At last, the long wait for a new iPad Pro is over. After months of rumours and speculation (and a multitude of other new products), Apple finally unveiled its latest tablet at its "more in the making" event in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
"iPad is a magical piece of glass that transforms into anything you want it to be", said Tim Cook as he unveiled the American tech company's latest tablet. Well then, what wizardry have Cook and co conjured up with the "magical" new iPad Pro?
As you may have guessed from the "more in the making" tagline, the Brooklyn-based event featured products that are largely aimed at creative types - think artists, musicians, graphic designers and the like. In this respect, the new iPad Pro is not too different from the brand-new MacBook Air and Mac mini , both of which were unveiled shortly before it.
Alongside predictable processor and display upgrades, Apple has worked hard on the iPad Pro's accompanying Apple Pencil, and a multitude of the tablet's new features are optimised for creative use.
Read on to find out everything you need to know about the new iPad Pro, including release date, price, features, specs and more.
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Apple iPad Pro release date: When will you be able to buy one?
We last saw an iPad Pro release way back in June 2017, so an upgrade had long been on the cards. Apple's autumn keynote went by with a handful of new iPhones and a new Apple Watch , but no mention of anything iPad-related.
Some of us were tempted to put money on a new iPad mini being announced at October's event, but Apple finally came up trumps on Tuesday by unveiling a new iPad Pro.
Apple has made a good habit of putting new products on sale immediately after they are unveiled, and the new iPad Pro is no different. You can order one right now, and shipping starts as soon as next week, on 7 November.
Pre-order the iPad Pro now from Apple
Apple iPad Pro price: How much will it cost you?
Apple has recently developed a tendency to outright ignore the international laws of currency conversion, but the iPad Pro has bucked that trend somewhat.
The 11in and 12.9in models start at $799 and $999 respectively, but they'll be £769 and £969 in the UK.
If you want to beef up to 1TB of storage, the price will accordingly rise to a whopping £1,519 and (an even more whopping) £1,719.
Pre-order the iPad Pro now from Apple
Apple iPad Pro design: What does it look like?
The new iPad Pro looks, well, distinctly iPad-ish. That's not to say it hasn't benefitted from some solid all-round improvements.
For a start, it's now a bit smaller. As mentioned, the tablet is available in 11in and 12.9in sizes - which sounds familiar, but actually involved a fair amount of shrinking due to the thinner bezels. In fact, at just 5.9mm thin, the 12.9in model offers all of 25% less volume than its predecessor. Handily, for a device that can be used for drawing, it's now the same size as a piece of A4 paper.
The thinner device means that the near-iconic home button has now disappeared, and the new iPad has adopted the navigation of the iPhone X and Xs. There's no fingerprint reader - all security functions are now controlled by Face ID, but more about that later.
In terms of colour scheme, you'll have to decide between Silver and Space Grey - not exactly a wealth of choice.
Apple iPad Pro features: What does it do?
For starters, the Apple Pencil has benefitted from a rather nice set of updates. It is now magnetic and will stick to the side of the iPad Pro when not in use. Better still, when latched on to the side of your tablet it will charge wirelessly, meaning you're unlikely to ever find yourself stuck without battery. Tap twice on the side of the pencil and the head will change, depending on which app you're using at the time.
As previously mentioned, the iPad Pro has continued the trend amongst recent Apple releases of doing away with Touch ID completely. There's no home button or fingerprint scanner, meaning all security functions are now on your face. Face ID has operated a touch too slowly for our liking on iPhones up until now, so fingers crossed that Apple has been able to finetune its Face ID technology on the iPad Pro.
Elsewhere, there's an all-new Liquid Retina display. Apple claims this will give you industry-leading colour accuracy whilst simultaneously negating the scourge of reflection from overhead light sources. Strangely, the tech giant is also keen to make a song and dance about the tablet's rounded corners and distortion-free edges, achieved by a process that's apparently known as 'subpixel anti-aliasing'.
Finally, it's time to say goodbye to the Lightning port: the new iPad Pro is powered by USB Type-C, and it can now be used to recharge iPhones, letting you spread its all-day battery life to your phone.
Apple iPad Pro specs: What's powering it?
Inside, you'll find the new octa-core 7nm A12X Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture, which offers 35% faster single-core performance and 90% faster multi-core - according to Apple. To put this into context, Apple says that the new iPad Pro offers 1,000x the graphical performance of the original. You don't need to be good at maths to work out that that's a more than significant upgrade.
In terms of storage capacity, you can choose from 64GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB.
Here's a full lowdown of the new iPad Pro's key specs:
|
Processor |
A12X Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture |
|
RAM |
6GB |
|
Screen size |
11in or 12.9in |
|
Screen resolution |
2388x1668 at 264 ppi (11in model) |
|
Screen type |
Liquid Retina display |
|
Front camera |
7-megapixel |
|
Rear camera |
12-megapixel |
|
Flash |
Quad-LED True Tone flash |
|
GPS |
Yes |
|
Compass |
Yes |
|
Storage |
64GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB |
|
Memory card slot |
N/A |
|
Wi-Fi |
802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
|
Bluetooth |
Bluetooth 5.0 technology |
|
Wireless data |
N/A |
|
Dimensions |
248mm x 179mm x 5.9mm (11in model) |
|
Weight |
468g |
|
Operating system |
iOS 12 |
|
Battery size |
29.37Wh (11in model) |
Pre-order the iPad Pro now from Apple
We'll be reviewing the brand-new iPad Pro as and when it arrives at the Expert Reviews offices. Stay tuned to our website for a more in-depth look at Apple's new tablet in the coming weeks.
