On the 7th of May, Apple held an event, which they had previously marketed as the ‘Let Loose’ event.
During the event, they announced new versions of the iPad Pro, the iPad Air and new iPad accessories.
In this blog, I’m going to outline what all was announced, while also telling you how accessible they are for disabled people.
The New M4 iPad Pro
The new iPad Pro comes in a slightly thinner display, and comes in both 11 and 13-inch display size options.
Skipping over the previous M3 chip, Apple has given it the M4 chip, which gives it 50% faster CPU performance compared to the M2 iPad, while also making it four times faster when rendering projects.
On top of all these features, it also comes with an Ultra Retina XDR OLED display, which uses two panels in a tandem design to deliver even better fullscreen brightness up to 1000 nits for SDR and HDR, and 1600 nits of peak brightness. This helps it deliver deeper, true blacks, more detail in shadows and low light, brighter highlights and improved luminance, while also making it more responsive to content in motion.
The 12-megapixel front-facing camera has been moved to the side for an improved video calling experience, and the rear-camera now supports ProRes video recording and Smart HDR 4. It also now features an Adaptive TrueTone flash for better document scanning.
One other feature that the new iPad Pro comes with includes a nano-texture display option, which is something Apple has done for the first time. Beyond this, it’s enclosure has been made with 100% recycled aluminium, and it comes in Silver and Space Black.
If you’re in America, the 11-inch iPad Pro model starts at $999, while the 13-inch model starts at $1,299. Meanwhile, in the UK, it costs £999 for the 11-inch and £1,299 for the 13-inch model, while in Europe, it costs, €1,119 for the 11-inch, and €1,549 for the basic 13-inch. The cost, however, will go up if you choose a higher amount of Storage and some more added options (you can increase your storage up to 2TB, choose what sort of glass you want, choose between getting wifi or wifi with cellular, get an engraving, Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard or get AppleCare, which will all make the cost go up).
M2 iPad Air
Also coming in 11-inch and 13-inch size options (with the larger option offering 30% more screen real estate than the smaller option), the M2 iPad Air comes with a new landscape FaceTime camera, AI features. and better sound quality, although the improved sound quality only comes with the larger model.
The M2 chip features a faster 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, which makes the new iPad Air nearly 50% faster than the iPad Air with the M1 chip, leading to an improvement in productivity and creative tasks on the iPad, according to Apple. However, the new M2 iPad Air will also show an extreme improvement compared to the iPad Air with the A13 Bionic chip, with the M2 model performing up to 3x faster.
Unlike the previous generation, the 12MP Ultra Wide FaceTime camera on the iPad Air devises is located along the longest edge so that it captures video from a more central, horizontal position during video calls. Nevertheless, the camera also features Centre Stage, which is built with machine learning to automatically keep everyone in the field of view.
It also support Wifi 6E, which provides up to 2x increased performance. Beyond this, it’s also compatible with the new Apple Pencil Pro.
Coming with an LCD Liquid Retina display, both sizes come in several colours, including a new blue; new purple; Starlight and Space Grey, and has been built with 100% recycled aluminium enclosure.
New Apple Magic Keyboard
The new Apple Magic Keyboard has been redesigned to be thinner and lighter, while still maintaining the same floating design.
It comes in two colours (White and Black), and includes a row of function buttons that lets you control your iPad’s brightness and sound etc.
Some other features it comes with includes:
- An aluminum palm rest.
- A larger trackpad with haptic feedback.
If you’re ordering from America, the Magic Keyboard for the 11-inch model will cost $299, while the 13-inch version will cost $349. However, if you are ordering it from the UK, it will cost £299 for the 11-inch model, while the 13-inch model will cost £349. If you’re ordering from Europe, it will cost €349 if you order the 11-inch model or €399 if you order the 13-inch model.
New Apple Pencil Pro
Apple also announced a new version of the Apple Pencil during its ‘Let Loose’ event, known as the Apple Pencil Pro.
Coming with a new squeeze gesture, a gyroscope, haptic feedback, Find My support and more, the Apple Pencil Pro has a new sensor in it which lets you bring a new tool to your digital palette, while also giving you more control over different pens and brushes, and is the first to support Find My.
Equipped with a new haptic engine, the Apple Pencil Pro provides a light tap when users squeeze, use double-tap, or snap to a Smart Shape.
The Apple Pencil Pro pairs, charges, and is stored on the side of the iPad Pro and iPad Air, which feature a new magnetic interface.
However, it is important to note that the new Apple Pencil Pro isn’t compatible with any other iPad models other than the new ones, so you can’t use it with earlier models.
If you’re ordering from America, the Apple Pencil Pro will cost $129, but if you order it from the UK or Europe, it will cost £129 or €149.
Additional Announcements
Beyond all of these announcements, Apple also announced new updates to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for the iPad, which come with numerous advanced features. These include Live Multicam (which allows you to film from four different angles using other Apple devices), Final Cut Camera (which enables you to live monitor and individual control of each video feed) and more.
Meanwhile, the new version of Logic Pro for the iPad is powered by AI, and introduced new studio assistant features, such as:
- Session Players (which expands the Drummer capabilities in Logic Pro to include a new Bass Player and Keyboard Player).
- Stem Splitter (which lets you extract and work with individual parts of a single audio recording).
- ChromaGlow (which enables you to instantly add warmth to tracks).
Final Thoughts
At the end of my reaction to Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event, I said it was good to see the iPad getting more capabilities that we’d usually only see on a computer, but although I still stand by that comment, I have expanded my opinions slightly.
All the iPads have interesting features, and it’s great seeing more creativity coming to the most up to date iPads overall. But while these features seem cool, the iPads might be regarded as overkill by some users, who may find themselves settling for older options such as the 2018 iPad Pro, which many will feel works just as well.
By all means, the new Apple Magic Keyboard case looks cool, but I can’t be the only person who thinks that case is a new remake of an earlier keyboard case that came out a few years ago for the 10th Generation iPad. Therefore, it’s worth asking if the majority of 10th Gen iPad users will find themselves wondering if it’s worth buying an iPad Pro option instead, when the iPad and Keyboard Case they already have gets the job done.
However, I also find It disappointing that Apple have made the Apple Pencil even more inaccessible for disabled people, and it would’ve also been nice to see Apple giving podcasters the opportunity to record directly into Logic Pro.
So overall, I think the new iPads are slightly too much for the majority of people, and the lack of accessible features wouldn’t even be enough to make me want to check out the latest announcements.
Phoebs Lyle Tech Reviews 