Apple has today announced the brand new M1 iPad Pro with miniLED display at the highly-anticipated Spring Event. But if you already splurged on the latest model last year, you might be wondering how much of an upgrade this actually is.
The two major changes to the new iPad Pro are the miniLED screen and the breakthrough M1 chip, both of which are exciting new additions to the device.
Liquid Retina XDR Display:
The flagship feature of this release is Apple’s miniLED technology debut with the Liquid Retina XDR display.
If you opt for the 12.9-inch model, Apple promises up to 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, 1600 nits of peak brightness and a 1-million-to-1 contrast ratio, which results in a display never before seen in iPads.
“The result is a stunning visual experience that reflects what can be seen in the real world by capturing the brightest highlights and the most subtle details in even the darkest images,” Apple said.
“Now creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, and filmmakers, can view and edit true-to-life HDR content on a large display they can take anywhere.”
Unfortunately, the technology hasn’t been implemented in the smaller, 11-inch model just yet. However, the slightly lower spec model still boasts 600 nits of brightness and a 2388 x 1668 resolution, which is still pretty impressive.
M1 Chip:
The other major improvement for the 2021 iPad Pro models is the uber-impressive M1 chip, which was initially introduced last year in Apple’s MacBooks.
Apple claims this will offer a “big jump in performance” compared to previous models, including a graphics performance that is over 1,500 times faster than older iPads. Additionally, the 8-core model offers up to 50 percent faster CPU performance, compared to the A12Z Bionic.
And considering just how impressive the M1 MacBooks were, particularly for a gen 1 product, it’s real tempting to believe Apple here.
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“The revolutionary M1 chip has been a breakthrough for the Mac, and we’re incredibly excited to bring it to iPad Pro,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
“With M1’s huge jump in performance, a groundbreaking extreme dynamic range experience on the 12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, up to 2TB of high-speed storage, Thunderbolt expansion, a four-speaker audio system, pro cameras with LiDAR Scanner, blazing-fast 5G connectivity, an amazing video-calling experience with Center Stage — combined with the advanced features of iPadOS and a powerful pro app ecosystem all in a device users can hold in one hand — there’s nothing else like iPad Pro.”
Basically, the M1 chip ups the ante in pretty much every way when it comes to the iPad Pro, with a 16-core Apple Neural Engine, 2x faster storage and up to 10 hours of battery life, resulting in the most powerful iPad we’ve seen to date.
Apple M1 iPad Pro 11-Inch Specs:
And here are the cold hard specs, because we know you love it.
- Display: 11-inch (2388 x 1668 pixels)
- Processor: Apple M1
- Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
- RAM: 8GB Ram (128GB-512GB models) or 16GB RAM (1TB and 2TB models)
- Rear cameras: 12MP Wide (ƒ/1.8 aperture), 10MP ultra-wide (ƒ/2.4 aperture)
- Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth
- Battery: up to 10 hours
- Connectivity: 5G on cellular models
- Dimensions and weight: 9.740 x 7.02 inches x 0.23 inches, 472g
- Colours: Space Grey, Silver
Apple M1 iPad Pro 12.9-Inch Specs:
- Display: 12.9-inch (2732 x 2048 pixels) with miniLED
- Processor: Apple M1
- Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB
- RAM: 8GB Ram (128GB-512GB models) or 16GB RAM (1TB and 2TB models)
- Rear cameras: 12MP Wide (ƒ/1.8 aperture), 10MP ultra-wide (ƒ/2.4 aperture)
- Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth
- Battery: up to 10 hours
- Connectivity: 5G on cellular models
- Dimensions and weight: 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.25 inches, 698g
- Colours: Space Grey, Silver
Apple M1 iPad Pro Australian Price and release date
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $1199 for the Wi-Fi model and $1549 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $1649 for the Wi-Fi model $1899 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
The new iPad Pro is available for pre-order from Friday, 30 April on the Apple Website and in the Apple Store app and will be available in-store from the second half of May.