11-inch iPad Pro Wi-Fi 256GB — Space Gray — Apple

3nm a-series chip

Starting in 2022, Apple’s iPads are expected to feature a next-generation A-series chip built on TSMC’s improved 3-nanometer process. The news comes from Nikkei Asia, and while the report doesn’t specify which iPad might be first to get the new chip, it’s likely to be the iPad Pro.

3nm technology can increase processing performance by 10 to 15 percent compared to 5nm technology, while also reducing power consumption by 25 to 30 percent.

5g cellular connectivity on ipad pro

The iPad Pro 2021 is the first iPad to get 5G connectivity. The new iPad Pro supports mmWave bands for 5G connectivity in the US, and Apple claims download speeds of up to 4Gbps. Apple also claims the iPad Pro has support for the widest range of 5G bands.

Note that you will have to pick a Wi-Fi Cellular model to enjoy 5G on the iPad Pro and will be required to pay your carrier for active 5G services.

Accessories for ipad pro 2021

While the rumored Apple Pencil with a longer tip and color sampling support did not see the light of the day, the company did release its Magic Keyboard in white color to complement the already existing black one. The new white color complements the Apple Pencil, which only comes with white color and could be a good choice for anyone who does not fancy black.

The new Magic Keyboard is the same as the older version and not the upgraded one spotted in a patent by Patently Apple. The white Magic Keyboard also lacks the rumored touch-sensitive strips on the left and right sides.

Note that the Magic Keyboard has to be bought separately for prices starting at $299.

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Apple ipad pro 2021 variants

The iPad Pro 2021 comes in two display sizes — 11-inch and 12.9-inch. As noted previously, there are no major changes when it comes to the appearance of the new tablets. There are, however, major changes under the hood. Other than the changes over the previous generations, the two variants of the new iPad Pro also differ in terms of display technology.

The new Mini LED display is a significant leap from the traditional LED display. The next section talks about the display technology in detail and how Apple employs it to make the iPad Pro experience better.

Apple ipad pro 2021: specifications

The iPad Pro 2021 variants are visually identical to the previous year’s models. The new 11-inch model even has the same dimensions as the last time while the new 12.9-inch model gets an added thickness of 0.5mm with the new Mini LED display. Despite this, the new 12.9 iPad Pro is only 6.4mm thick, which is commendable for a machine of this vigor.

Apple ipad pro: pricing

Despite the improvement in performance, the 11-inch iPad Pro 2021 comes at the same price as the previous year’s models. It costs $799 for the Wi-Fi-only model, while the Wi-Fi Cellular model has a starting price of $999. It goes all the way up to $2,099 for 2TB of storage and support for 5G connectivity alongside Wi-Fi.

Meanwhile, the 12.9-inch model is available at a starting price of $1099 for 128GB storage and only Wi-Fi. You will have to pay $200 additionally for the cellular variant with 5G support. The most amped-up variant of the larger iPad Pro is priced at $2,399.

iPad Pro 2021 vs Galaxy Tab S7: Battle of the Apple and Android tablets

The Magic Keyboard for the 11-inch iPad Pro is priced at $299 while the one for the 12.9-inch variant is priced at $349 in the US. The second-generation Apple Pencil will be available for $129 in the US.

The prices of the iPad Pro 2021 may vary as per market, accounting for different taxes. We have listed the prices applicable to the Indian market for all the products launched at the Spring Loaded event.

Apple m1 processor on ipad pro 2021

Ahead of the launch, 9to5Mac had spotted references to Apple’s A14X Bionic chip — a souped-up version of the A14 Bionic that powers the iPhone 12 series and the iPad Air 2020 — in the source code of iOS 14.5 beta. This purported chip was believed to be based on Apple’s custom ARM-based M1 chipset that powers the 2020 MacBook Air Mac Mini and some of last year’s 13” MacBook Pro models.

These leaks were, however, proved partially wrong when Apple announced the iPad Pro 2021. The new iPad Pro runs on Apple’s M1 chipset instead of the rumored A14X Bionic, and this news comes as a pleasant surprise. The M1 SoC system-on-chip is designed on the same principle as the A-series Bionic chips that have powered the iPhones and iPad for some years and its system-on-chip design instead of separate chips for CPU, GPU, RAM, flash storage, etc.

The Apple M1 chip promises significant performance gains over the A12Z Bionic chip used in last year’s iPad Pro. Apple claims a 50% improvement in CPU performance as well as a 40% gain in GPU performance. The M1 chip features an 8-core CPU, an 8-core GPU, and a 16-core NPU. There is a choice between 8GB and 16GB of RAM with the option to choose up to 2TB of flash storage.

Last year, Apple had announced its plan to replace the x64 chips from Intel and AMD on the Mac lineup with its own M1 SoC. By announcing the iPad Pro with the same chipset as its computers, Apple is further solidifying the idea that an iPad Pro is no less than a Mac, unlike Android tablets which still miserably lag behind PCs in terms of performance.

The utilization of an Apple M1 chip on the iPad Pro means that apps that can run on the Macs with ARM chips will also be available to work on the iPad Pro (given support from developers). With this, the iPad Pro becomes a great alternative for anyone who wants a MacBook Air but with the convenience of a touch screen and Apple Pencil input.

The new iPad Pro also borrows one feature from the iPhone 12’s A14 Bionic chip and that’s 5G connectivity.

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Design

While no explicit leaks exposed the iPad Pro 2021 models in press renders or other conspicuous forms, a set of 3D CAD renders shared by 91Mobiles had revealed there would not be any major changes to the design. The same has been confirmed with the official launch with the new iPad Pro barely changed from the last generation.

Apple also claims the new iPad Pro is designed with 100% recycled aluminum as well as 100% recycled rare earth elements used to make the magnets on the iPad Pro. This is in line with the tech giant’s commitment to helping the environment. Apple claims that its global corporate operations are carbon neutral and it envisions to have “net-zero climate impact across the entire business” by 2030.

Ipados 14.5

Apple also announced that iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 will start rolling out starting next week with support for AirTags, more gaming controllers, new languages in Apple Pencil features such as Smart Selection and Scribble, additional emojis, and the option to share lyrics as well as sort top songs by cities in Apple Music. The device will also get iPadOS 15.

iPadOS 15 Developer Beta 1 Hands-On: Quick Notes is a gamechanger, split-screen finally works well

Larger ipads

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is working on future iPads with larger displays, but larger iPads are not expected to be released for a couple of years. The current largest iPad has a 12.9-inch screen, so future iPads could be even larger.

Mini led display on ipad pro 2021

The iPad Pro 2021 features several enhancements, and the display is among the first ones you will notice. As reported by multiple sources ahead of the launch, the iPad Pro is equipped with a Liquid Retina XDR display, which is the moniker used by Apple to denote the new Mini LED display.

As remarked by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors) and later corroborated a Bloomberg report, only the larger model out of the two — i.e. the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2021 — gets the new display while the smaller 11-inch iPad Pro retains the older Liquid Retina display.

Mini LED is a variety of LCD panels in which — yes, you guessed it right — miniature LEDs (with size in the range of 100-200μm) are used as the backlight source. These miniature LEDs are nearly 120X smaller in volume than the ones usually used to power regular LED-backlit LCDs.

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2021’s display has a resolution of 2732 x 2048 pixels, with a 1000-nits brightness. The display on the smaller 11-inch variant, on the other hand, has a resolution of 2388 x 1688 pixels with a 600-nits brightness.

As you would expect, the large number and small size of these Mini LEDs allow for better contrast and more accurate local dimming than the traditional LED-backlit panels. Apple says these Mini LEDs combine to form up to 2,500 local dimming zones across the 12.

9-inch display. This translates to a richer contrast than the previous technologies, and Apple announced the new display has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. It is probably the best you can expect from an LCD — much closer to an OLED but still not as good.

New features

Alongside the improved display and the better processor, Apple has also replaced the standard USB Type-C port on the iPad Pro with one that supports Thunderbolt, a technology that has been available on Apple’s Mac computers, including MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac Mini, iMac, and the Mac Pro since 2021.

Thunderbolt is an open and multipurpose data and power transfer standard developed by Intel. It allows storage devices such SSDs, DisplayPort-supported external monitors, and PCIe peripherals such as external graphics cards or network connectors over a USB Type-C port. Thunderbolt 3 supports transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps, i.e. four times the transfer speeds of a USB 3.1 port.

The new iPad Pro models Thunderbolt 3 rather than newer the Thunderbolt 4 standard. Along with Thunderbolt, the new iPad Pro also supports USB4.

With this technology, the iPad Pro can now support Ethernet at up to 10Gbps and can be connected to run with Apple’s Pro Display XDR at 6K resolution — or other high-resolution displays — seamlessly even with a daisy chain setup.

Orientation changes

Leaker Dylandkt claims that a future iPad Pro could feature a horizontal camera alignment and a landscape-oriented Apple logo on the back, a change that Apple is supposedly implementing to promote usage of the iPad in landscape mode rather than portrait mode.

Titanium chassis

Future versions of the iPad could use a titanium alloy chassis design, which would replace the aluminum used in current models. Titanium would be more resistant to scratches and bending due to its hardness.

DigiTimes says that Apple is working on this technology, though it’s not known if and when a titanium chassis would be made available. Because this process is expensive, it could initially be limited to higher-end iPad models.

Wireless charging

A new version of the iPad Pro rumored to debut in 2022 is expected to feature a glass back instead of an aluminum back, a feature that will allegedly enable wireless charging. Apple is rumored to be planning to add MagSafe charging capabilities to the 2022 iPad Pro, similar to the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models.

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