New iPad Pro Has an All-screen Design, Powerful 7nm A12X Bionic Chip and Face ID
Apple introduced the new iPad Pro with all-screen design pushing 11-inch and 12.9-inch Liquid Retina displays to the edges and integrating Face ID to unlock iPad with a glance.
Apple claims that the A12X Bionic chip with next-generation Neural Engine in iPad Pro outperforms most PC laptops and offers a new USB-C connector, Gigabit-class LTE, and up to 1TB of storage.
A second-generation Apple Pencil magnetically attaches to iPad Pro and wirelessly charges at the same time. A new touch sensor built onto Apple Pencil detects taps, introducing a new way to interact within apps. The new Smart Keyboard Folio features a streamlined design that’s adjustable. The new iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio are available to order starting today and in stores starting Wednesday, November 7.
iPad Pro features an edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display with rounded corners that follow the curves of iPad Pro’s unibody enclosure. With precision-milled glass, advanced pixel masking, sub-pixel antialiasing and a new backlight design, the new Liquid Retina display in iPad Pro is Apple’s brightest and most color accurate iPad display, featuring wide color support, True Tone and anti-reflective coating. ProMotion technology automatically adjusts the display refresh rate up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling and responsiveness.
The new 11-inch iPad Pro packs a bigger display with more pixels in the same footprint as the 10.5-inch model, yet still weighs just one pound. The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro places the largest display of any iPad into a more portable package — a 25 percent reduction in volume. Both models are just 5.9 mm thin.
Built specifically for iPad Pro, the A12X Bionic is a smart and powerful chip, designed to make demanding computing tasks like editing photos or creating 3D models more responsive. Built on seven-nanometer technology, the eight-core A12X Bionic features four performance cores and four efficiency cores and a new performance controller for simultaneous use of all eight cores for an up to 90 percent boost during multi-threaded tasks. A seven-core, Apple-designed GPU delivers up to twice the graphics performance. On iPad Pro, the performance and capability lasts all day thanks to 10-hour battery life.
Apple’s next-generation Neural Engine is built for machine learning in everything from photography to AR, completing up to 5 trillion operations per second. This enables fast Face ID, faster plane detection for AR apps and other new features that use real-time machine learning. The Neural Engine is designed to deliver improved performance for Core ML tasks, empowering developers to build apps and new iPad workflows that utilize this machine learning engine.
Face ID comes to iPad for the first time. Designed to work while holding iPad Pro in any position or while seated using the new Smart Keyboard Folio, Face ID takes advantage of the TrueDepth camera system to accurately map and recognize the face to securely unlock iPad Pro, enable Apple Pay in apps and online and allow users to gain access to secure apps. The TrueDepth Camera on iPad Pro also enables Animoji and Memoji.
Cameras and sensors and improved four-speaker audio combine with the power of A12X Bionic to turn iPad Pro, with its large viewfinder, into a great device ever for AR. With support for the next generation of AR apps, AR experiences such as measuring the reflection on real-world objects, navigating buildings in 3D and exploring entire universes are possible. Adobe’s Project Aero (coming 2019) will enable creators to design experiences that take AR on iPad even further.
The new Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio is available for purchase separately. The second-generation Apple Pencil magnetically attaches to iPad Pro for pairing and wireless charging. It becomes even more powerful as users can select just the right tool or brush with a simple double tap on Apple Pencil within apps like Notes. Apps from developers like Adobe, Autodesk and Procreate also give users the power to be creative.
The new Smart Keyboard Folio protects both the front and back of iPad Pro in a thin design encompassing a full-size keyboard that never needs to be charged or paired. It is adjustable for lap or desk use.
A new USB-C connector replaces the Lightning connector. USB-C offers power for charging, supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 for high-bandwidth data transfers up to twice the speed to and from cameras and musical instruments, and drives external displays up to 5K. With USB-C, iPad Pro can even be used to charge an iPhone.
iOS 12 brings new gestures to iPad that are already familiar to iPhone X and iPhone XS users including tap to wake and swiping to go home, access Control Center and for multitasking. The new Shortcuts app helps iPad users link together automated workflows for photo editing, video editing and file and asset management. Improvements to Photo import and support for native RAW image editing give photographers more efficient ways to work and multitask on iPad Pro.
Group FaceTime now makes it easy to connect with groups of friends or colleagues at the same time. Participants can be added at any time, join later if the conversation is still active and choose to join using video or audio from an iPhone, iPad or Mac. With new Animoji and customizable Memoji, users can take advantage of the large screen on iPad to add more personality to photos and videos in Messages and FaceTime.
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be available in silver and space gray finishes in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB configurations as well as a new 1TB option. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 (US) for the Wi-Fi model and $949 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $999 (US) for the Wi-Fi model and $1,149 (US) for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model from apple.com and Apple Store locations, and is also available through Apple Authorized Resellers and select carriers (prices may vary).
The new iPad Pro models, Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard Folio are available to order starting today from apple.com with availability starting Wednesday, November 7, in the US and more than 40 additional countries.
The second generation Apple Pencil for the new iPad Pro will be available for $129 (US). The new Smart Keyboard Folio for the new iPad Pro is available in space gray for $179 (US) for the 11-inch iPad Pro and $199 (US) for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with layouts for over 30 languages, including simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
A new Smart Folio for iPad Pro, in a protective, polyurethane folio design, will be available in a variety of colors for $79 (US) for the 11-inch iPad Pro and $99 (US) for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Apple-designed USB-C accessories including adapters and cables also support iPad Pro and are available at apple.com and Apple Store locations, including a new USB-C to SD Card Reader and USB-C to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter.