M2 Chip, iOS 16 Makes The New iPad Pro Even More Of A Productivity Beast
Updated: Mar 6, 2023
It's been slightly over a year, and rumours have been swirling about a new iPad Pro for the longest time. Apple has finally announced the refreshed iPad Pro M2, but this year's model has more than just a new chip to shout about.
But of course, let's talk about how the inclusion of the M2 chip improves the iPad Pro's performance. The M2 chip is still an 8-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, but the GPU has been bumped up to a 10-core one instead of the eight cores in the M1 chip. There's also 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, which is 50% more than what the M1 chip had.
More than that, because of the M2 chip and image signal processor, the iPad Pro M2 can now capture ProRes video up to 4K at 30FPS, with a dedicated ProRes encode and decode engine.
The iPad Pro M2 retains the USB-C connector that supports Thunderbolt for fast data transfers, and there's also 5G connectivity as before, but now there's Wi-Fi 6E for even faster speeds and an upgrade to Bluetooth 5.3 versus the 5.0 standard in the iPad Pro M1.
Something that creators, illustrators and artists will absolutely love is the new Apple Pencil hover feature. With an Apple Pencil 2nd Generation, you can lift your pencil tip off the screen by up to 12mm and get a cursor on the screen, allowing for even more information to be displayed. For example, in Procreate, you can see the brush size and opacity, allowing for precise adjustments to be reflected immediately.
Battery life remains the same, with Apple claiming up to 10 hours of web surfing on Wi-Fi, and up to nine hours when using a mobile data network.
But of course, we'll be eagerly awaiting the release of iPadOS 16 first on 24 October, which introduces new features like Stage Manager, full external display support up to 6K, Reference Mode and more.
Storage options start from 128GB all the way to 2TB and there will be Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + Cellular models available. Prices start at S$1,249 for the 11-inch Wi-Fi only models, S$1,699 for the 12.9-inch Wi-Fi only models and at S$1,479 for the 11-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular models or from S$1,929 for the 12.9-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular models. Preorders start today, with general availability in stores from 26 October onwards.
Apple's new iPad Pro M2 comes with the company's new M2 chip, allowing for even faster performance in addition to new features.
The Apple Pencil hover is one such feature, allowing for creators, illustrators and artists to work even more efficiently with details like brush size and opacity displayed when the Apple Pencil is hovered over the screen.
The new iPad Pro can now also capture ProRes video, and we're eagerly waiting for iPadOS 16 to launch on 24 October.
Preorders start today, with general availability from 26 October onwards.