After not updating any iPad at all in 2023, Apple has upgraded its Pro and Air iPad series, and the star of the show is clearly the iPad Pro. In fact, throughout the online-only event, Tim Cook repeatedly called the iPad Pro the biggest upgrade to the iPad since the original. While I'm not sure if I'd go that far, the new 2024 iPad Pro is at least the biggest iPad update since 2018's iPad Pro (that was when the iPad made the switch from the circle home button design to this current thin-bezel look).

I had a brief time checking out the new iPad Pro at Apple's offices, and here are my early impressions.

It is incredibly thin

The new iPad Pro is extremely thin, with the larger 13-inch model measuring just 5.1mm in thickness, and the 11-inch model measuring 5.3mm. They also shed weight, down to 1.26lbs for the larger Pro model and 0.96lb for the 11-incher. In fact, the new iPad Pros are thinner and lighter their Air counterparts, which really make the Air moniker a bit silly.

There's also a new keyboard case (which Apple names Magic Keyboard) that is also noticeably thinner and lighter too. This is a big improvement, as the last generation 13-inch iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard combo tipped the scales at over 3 pounds. Now, the 2024 versions weigh just a bit over 2.7 pounds combined.

The Magic Keyboard's trackpad is also larger, and has an aluminum palm rest, which gives the whole setup a feel much closer to a MacBook than before.

New OLED display

The iPad Pros are also Apple's first tablet to get an OLED display. The iPad Pro uses two separate layers of OLED panels to reach a higher maximum brightness of 1,000 nits (whole screen) or 1,600 nits (peak). Apple calls this tech "Tandem OLED." The highest tier iPad Pro also gains a nanotexture coated screen that gives it a matte feel that does not reflect as much light. The tech is similar to similar coating we've seen in the iMac, and also the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The display looked great, as OLED screens tend to, able to display pure blacks. Bezel sizes remain the same as previous iPad Pros, however.

First Apple device to run on M4

The new iPad Pros are powered by a brand-new M4 silicon, marking the first time Apple launched a new chip in an iPad first. The M4 is said to be 4X more powerful than the M2, and in short demos, Apple staff were able to show off some extremely impressive tasks, like the iPad being able to stream footage from four iPhones to the tablet at the same time, and later allowing multi-cam video editing with footage from four iPhones in a seamless manner.

Truth be told, the M4 is going to be complete overkill for most people, who use a tablet for watching videos, reading words, and maybe play the occasional game. But if you are a creative professional, Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and third party apps like ProCreate are even more capable on the iPad Pro than before, and these tablet apps were already leading the industry in terms of capability compared to Android or Windows counterparts.

Apple Pencil goes Pro

The Apple Pencil also gets an upgrade to a Pro model. This new version can detect gestures such as squeezing the stylus' to trigger a new quick menu, and a "barrel roll" gesture which can be used to make fine adjustments. For example, if you're "undoing" an action, you can now twist the Apple Pencil Pro to pick between five levels of undo. There are more neat software tricks, like the stylus will now cast a digital shadow over the canvas, with the shadow taking the shape of the drawing tool. So if you're using a brush, the shadow will be a brush, and it will be oriented depending on how you roll the pen.

Early thoughts

Between the new silicon, OLED screen, and sleeker build, this is quite a big update to the iPad Pro line. However, with that update comes a price bump. The iPad Pro starts at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch model. This is not including the $349 Magic Keyboard and $129 Apple Pencil Pro. In fact, a fully spec'ed out 13-inch Pro with the keyboard and stylus costs nearly $3,100. Still, I think the iPad Pro is clearly closing in on being a full-fledged computer (I am, in fact, writing this on a 2022 M2 iPad Pro), and creative professionals could probably justify this purchase. I'll have a full review coming next week.