Hands-On With Apple’s New iPads: My Take on the Fancy New Upgrades

After a whole year when Apple there was no iPad at all, 2024 already has four new iPads at once. The newest iPad Pro and iPad Air the models are here and I have tried them all in practice. Over the course of several hours at a series of meetings with Apple in New York, I got a preview of the new iPads, and after spending time with them, I really appreciate their hardware. They also have an all-new gyroscope-equipped, vibrating Pencil Pro accessory.

While Apple’s new iPads are gorgeous, luxurious, and expensive, I can’t say they’re any closer to your Mac. That’s because, well, Apple doesn’t want them to be.

The iPad Pro is by all accounts a superior piece of hardware. It’s very likely the device I’d choose to be my future Mac. But it’s still not a Mac, it’s an iPad. And even though iOS and MacOS are getting closer every year, they’re still quite different. We only have a month left from the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Apple will announce new versions of each operating system, including iPadOS. It’s possible that Apple will then reveal plans to transform the iPad even more and perhaps merge it with Macs as we know them. But I wouldn’t count on it.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a nice iPad and have needs that involve graphic arts, sketching, or photo/video work, these new models look great. But they will cost you. While the base iPad Air starts at $599 (£478, AU$907) with 128GB of storage, the top-of-the-line iPad Pro starts at $1,299 (£981, AU$1,861). And then there’s a nice new Pencil Pro for $129 (£103, AU$195), a Magic Keyboard with a new aluminum design and a haptic trackpad for $299 (£238, AU$453) and $349 (£279, AU$528) and any extra storage , which you may want to tackle. The Pro models have 256GB of storage to start with and go up to 2TB.

The Pencil Pro has a useful tactile vibration, rotating in the hand

The new Pencil Pro looks just like the previous Pencil 2, but adds a few new features on board at the same $129 price. You can squeeze the pencil now to bring up pop-up menus on the iPad screen with tactile vibrations that give a slight click response. It’s a nice little touch, but the more useful part for me was the built-in gyroscope that allows for pencil rotation in hand. The Pencil can now spin the brush tools in a motion that feels more like using a real brush in the hand.

Thanks to the hover feature on the iPad’s display, introduced in the iPad Pro 2022, the Pencil previews the brush tools, and you can then rotate the Pencil to adjust the brush position as needed before pressing down.

I like the new additions to the Pencil Pro and I’m glad it doesn’t cost more. Except it does. You have to buy a brand new iPad Pro or iPad Air to use it, as the new Pencil only charges and connects to those new models. That’s a lot for a few new Pencil features.

iPad Pro: Slim, luxurious, great screen

The new iPad Pro model looks remotely similar to the iPad Air or even previous iPad Pro models. It’s a large display with metal bezels, and frankly, all iPads have nice displays. Zooming in reveals some differences. Apple has made these Pro models even thinner than before. Why, you may ask? In theory, it’s not really necessary, but if you live with a Magic Keyboard attached, you might feel differently.

It’s the whole Magic Keyboard-on-iPad setup that the new Pro seems fine-tuned to, as the keyboard’s new aluminum inner casing and the iPad Pro together now make for a thinner and lighter package overall. How thin and light? My demos were brief, but it looked like it would fit a bit better in a backpack.

New professionals have M4 chips inside, which are an all-new chip that Apple announced just half a year after the M3 debuted last Halloween. The M4 sounds very close to the M3, from its 3nm architecture to its cores and GPUs. Apple pointed out that the M4 has a better thermal design for thin devices like this iPad, as well as a new design to handle the improved OLED display. How much faster is unclear, as all of Apple’s comparisons were referenced to the M2, not the M3. We’ll find out soon though.

The new display looks great. Apple has finally switched to OLED for its iPads, something companies like Samsung did long ago for tablets. Apple promises they’re even better, calling them Ultra Retina XDR displays – they use technology called Tandem OLED, which uses two OLED panels at the same time and boosts brightness for HDR (1000 nits in daily use up to 1600 nits for HDR). There’s also a fantastic matte finish (nano-textured glass) option, similar to what Apple has for its high-end Studio Display, which made the screens I saw stand out with much less glare.

do you need them Well, they look great, but Apple already has great displays in its other iPads. For anyone who needs particularly high quality for film or graphic work, well, it will be specified. In any case, these screens look like Apple’s new display templates for Pro devices in all of its products to come.

iPad Air: 2022’s iPad Pro, but more affordable

The iPad Airs were my favorite as they were mid-range choices for FancyPad buyers. The 11-inch Air, at $599 (£478, AU$907), has an M2 chip and looks like the one you’ll get. Apple doesn’t have a Mini LED on its new larger-screen 13-inch iPad Air model, starting at $799 (£639, AU$1,210), as 2022 12.9-inch iPad Pro does, and the Airs don’t have faster refresh rates (ProMotion) like the pros. The Airs doesn’t have lidar sensors on the back or Face ID on the front: instead, it has a side Touch ID button that some people might prefer.

The Airs look perfectly fine, though, and while they’re thicker than the Pro, they’re more affordable. They also work with the new Pencil Pro. I don’t have much to say about them because… well, I’ve seen these iPads before, sort of. The only question is: are the 2022 iPad Pros being sold at a lower price? If so, get them from these Airs, because they’re the same, but a little better.

Finally the cameras in the right place

All of these iPads moved their front cameras to the landscape edge, just like the 10th generation iPad. This is a belated move. In keyboard-bound modes, this means that video chats are finally properly centered (who uses an iPad to video chat in portrait mode, anyway?). This makes them feel even better as Zoom machines.

Cheaper 10th-gen iPad: The one to get?

Apple also reduced the price of 10th generation iPad, now down to $349 (£279, AU$528) with 64GB of storage. I’d recommend the $499 (£399, AU$756) 256GB model instead, but either way, those prices are finally in the range I wanted them to be in 2022.

The only question is: will Apple update this iPad in the fall with even better specs? At this new price, with likely online sales too (as there always are), the basic iPad looks like the way to go for most. Otherwise, expect to spend a lot for a tablet that, while amazingly versatile, still isn’t the same as a Mac.