Apple has a brand new flagship tablet – the iPad Pro.
The new tablet rocks Apple’s most powerful processor, the M2 chip, and will launch alongside new software iPadOS 16.
The M2 chip was announced in June. It was launched alongside the 2022 Macbook Air range and the Macbook Pro range. Rumours had circulated that the iPad Pro would follow, and today those rumoured were proven true; Apple today confirmed that the M2 model will be available in both 12.9-inch and 11-inch sizes starting October 26.
The 2021 M1 iPad Pro model will not see any cosmetic changes, but the M2 chip has an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and an increase of 15% and 35% respectively in performance and graphics.
The new chip increases the iPad’s Neural Engine (Apple’s name for their artificial intelligence unit, which is responsible for operating the device’s artificial Intelligence operations) by 40% for a total 16 cores.
- That means it’s going to be blazing fast, handy for people who use iPads to create content
Apple appears to be targetting content creators with the new iPad Pro. It has a media engine that can encode and decode ProRes up to 3x faster than traditional laptops. Five “studio-quality” microphones are included in the new tablet, which allows ProRes video to easily be captured on the device. It can also record sound in Dolby atmos.
The Liquid RetinaXDR 12.9-inch model features a Liquid Resina XDR display that has a 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio and 1000 full-screen brightness (1600 peak). While the 11-inch model is brighter at 600 nits peak brightness (600 nits at peak), both models offer a premium viewing experience thanks to their adaptive 120Hz refresh rates.
Wireless connectivity is another upgrade to the M1 predecessor. The iPad Pro M2’s 11-inch and 12.9 inch models are equipped with the most recent connectivity standards. This includes Wi-Fi 6E which can deliver downloads at speeds of 2.4Gb/s, twice the speed of 2021’s M1 models. 5G is still available for cellular models. However, it now supports more 5G networks around the world.
This announcement comes after a busy September that saw the launch of the iPhone 14 and Airpods Pro 2 .