In Apple's second-quarter earnings report released last week, the revenue of the iPad product line continued to decline to $5.56 billion, below the average analyst expectation of $5.91 billion. At Apple's special event, the iPad product line finally ushered in a long-awaited update, and intentionally solved the problem that the previous iPad product line was too confusing, making the positioning and pricing between products clearer.
Compared with the iPad Pro 2022 released on October 18, 2022, the 1 and a half years of waiting makes the new iPad Pro a new look with a lot of upgrades.
1. The first M4 was equipped, and the performance jumped by 50%
The previous generation of iPad Pro is equipped with the outstanding performance of M2, which is the best mobile terminal, and the new iPad Pro directly skips M3, and is equipped with a new M4 chip for the first time.
Let's take a look at the specifications of M4 first, based on the second-generation 3nm process, the CPU part uses 4 high-performance cores + 6 high-performance cores, a total of 10 cores, compared with M2 and M3 chips, there are 2 more high-performance cores, compared with the previous generation of iPad Pro, the CPU speed is increased by up to 50%.
In terms of GPU, the M4 has a 10-core GPU, dynamic caching and support for ray tracing and mesh shading for the first time, and the overall rendering performance is 4x higher than that of M2.
In addition, in terms of the neural engine that has just been added to the chip industry in recent years, Apple chips have joined the neural engine as early as A11, and this M4 brings a more powerful neural engine, up to 16 core design, and the AI speed has reached 38 trillion times per second, compared with the original neural engineA11, which has been improved by 60 times, M4 only needs a quarter of the power consumption to provide the same performance as the current AIPC processor.
In terms of energy efficiency ratio, Apple also shared a set of data, compared with M2, the same performance, M4 power consumption is only half.
Second, equipped with OLED screen
This time, the iPad Pro uses an OLED screen.
In order to make the new iPad Pro achieve higher global brightness, Apple has developed a double-layer series OLED, using a double-layer OLED panel, which can achieve a global brightness of 1000 nits and a maximum peak brightness of 1600 nits.
To complement this screen, the new display engine in the M4 chip can be described as a Superfine Retina XDR screen that brings amazing precision, color and brightness, and supports a ProMotion variable refresh rate of 10~120Hz.
The new iPad Pro will still be available in two screen sizes, one at 11 inches, while the larger version with a larger screen will be upgraded from 12.9 inches to 13 inches.
3. The thinnest apple product
Yes, the new iPad Pro is not the thinnest "iPad Pro" or the thinnest "iPad", but the thinnest Apple product.
The new iPad Pro is only 5.3mm thick for the 11-inch and 5.1mm thick for the 13-inch, which is thinner than the iPod Nano, and the weight is 0.98 pounds for the 11-inch model and 1.28 pounds for the 13-inch model, and the shell is made of 100% recycled aluminum.
In terms of heat dissipation, this time Apple has added graphite sheets to the main shell of the new iPad Pro, and copper has also been added to the Apple logo on the back, thus improving the overall heat dissipation performance by nearly 20%, and the heat dissipation has also been strengthened under the extremely slim body and powerful M4 chip.
The iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel camera capable of shooting 4K ProRes video, four studio-grade microphones, and a LiDAR scanner.
The new Adaptive True Tone flash boosts the new iPad Pro's ability to scan documents, automatically scanning and recognizing documents such as forms and invoices with AI if shadows appear while shooting, and using the new True Tone flash to capture multiple photos and stitch multiple frames together for a significantly more effective scan.
The 12 million ultra-wide-angle camera on the front has been moved to the horizontal edge and supports Face ID.
Fourth, the software makes Pro more Pro
In addition to hardware,The blessing of software can make professionals really ProPro,This is also the direction that Apple has always strived for,Although in 1 month laterWWDC is the focus on the introduction of software,But at today's press conference,Apple also threw bricks and jade some professional software updates,Among them, the most commonly used for iPad Pro users is the update of Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro,Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro 2. All of them have been newly designed and optimized on the premise of touch.
In the new Final Cut Pro, thanks to the M4 chip, the final rendering speed is up to twice that of the M1. The new version of Final Cut Pro adds a real-time multicam feature that allows the iPad to monitor up to four cameras at the same time, as well as real-time video focus, white balance, exposure and more, all in real time with the new and free app Final Cut Camera.
Final Cut Pro also automatically transfers and syncs every live camera position, seamlessly moving from shoot to edit, and supports up to four times the number of ProRes RAW video streams on the M4 chip.
Logic Pro 2 is a tuning software, the previous Logic Pro added drum sounds to songs, and Logic Pro 2 added additional bass and keyboard sounds, all built by AI.
Logic Pro 2 also allows you to quickly extract four different voices from your recordings, including vocals, bass, drums, and other voices, to make your mix more efficient.
五、Apple Pencil也有Pro版了
Every iPad Pro release is bound to follow a lot of accessories, and this time is no exception, the new Magic Keyboard is not much to say here, it is still a floating design, thinner and lighter, two-color optional, and a row of function keys for more convenient control.
In addition to the Magic Keyboard, Apple also brought another "King Fried" accessory, the Apple Pencil.... Pro version!
Apple Pencil Pro has a new sensor that allows for a new level of interaction with a pinch of the pen to open a new tool wheel and get precise haptic feedback. The gyroscope can rotate the pen body to precisely control the current utility, such as adjusting the direction of the brush.
This time the Apple Pencil Pro also supports the find function, I believe that many friends who use Apple Pencil have encountered the embarrassing situation that they can't find it when they put it in their hands, Apple Pencil Pro solves this problem and can be located.
6. Storage specifications and pricing
The iPad Pro starts with 256GB of storage and offers four storage options: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB. In terms of price, the 11-inch version is priced at $999, and the 13-inch version is priced at $1,299.
The new Magic Keyboard for the new iPad Pro costs $299 for the 11-inch version and $349 for the 13-inch version
Apple Pencil Pro售价129美元
The new iPad Pro, Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro are available to order now, with general availability next week.