Photo: Apple

Back in 2022, Apple had a pretty laid-back approach but still managed to keep us engaged with three events. They started the year with the "Peek Performance" in March, rolled into the summer with the WWDC in June, and then gracefully moved into autumn with an event in September, revealing some fresh iPhones and gadgets. They maintained their pace in 2023, delivering another set of three events, including the anticipated WWDC in June, and not one, but two fall events that had the tech community chatting. Now, here we are in 2024, and Apple has dropped its third "Let Loose" event on us already, and we're not even halfway through the year yet. It's nice to see them keeping the rhythm without any rush. 

So, this time around they've dropped the new iPad Air in both 11-inch and (surprisingly) 13-inch sizes, kinda like the iPad Pro, alongside an updated Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro. Also, during the presentation, they spilled the beans on some app updates for the iPad that creators are gonna love for sure. For some reason, they left out in the presentation that iPads don't have a slot for physical SIM cards anymore as noticed 9to5Mac. But, it is what it is. Alright, let's dive into what's new and start feeling like dinosaurs with our old 12.9-inch Pro 6th gen.

For the first time ever, you've got options between two display sizes – the classic 11-inch and a new, larger 13-inch model. Both versions are powered by the Apple M2 chip, kicking performance up by a whopping 50% compared to the M1. The 2024 iPad Air starts with 128 GB storage, doubling what the 2022 model offered. And if you're feeling fancy, there's a 1 TB version at the top end. Plus, they've kept the cool Touch ID sensor in the power button. 

You get stereo speakers on both the top and bottom, a single 12-megapixel main camera, and a 12-megapixel selfie cam that's cleverly placed along the longer edge of the tablet. The iPad Air is also getting in on the Apple Pencil Hover action, a feature that used to be just for the iPad Pro gang. And, good news: the new iPad Airs work with the new Magic Keyboard accessories designed for the iPad Pro.

You can order the new 2024 iPad Airs right now on Apple's website. Prices start at $599 for the 11-inch model, and if you want the bigger 13-inch model, it starts at $799, the top price for the smaller one - at $1099 for a 1TB model and $1449 if you want the 13" one with cellular. Pick from cool colors like blue, purple, starlight, and space gray.

iPad Pro with its OLED screen comes in two sizes, 13" and 11", rocks a fresh design, packs more power, and is thinner than ever before. Those OLED screens are a game-changer with perfect blacks, amazing color saturation, and contrast. Apple went and upgraded the iPad Pro's cameras for even better photos, and the adaptive flash makes scanning documents simpler. Plus, the front camera has been moved to the side, making your video calls look way better.

This iPad Pro is shining with its dual OLED structure, hitting 1,000 nits of brightness and going up to 1,600 nits for HDR stuff. The bigger model is super slim at just 5.1mm, making it Apple's thinnest device yet (the 11” is not far behind at 5.3mm). For the first time, they're offering a matte nanotexture screen coating on the iPad Pro. And now, both sizes get the same awesome display quality, unlike the biggest 2021 model with mini LED. Well, now the smaller one is just as good.

Instead of sticking with the M3 chip, Apple jumped to the latest M4 processor for these tablets. According to Apple, it's like 2-4 times faster than the M2 in the last iPad Pro, especially when you're gaming. It even handles heat 20% better. The new GPU is cool too, bringing hardware ray tracing and mesh shading to the iPad for the first time, making things render up to 4x faster than the M2. Plus, the new Neural Engine turns the M4 chip into a beast of an AI chip, as per Apple.

The new iPad Pros got some neat accessory upgrades as well. The Magic Keyboard feels better, has an aluminum palm rest, and comes with a bunch of function keys. The Apple Pencil Pro now does pinch gestures, has haptic feedback, and a gyroscope, and even lets you track it with Find My Location.

Storage starts at 256 GB and can go all the way up to 2 TB. Prices kick off at $999 for 11” and $1299  - 13”, and you can pre-order them today. They hit the shelves on May 15th. Oh, and if you want the 13” iPad Pro with 5G and that fancy nanotextured glass coating, it'll set you back $2,599.

As you understand with new iPad Pro has unveiled an M4 processor from Apple. This chip is pretty advanced, made with a 3 nm process, and it's got 4 high-performance and 6 energy-efficient cores. Apple says it's double the power of the M2 processor from the last iPad Pro. The M4's 10-core GPU is a beast, too, offering dynamic caching, mesh shading, ray tracing, and a new rendering engine that's four times faster.

During the reveal, Apple was all about the M4's AI processing skills. They're claiming this new neural chip cranks out 38 TOPS in AI operations, which is 60x faster than the NPU in their 2017 A11 processor, and Apple sure the M4 matches the latest PC chips in performance, while only sipping a quarter of the power. The M4's Neural Engine, with an undisclosed number of cores, continues the trend of improving performance by increasing TOPS, making it better than previous models.

For those who see an iPad not just a tablet for entertainment Apple also rolled out an updated Magic Keyboard and the Pencil Pro stylus. The latest Magic Keyboard, which you can grab in black or silver, is designed for the new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros. It's got this sleek aluminum palm rest and a bigger trackpad that gives feedback, plus some familiar functional keys that make it feel almost like you're using a MacBook. Just a heads up, though – it won't work with the newly announced iPad Air models or older iPad Pros. The keyboard is priced at $299 for the 11-inch version and $349 for the 13-inch.

Then there's the Apple Pencil Pro, making its first appearance with a cool squeeze gesture feature, a gyroscope, haptic feedback, and even Find My support. This stylus lets you switch between tools, line weights, and colors with just a squeeze. The gyroscope means you get super precise control, making drawing and writing feel super realistic. It's got a new magnetic interface so it snaps right onto the side of the latest iPad Pro and iPad Air for charging. Just remember, it's only compatible with these latest models.

Also, Apple updated Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, launching a Final Cut Camera with Multicam support, and cleverly moving the front camera to landscape orientation. To see all these cool updates, you might want to check out the recording of the Apple event.

Apple's Let Loose event really left us feeling good, especially about the new iPad Pro versions and how their new Magic Keyboard compatibility. We're all about being able to take our tech anywhere without losing out on performance, and these updates nail it. It's like we're getting the best of both worlds - the cool flexibility of the iPad and the solid power of the MacBook, all thanks to that new M4 chip. Or maybe we will wait for the M4 on the Mac?