family gatherings and business meetings. The ISP and Neural Engine in M1 work together to offer even more new functionality for the camera system on the ipad Pro, offering support for Smart HDR 3 for the very first time. Apple says that, in low-light conditions, the ISP and LIDAR Scanner focus images and videos to enable the capturing of more details, even when there’s almost no light in the shot whatsoever.