The new Apple iPad Pro arrives in stores on Wednesday, May 15. I’ve been testing the 13-inch model of the new tablet since it was unveiled just under a week ago. It’s an astonishingly slim, great-looking device with plenty of power—but it can be expensive in some configurations. The 2024 models have a screen technology that’s a first for the iPad, a surprise new processor and a dazzling new look. Here’s everything you need to know.
Note that while I’ve focused on the 13-inch model, the two are essentially identical apart from size and price.
Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch: Design
Ever since the iPad Pro was heavily redesigned in 2018, it’s always been a looker, with eye-catching slim bezels, cliff-edge sides and slim profile. But this new version takes all the best things about the design and builds hugely on it.
Most striking of all is just how svelte the new models are. Where the last 12.9-inch iPad Pro was 6.4mm thick, the new 13-inch one is just 5.1mm. The 11-incher has slimmed down from 5.9mm to 5.3mm. Apple says that both of them are the thinnest products ever from the company, thinner even than the tiny iPod nano. They really do need to be seen to be believed. These measurements apply to the main body of the iPads, by the way: the cameras protrude a bit further.
If it’s the thinnest-ever Apple product, doesn’t that mean the Apple Pencil Pro, which snaps magnetically to the side, is thicker than it? Yes, it does. Here’s a secret: when you connect the Pencil to the iPad Pro, it slightly lifts the edge of the tablet up to accommodate the stylus. Press down on the iPad Pro and the Pencil moves slightly, but cleverly still stays attached.
Anyway, the point is that these tablets are amazingly thin, which gives them a preposterously elegant profile. Build quality is immaculate, with no creak or flex even if you press hard.
One change from the last Pro models is the placement of the front-facing Ultra Wide camera, which was previously on the short, portrait edge of the tablet and is now on the longer side. This is a Very Good Thing, improving the quality of video conferencing no end. Apple has somehow managed to put the camera right next to the magnetic charging pad for the Apple Pencil, something thought to be technically difficult.
Talking of cameras, there’s now only oner rear camera, where the previous model had two. But it’s a new camera with improved image signal processor and smarter True Tone flash. Since you perhaps only use the camera for AR functions, this seems a good prioritizing of resources.
The new iPad Pro models also benefit from being much lighter than their predecessors.
And there is even a new color this time around: Space Black succeeds Space Gray and is a demurely classy finish (though it can pick up fingerprints.
In summary: the iPad Pro looks stunning.
Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch: OLED Display
Apple has never used an OLED screen on an iPad before, and this display is different from other OLED displays. It’s called Ultra Retina XDR. Now, you’ll remember that Liquid Retina XDR is the name reserved for the larger (12.9-inch) iPad Pro screen before, which supplemented the LCD with miniLED backlights that looked great.
And OLED for all its strengths has one big weakness: it’s not as bright as some screen technologies. So, if one OLED isn’t bright enough, how about two? That was Apples thinking as it introduced Tandem OLED, where two displays are used and combine the light from both.
The result is dazzling, in a good way: exceptional contrast levels (at 2,000,000:1 it’s double the last iPad Pro), tremendous brightness and highly realistic colors.
In the last generation of iPads Pro, the miniLED glory was reserved for the larger-screen only. This time around, but the 11-inch and 13-inch models get the best stuff.
You can even opt for a much less reflective finish, the nanotexture display finish, but it’s an extra $100 and only comes on the 1TB and 2TB storage versions. It looks amazing, mind.
Apple calls it the world’s most advanced display and it’s hard to disagree, it’s jaw-droppingly beautiful.
Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch: M4 processor
The last iPad Pro had an M2 processor, so you might have imagined the M3 would be the Apple Silicon of choice here. But no, Apple has introduced an all-new M4 chip and for the first time, it’s debuting in an iPad, not a Mac.
The new model is 1.5 times as fast as the M2, Apple says, and certainly it seems screaming-fast, whatever you’re doing. Mind you, the M2 was very fast. That’s in the new iPad Air, and for many people, that will be fast enough.
Still it’s always great to have extra speed to offer headroom for the more demanding apps that will come, especially with AI, which the M4 is said to be especially good at.
Apple iPad Pro 13-Inch: Verdict
The gorgeous design, the eye-popping display, the ferociously fast performance come together in this tablet and make it ridiculously good. It isn’t cheap, but Apple has packed so much into an incredibly thin case, it’s pretty hard to resist.
