The new 13-inch and 11-inch tablets have a fresh design, more powerful internals, and a thinner profile than ever before, and they come with a major display upgrade. As rumored, Apple has switched to OLED screens on both sizes, bringing perfect blacks, richer color saturation, and enhanced contrast to its flagship iPads. Oh, and the front-facing camera is now in the correct (landscape) position for video calls.
A new sensor in the Apple Pencil Pro allows users to squeeze the accessory to bring up a tool palette to quickly switch tools, line weights, and colors. In addition, a new gyroscope allows users to rotate the Apple Pencil Pro for precise control of shaped pen and brush tools.
Alongside the long-expected OLED iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air, Apple has also released a lightly updated Magic Keyboard with an aluminum palm rest and a larger trackpad with haptic feedback — and, finally, a function row.
For gaming enthusiasts, the two most exciting announcements also happened to be bits of info that weren't leaking out much ahead of the Apple Event. The more powerful GPU built into the iPad Pro's M4 chipset means that the tablet will support both ray tracing and mesh shading. Both features are brand new to these tablets and are also features that some gaming PCs aren't always able to offer.
The newly announced iPad Pro hides a sneaky upgrade option that Apple didn’t mention during its event today. When you cough up the $600 it costs to jump from the 256GB base model iPad Pro to the 1TB version, Apple doesn’t just double the RAM along with that — it also puts a faster chip inside, going from a nine-core M4 chip to a 10-core version.
Apple's new iPad Pro models have different amounts of RAM based on storage capacity, with the higher-tier models offering double the memory.
The nano-texture option is limited to the 1TB and 2TB models. It adds $100 per model.
It’s such a big difference that the larger model, which I’ve always felt was kind of preposterously huge, feels much more comfortable to hold and use.
Its adoption by carriers has been relatively low. mmWave deployment in the US is championed by Verizon, where customers can see 1-2 gigabit speeds in select areas. mmWave is also useful in highly-congested areas like sports stadiums. However, the vast majority of 5G coverage in the US is carried over sub-6 GHz.
The 10-megapixel Ultra Wide rear camera on the last three iPad Pro generations is also absent on the latest models, which only have a 12-megapixel Wide rear camera.
On the previous generation models, the cellular versions of both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro included a physical SIM card slot. In the new devices, that's no longer the case. All cellular models now support eSIM only.
Apple is selling a new Smart Folio for the 11-inch iPad Pro in Denim, Black, and White. There's also a Smart Folio for the 13-inch iPad Pro in the same color options.
Apple has unveiled its 2024 iPad Air, now in two sizes for the first time thanks to a new 13-inch option. The company also updated the 11-inch iPad Air. Both tablets are outfitted with Apple’s M2 chip and will be in blue, purple, starlight, and space gray colors.
Today’s price drop of $100 reflects the price that the tablet actually sold for at many retailers outside of Apple.
Apple will push entry-level buyers to the 10th-gen model, which is clearly a superior machine.
Final Cut Pro for iPad will now support external projects, allowing users to keep their media on external connected storage without using up the limited internal storage of the iPad itself. Final Cut Pro 2 will also include new Color-grading presets, new titles, soundtracks and dynamic backgrounds.
Logic Pro 2 updates include a new ‘stem splitter’ feature that splits input audio into separate tracks for the different instruments, allowing for easier edits.
Apple is releasing a new Final Cut Camera app for iPhone and iPad that can take video and stream it live back to an iPad for a Multicam shoot, as well as provide more controls for filmmakers. The company’s new pro-level app provides “precise manual controls” and can be used as a plain standalone camera app.
But now, you’ll be able to have a full-fledged news reading experience without an Internet connection. No planning ahead required.
In a memo distributed to Apple Store teams on Tuesday and viewed by 9to5Mac, Apple explained that Apple stickers will not be included in the box for the new iPad Pro and iPad Air. The company says that this is part of its environmental goals, as it strives to ensure its packaging is completely plastic-free.
Apple Stores, however, are receiving shipments with a limited quantity of Apple logo stickers that can be distributed to customers who buy a new iPad Pro or iPad Air, but only upon request. So, if you buy an iPad Pro or iPad Air from an Apple Store, you can request an Apple sticker at the time of purchase.
You don’t have to be a fan of science fiction to wonder about the road not taken. Pretty much the only thing about human existence that everyone can agree on is that our choices define us. But the new Apple TV+ sci-fi show Dark Matter asks whether our choices may not be the only thing about selfhood that truly matters. In one of the most mind-bending series of the year, Dark Matter asks big questions, but smartly, puts those questions into relatable packages.
To complete the challenge, Apple Watch owners will need to record five or more mindful minutes using the Mindfulness app or any app that adds mindful minutes to Health app.
So, why didn't iPad mini get updates, or get cheaper, or removed from store, this week? I can think of a few possibilities.
Maybe, yes, Apple is no longer interested in iPad mini, but it remained in the store because sales are still good enough?
Or maybe, they just couldn't get the Apple Pencil Pro to work just right yet on a smaller iPad, but Apple is sure working hard on this right now?
Or maybe, just maybe, we are getting a foldable iPhone + iPad mini this fall, or why bother doing anything this week?
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Thanks for reading.