Apple already has the best iPad Pro tablet on the market, but it's not always enough for the company's target audience—creative and tech professionals and amateurs. Even the iPad "Pro" has limitations and it is difficult to think of it as a true laptop replacement. As a result, Apple introduced a new iPad Pro model that addresses these limitations while introducing many of the company's biggest ideas from the updated iPhone.
The new tablets come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch screen sizes, but they are certainly incredible. The 12.9-inch model is especially surprising; it's very light, you can easily pick it up and hold it with one hand (although you obviously need the other hand to operate it) without feeling uncomfortable. The difference between it and its predecessor is not to be missed. Compared to the curved body of the existing iPad, the iPad Pro feels flat and powerful. In this regard, its design reminds me of the iPhone 5 or iPhone SE. People will get the impression that Apple deliberately gives these devices a different aesthetic to distinguish them from non-"professional" products.
Some articles refer to the iPad Pro as "full screen," but this is not the case. It has baffles - they are very small. But they are thicker than what you see on the iPhone XS or even the iPhone XR; after all, they are large enough to accommodate real depth sensor arrays without gaps. They are enough to hold the device comfortably without the worry of accidentally touching the screen - at least if your fingers are the same size or smaller. The front camera and TrueDepth array are similar to what we saw on the iPhone. You can even take pictures with Apple's portrait lighting features, like it. Like the iPhone XR, Apple calls the display a "liquid retina" display; a liquid for the LCD and retina for HiDPI resolution.
This is a bit of a strange name because it is no different from other Apple products except iPhone X, XS, and XS Max. In addition to those newer phones, almost all Apple products now have an LCD retina display. The old MacBook Air has been replaced. But for some reason, only the iPad Pro and iPhone XR have the name "liquid retina". Despite this, the show is impressive. They don't have OLEDs (we probably won't see mass-market OLED panels of this size for a long time), but they are one of the best portable LCD monitors on the market. The 120 Hz refresh rate is subtly but significantly different in perceived quality than the cheaper non-professional iPad. The resolution is slightly higher than their predecessors, but only to accommodate the increase in screen area and the reduction of the baffle. The pixel density of these two new models is the same as before - 264 pi.
The iPad Pro has been moved from Apple's proprietary lightning port to USB-C. Just like on a new Apple computer; this is USB-C. I didn't test this at the event, but Apple said you can use a USB-C to drive an external monitor, connect directly to the camera, and even charge the iPhone from the iPad. Regardless of performance, this is the most important change for the super user Apple is trying to win. In the bad sense, there is no headphone jack.
Apple has also improved the Apple pen and smart keyboard. The Apple pen is now magnetically connected to the iPad Pro and wirelessly charged while connected. When I poke it, I found that when I used the iPad normally, the pen was strong enough to be attached to it, but it was not strong enough to stay stuck on the backpack. Still, this is a big improvement over the old charging method. Previously, you had to insert an apple pen into the lightning port, which seemed a bit ridiculous.
The keyboard is also a bit different. It feels the same; it's definitely not as easy to use as a good laptop keyboard, but it's good for light use. After a few minutes of using the new iPad Pro, it looks like an iterative improvement (with great aesthetic changes), but this is an important iteration. I am still not sure if this is a replacement for many users of the MacBook Pro, but I can imagine that there are quite a few niche users who will benefit a lot. This seems even less likely over time, and this may still not be true. But the first impression is that the new iPad Pro makes this long-term vision a reality and not to be vague.
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