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| Image: Apple |
The iPad Pro looks more or less like the existing iPad Pro. You can choose between an 11-inch display and a 12.9-inch display.
Both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes look identical to last year’s models, but there’s a new processor and new camera system inside them both. Apple’s headline feature is that it has a LIDAR scanner to go along with its camera for depth sensing and AR, but what most people are going to notice is that very new keyboard that you can get with it.
The new iPad Pro features a 10MP ultra-wide camera sensor as well as a lidar sensor on the back of the device — lidar sensors can be useful for augmented reality apps, for instance. There’s a standard 12MP camera sensor as well. The microphones have been improved and Apple promises “studio-quality” sound.
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| Image: Apple |
Wi-Fi and LTE should be slightly faster, like on the iPhone 11 Pro. On the display front, the iPad Pro supports a refresh rate of 120 Hz and True Tone like previous models, as well as a wide range of colors thanks to P3 support.
Apple also is calling it a “Magic Keyboard,” matching the branding it recently used on the redesigned and improved MacBook keyboard. It is backlit, supports USB-C passthrough charging, and has a “smooth angle adjustment.” Unfortunately, it won’t be available until May, but it will be compatible with last year’s iPad Pros as well. And The new keyboard accessory will be available in May and will cost $299 or $349, depending on the size of your iPad Pro. Yep, that’s an expensive keyboard.
But let’s talk about the trackpad. 9to5mac previously noticed references to full mouse cursor support in iOS 14. It turns out that Apple will release that feature before iOS 14 this fall.
By default, Apple shows a rounded cursor. But the cursor changes depending on what you’re hovering over. If you’re moving a text cursor for instance, it becomes a vertical bar. If you’re resizing a text zone in a Pages document, it becomes two arrows. In other words, it works pretty much like a cursor on a desktop computer.
As for the iPad Pro itself, Apple has historically had a lot of extra power in the processor, and that appears to be no different this time. Apple calls it the “A12Z Bionic Chip,” with eight cores in the GPU, and Apple isn’t shy about saying that it is “more powerful than most Windows PC laptops.” The company also made a twee ad for it along the lines of its classic “What’s a computer” ad. Battery life is estimated at 10 hours, and it supports gigabit LTE but not 5G.
How (or even whether) Apple intends to announce those products during the pandemic is anybody’s guess. WWDC has converted to an online-only affair, and it’s impossible for anybody to say when it might be a good idea to schedule a large press briefing. We may just end up seeing more press releases like this one sprung on us in the mornings.
The iPads are available in silver and gray, with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage options. A fully maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro with 1TB of storage and LTE support costs $1,649. Toss in a Magic Keyboard at $349, and you’re spending $1,998.
