We’ve been expecting it for a long time this new OLED iPad ProWe were almost bored waiting, and yet the announcement of the new tablet was so important that it still kept us on the edge of our seats. Sure, the updated iPad Air with M2 and a 13-inch variant would be par for the course for Apple’s standard updates, but the iPad Pro now features an OLED screen, a new M4 chip, and a slimmed-down body. All in all, it’s certainly the most exciting iPad announcement since the Cupertino company revealed the details of its first tablet. Oh, and that’s not all. The new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil could increase the iPad’s versatility even further even a MacBook Air.
For starters, the $999 11-inch iPad Pro and $1,200 13-inch iPad Pro feature not just one, but two layers of organic light-emitting diode displays. Why is this significant? Because OLED screens are known to be among the best when it comes to great contrast and deep, deep blacks. One of the few drawbacks of OLED displays has traditionally been brightness, but Apple claims that the two OLED layers actually boost SDR and HDR brightness to over 1,000 nits. Apple says you’ll get a peak brightness of 1,600 nits with HDR.
It wouldn’t be Apple if it didn’t create its own nomenclature for its displays. The company calls the new tandem OLED design “Ultra Retina XDR”. Take a look at the slides and judge for yourself whether the OLED panels make a difference, but they are impressive in person. Also check out the size difference between the old and new iPad Pro. The 11-inch iPad Pro is now 5.3mm thick, while the 13-inch iPad is just 5.1mm thick. Apple has pointed out that it is now “thinner than an iPod Nano.” So if anyone still has one of these MP3 players in the back pocket of their old pants, it might be a somewhat antiquated comparison.
The tablet entry would be solid enough, but the accessories could push the iPad Pro over the edge. The base of the new Magic Keyboard is now made of aluminum, but is still lighter than previous versions and features a better trackpad. Additionally, the fully functional range gives you the full MacBook experience. The real star is the new $129 Apple Pencil Pro, a stylus with subtle haptic feedback, a new squeeze feature for accessing in-app menus, and, most importantly, a “barrel roll” sensor , which detects the position of the movement of your pen. Plus, it finally has access to Find My.
Give it enough time and we’ll see if it really becomes the best iPad you can buy, let alone the best among current-generation tablets. Heck, we finally want to find out if the OLED iPad Pro is so good that we finally wonder why we should even buy one of the smaller MacBooks.