There hasn’t been a new iPad since late 2022, but during Apple’s virtual “Let Loose” event, the company launched a new slate of iPads: two iPad Airs and two iPad Pros, both in 11- and 13-inch sizes. There are some notable upgrades, such as FaceTime cameras on the long edge rather than the short edge — yay! — and new Ultra Retina XDR OLED displays on the Pros, which can hit a peak brightness of 1,600 nits in HDR (and 1,000 full screen in SDR), just like the desktop Pro XDR Display.
The older 10th-gen iPad gets a price drop to $349 (£349, AU$599). Preorders for the new iPads are live now, and they ship next week.
The redesigned Pros are now thinner, though in similar 11 and 13-inch sizes, thanks to the long-awaited OLED displays. To generate extra brightness — peak brightness of 1,600 nits in HDR — they combine two OLED panels, dubbed Tandem OLED, and Apple calls it Ultra Retina XDR. As with the desktop displays, there’s a Nano Texture option, which is Apple’s glare-free layer. They start at $999 (£999, AU$1,699) for the 11-inch and $1,399 (£1,299, AU$2,199) for the 13.
An M4 chip launches with the Pro, bypassing the M3, though it just seems like a faster version which incorporates new display technology intended to drive the new OLED displays. Otherwise, it uses the M3-generation 3-nanometer technology, with four performance cores, six efficiency cores, 10 GPU cores and a new display controller to support the HDR OLED screen. And it’s got better thermals to compensate. They still come in silver and space black.
There’s a new rear camera, 12-megapixel, f1.8 Smart HDR, with lidar and better TrueTone flash for document photography; the new flash helps remove shadows in documents. The Pro offers up to 2TB storage, and there’s a 5G option.
As usual, the new iPad Airs are, in large part, former iPad Pros. They come in a redesigned 11-inch and new 13-inch sizes, albeit with the older Liquid Retina technology rather than the mini LED of the Pros. The 11 has landscape speakers with spatial audio, while the 13-inch has extra bass. New blue and purple colors join the line; one has the M2 chip (like the Pro) and one still has the A14 Bionic. There are new 512GB and 1TB options, starting at $599 (£599, AU$999) for the 11-inch and $799 (£799, AU$1,299) for the 13.