JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS
M4 Chip
New Display Technology -Tandem OLED
Industrial Design
Accessory Upgrades
Software Updates
Hardware Configuration
Final Thoughts
On May 7th, 2024, Apple held the "Let Loose" event and unveiled a new line of tablet products, marking the first major update to its tablet series since October 2022. The new lineup includes the new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro and iPad Air 6th generation, Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil Pro, and audio-video software updates. The highlight is the iPad Pro 2024, which features a Tandem OLED display and is powered by the M4 chip. Let's take a look at the major upgrades and updates of the iPad Pro 2024 compared to previous iPad Pro generations.
M4 Chip
Chip Manufacturing Process
The highlight of the newest ipad pro is that it skips the M3 chip and features the latest apple m4 chip, marking the first time an M-series chip will appear on an ipad pro 2024 release date. Additionally,it uses TSMC's second-generation 3nm process (M3 chip used the first-generation 3nm process), with 28 billion transistors, and the memory bandwidth has increased from 100GB/s on the M3 to 120GB/s.
CPU-Speed
The apple m4 chip is equipped with a new CPU featuring up to 10-core, including up to 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores. Compared to the M2, the CPU performance has increased by up to 50%, significantly enhancing its ability to handle complex projects and high-performance video editing tasks.
For different storage capacities, Apple offers varying numbers of performance cores and the same number of efficiency cores. The 256GB and 512GB ipad pro have only 3 performance cores, while the 1TB and 2TB ipad pro have 4 performance cores.
NPU - Apple Neural Engine
The apple m4 chip integrates a 16-core neural engine that consumes only half the power of the M2, accelerating the processing of AI tasks. It can perform up to 38 trillion operations per second, which is 60 times faster than the A11 chip, bringing a significant boost to AI-driven performance.
Display Engine
The apple m4 chip features a brand-new display engine designed for the ipad pro's new OLED display, supporting brightness and color compensation, as well as a ProMotion adaptive refresh rate from 10 to 120Hz.
The GPU (Graphics Performance) is a crucial component of the display engine. The apple m4 chip has a 10-core GPU that supports dynamic caching, ray tracing, and mesh shading, with graphics performance up to 4 times faster than the M2 chip.
Media Engine
The M4 chip continues to support mainstream video codec formats such as H.264, HEVC, and ProRes, and it also introduces hardware acceleration for the AV1 codec for the first time on the iPad Pro 2024, it can achieve the same performance as M2 with only half the power consumption, enabling more power-efficient playback of HD videos.
Memory System
The 6th generation ipad pro from 2022 offered five storage options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB.
The 7th generation ipad pro, however, starts with a 256GB storage capacity and goes up to 2TB.
New Display Technology -Tandem OLED
Generally speaking, when the screen size exceeds that of a smartphone, the quality of OLED displays deteriorates significantly, with the most obvious change being in screen brightness.When displaying content with very high contrast, Mini-LED displays are prone to blooming effects.
The iPad Pro 2024 adopts an OLED display utilizing Tandem OLED technology. This replaces the LCD screens previously used in the iPad Air and iPad Mini, as well as the Mini LED displays of the M1 and M2 iPad Pro 12.9 tablet. This technology simultaneously addresses issues of insufficient OLED brightness, blooming, and burn-in that can occur with prolonged use, providing higher screen brightness and richer colors. Specifically, the display brightness for SDR content is increased to 1000 nits (compared to 600 nits in the iPad Pro 6th generation), while HDR content can reach 1600 nits, offering users of the newest ipad pro a great viewing experience.
Furthermore, for the 1TB and 2TB storage versions, there is an option for a Nano-texture glass, using the same technology employed in Apple's Pro Display XDR monitor. This Nano-texture glass further reduces scattered light, minimizing screen reflections and glare.
Industrial Design
In terms of appearance design, the new iPad Pro has become thinner. The 11-inch model has a thickness of 5.3mm, and the 13-inch model has a thickness of 5.1mm, making it even thinner than the iPod nano and the thinnest hardware product in Apple's history.
Regarding material design, the new iPad Pro's enclosure is made of 100% recycled aluminum, with a graphite sheet on the back cover. Additionally, copper material has been incorporated into the back cover logo, improving heat dissipation performance by 20%. Apple claims that the overall performance is four times faster than the previous M2-equipped iPad Pro and ten times faster than the iPad Pro 1st generation.
Accessory Upgrades
Six years after the release of the Apple Pencil 2nd generation in 2018, Apple is once again introducing new technology with the upgraded Apple Pencil Pro.
The Apple Pencil with iPad Pro features new haptic feedback and a new interaction method - the pencil tip can interact with the screen while hovering over it. To address the "easy to lose" issue reported by many Apple users, Apple has added a "Find My" locator function to the new Apple Pencil Pro. It's important to note that the newly released Apple Pencil Pro is only compatible with the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air 6th gen models.
After a 4-year gap, the keyboard accessory has also received an upgrade. The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is lighter and thinner, with a new row of function keys added at the top of the keyboard area. The trackpad offers better tactile feedback and a larger surface area. Apple claims the overall experience is akin to using a MacBook. However, this new keyboard is only compatible with the 2024 iPad Pro products and cannot be used with previous iPad Pro generations.
Software Updates
Apple has also prepared updated versions of Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2 for iPad professional users. These professional video and audio processing applications now feature brand-new AI capabilities, leveraging the AI acceleration of the M4 chip to boost processing speed for professional editing tasks. Additionally, Final Cut Pro 2 now supports external hard drives, allowing you to directly read, write, and edit video files stored on a Thunderbolt SSD Case when connected.
Hardware Configuration
Another significant change is that, compared to the 2022 iPad Pro, the 2024 iPad Pro has reduced camera and microphone configurations. The new iPad Pro's rear camera has been changed from a dual-camera system (12MP wide-angle main camera + 10MP ultra-wide-angle) to a single camera (12MP wide-angle main camera), removing the ultra-wide-angle lens. The single-camera design means the 2024 iPad Pro will not be able to capture the spatial videos used by Vision Pro.
Furthermore, the number of microphones on the 2024 iPad Pro has been reduced from 5 on the 2022 model to 4.
Final Thoughts
Featuring the Tandem OLED display and M4 chip, the iPad Pro 2024 redefines tablet performance standards with outstanding capabilities and an ultra-thin, low-power, efficient design. Undoubtedly, it offers a new choice for professionals seeking high performance and image quality. However, upgrades come at a cost - starting at $999 for the 2024 ipad pro 11 inch and $1,299 for the 2024 iPad Pro 13 inch, $200 more than the previous generation, with the top model reaching $2,599, nearly the price of an entry-level MacBook Pro 16 inch.
Do most users truly need such excessive performance? My opinion is that better performance means longer life and the ability to handle demanding tasks. If you're a professional with high performance and display quality demands, the new iPad Pro 2024 is an excellent choice that will significantly improve efficiency. For average users who haven't owned an iPad, the 2022 iPad Pro M2 is a more cost-effective option. With sufficient budget, the M4 iPad Pro 2024 superior screen experience is worth considering.
Regardless, the iPad is a tool. what matters is whether it truly improves efficiency and user experience. We should weigh whether it's worth upgrading to the new iPad Pro based on our own needs and budget.
