Apple iPad event: all the news from Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ reveal

The just-released iPad Pro and iPad Air have a new Battery Health menu option that includes an optimized charging option and provides more data about the battery. As reported by MacRumors, the new menu matches the settings introduced on iPhone 15, which lets users set their device not to charge past 80 percent, which can help extend the usable life of the battery.

You can get to the new menu on iPad by going to Settings > Battery > Battery Health, which will also provide data points for charge cycle count, the date the battery was manufactured, and when the battery was first charged. It was introduced in iPadOS 17.5 but isn’t available on older iPad models.

The new iPad Pro is a genuine achievement in tablet design. It’s the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the vision that a tablet should feel not like a computer but, rather, like a piece of glass in your hand. I’m honestly not sure how you’d shrink it more; the USB-C plug I use to charge the 13-inch Pro I’ve been testing is already thicker than the iPad itself. It’s a light, fast, remarkable machine.

But does that really count for much anymore? The iPad has been a hardware triumph for years, plenty fast and light and long-lasting for just about anything you could do with it. The problem has always been the software: by forcing the device to run a locked-down, oversimplified operating system, Apple has prevented this ultraportable and ultrapowerful machine from becoming the full-fledged computer so many users want it to be. 

At long last, Apple’s newest iPad Pro and iPad Air are finally, officially real. Preorders opened May 7th, with the former tablet starting at $999 and the latter at $599. Both models come in 11- and 13-inch sizes and are set to arrive in stores on Wednesday, May 15th.

One of the most notable changes in the Pro models is the switch from LCD-based displays to OLED, which could be the killer feature for creatives. But there’s a lot more to like, such as the new M4 chip that is said to offer 50 percent faster CPU performance than the prior model’s M2 chip, plus a new 10-core GPU that supports mesh shading and ray tracing. The new iPad Pro also gets a slight camera shakeup, as it now only features two rear cameras (it ditches the ultra-wide from the previous model, but there’s an improved adaptive flash). There’s also a repositioned front-facing camera that now sits centered along the horizontal edge, which allows for less awkward video calls.

Apple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple’s vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”

“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it’s incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”

I wonder if Apple CEO Tim Cook was surprised by the visceral revulsion many people felt after viewing the newest commercial for Apple’s iPad. In it, a plethora of creative tools are flattened by an industrial press. Watching a piano, which if maintained can last for something like 50 years, squished to advertise a gadget, designed to be obsolete in less than 10, is infuriating. The backlash was immediate.

The message many of us received was this: Apple, a trillion-dollar behemoth, will crush everything beautiful and human, everything that’s a pleasure to look at and touch, and all that will be left is a skinny glass and metal slab. 

Credit where it’s due: the commercial for the new iPad Pro is impeccable. In the commercial, a hydraulic press, like the kind that crushes Skittles all day on TikTok, slowly descends onto a whole amalgamation of artistic endeavors. As the large metal plate drops like Tesla’s stock in 2024, it crushes musical instruments and destroys classical sculptures. Tubes of paint pop like balloons sending a cascade of color across Apple’s carefully constructed canvas of stuff. Finally, it accomplishes its job. This gathering of creations meant to represent the whole history of human creativity is laid flat by the unstoppable force of Apple’s hydraulic press.

And then, as the press slowly rises, all of that artsy mess disappears. What is left behind is Apple’s new, beautifully sleek iPad Pro.

I had a sneaking suspicion this was going to happen. All the rumors about the new iPad Pro — its shift to an OLED display, the more premium Magic Keyboard — had me convinced that Apple was going to quietly move on from the quirky, very not luxurious Smart Keyboard Folio that became my preferred carry for the 2018 iPad Pro and, later, the M1 iPad Pro.

Sure enough, the Smart Keyboard Folio isn’t compatible with the OLED iPad Pros. The 11-inch version can still be used with the sixth-generation iPad Air, but that’s all. So if you’re set on Apple’s very best tablet, it’s not an option anymore. And with no alternative quite like it anywhere in sight, I’m bummed.

After nearly a two-year wait, Apple finally updated its iPad lineup with a thinner iPad Pro and new iPad Air. The new tablets start at $999 and $599, respectively, and both are already available for preorder ahead of their May 15th release date.

These aren’t strictly iterative updates, either. For the first time, Apple added an OLED display to the iPad Pro, along with a new M4 chip. Apple also added a 13-inch Air to the lineup, so both models are now available in 11- and 13-inch sizes. Combine that with their support for the same styli — specifically the Apple Pencil with USB‑C and forthcoming Apple Pencil Pro — and you now have more options to consider if you need a big tablet for work or play.

Apple giveth OLED screens, and Apple taketh away... SIM cards. As spotted by 9to5Mac, Apple has removed the physical SIM slot on the cellular versions of the new iPad Air and iPad Pro models. First the iPhone, now the iPad — Apple is all in on an eSIM future, it seems.

The iPhone 14 was the first model to lose the SIM slot, but only in the US — versions sold in other countries still include a physical SIM tray. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the new iPad Air and iPad Pro; Apple’s UK and Canadian retail sites state that the new models use eSIM and are “not compatible with physical SIM cards.”

The newly announced iPad Pro hides a sneaky upgrade option that Apple didn’t mention during its event today. When you cough up the $600 it costs to jump from the 256GB base model iPad Pro to the 1TB version, Apple doesn’t just double the RAM along with that — it also puts a faster chip inside, going from a nine-core M4 chip to a 10-core version.

This is the first time Apple has offered a processor upgrade on a specific tablet model — in the past, no matter what other options you picked on a given tablet, you knew you were getting the same chip as any other configuration. In the past, Apple only tied RAM upgrades to storage boosts; that’s still true here, with the quantity doubling from 8GB to 16GB. You also get the privilege of buying Apple’s glare-fighting nanotexture glass for $100 (lucky you!), which isn’t available on the lower-end models. So, if you really want the best-performing iPad Pro, you have to bump your storage to the 1TB or 2TB configuration.

When I see the word Air attached to an Apple product, I assume two things: it’s going to be thin and light. You can’t really assume that with the just-announced iPad Airs. For one, both the 11-inch and 13-inch sizes are heavier and thicker than either iPad Pro model.

Behold the spec comparison charts.

Along with introducing a new iPad Air and iPad Pro during its Let Loose event, Apple quietly killed its ninth-gen iPad — also known as the last iPad with a headphone jack. The 10th-gen iPad is now the sole entry-level iPad in Apple’s official lineup and, as such, has received a $100 price cut.

Released in late 2022, the 10th-generation iPad arrived starting at $449, or about $120 more than base entry-level iPads from previous years. Apple justified the price increase with new iPad Air-like features, like a 10.9-inch screen and USB-C support.

Apple is releasing a new Final Cut Camera app for iPhone and iPad that can take video and stream it live back to an iPad for a Multicam shoot, as well as provide more controls for filmmakers. The company’s new pro-level app provides “precise manual controls” and can be used as a plain standalone camera app.

The new Final Cut Camera is launching alongside the updated Final Cut 2 app, a successor to last year’s debut Final Cut for iPad. Final Cut 2 has a multiscreen view that captures and controls each Final Cut Camera-running device connected to it. Final Cut 2 also lets you hop between production and editing, allowing you to live-cut your project.

Apple is updating two of its biggest pro apps to complement the new iPad Pro models announced today. The updated Logic Pro will be available first, hitting the App Store starting on May 13th for both the iPad and Mac, while the next version of Final Cut Pro for both platforms comes later this spring. Both will be free updates for existing users of the macOS and iPadOS versions.

Final Cut Pro for the iPad finally supports external projects — that is, users can create and access products on external storage and won’t need to import the media to their iPad’s internal storage. That’s a big deal for anyone editing on the go, as even Apple’s higher tablet storage tiers can be limiting when working with massive video files (particularly now that the app supports taking in four camera shots at once).

Apple just announced a new iPad Pro, and at a watch party in New York City, a few reporters got to take a look at Apple’s new tablet firsthand. After holding and playing with the device for a few minutes, I can say pretty confidently that Apple’s not kidding about how much more svelte the new model is. At 5.3mm thick for the 11-inch model and 5.1mm for the 13-inch tablet, this new iPad is noticeably thinner and lighter than anything the company has made before.

It’s such a big difference that the larger model, which I’ve always felt was kind of preposterously huge, feels much more comfortable to hold and use. (And it’s technically even larger now, up to 13 inches from 12.9 before.) You can tell the difference between the Pro and the new Air from practically across the room, and as someone who has carried around an 11-inch Pro for the last year and a half, it’s really a big difference. The biggest question I have for now is about fragility: is the new Pro potentially too thin? It feels rigid and sturdy enough in my hands, but there are always tradeoffs with a device like this. We have lots of testing to do.

Apple just wrapped up its “Let Loose” event, where it showed off its first new iPads in nearly two years. But the event had more than just iPads — we also got a first look at some refreshed accessories and updated software.

If you want a quick rundown of everything Apple announced, check out our roundup below.

Apple announced its third-generation Apple Pencil today during its “Let Loose” iPad event, adding Find My support and new capabilities for adapting the stylus to different creative tasks. Available to order today for $129 — the same price as the second-gen Apple Pencil — the new Apple Pencil Pro introduces features closer to what you’d find on pens for dedicated drawing tablets, like a “Barrel Roll” gyroscope feature and a squeeze gesture for switching between software functions.

This is the first real update to the Apple Pencil series since the second-generation model was announced in 2018. While the more affordable USB-C Apple Pencil that was released last year supported a wider range of iPad models than the Apple Pencil 2, it also ditched advanced second-gen features like pressure sensitivity and double-tap tool switching — making it less useful for tasks like graphic design and 3D sculpting.

Alongside the long-expected OLED iPad Pro, Apple has also released a lightly updated Magic Keyboard with an aluminum palm rest and a larger trackpad with haptic feedback — and finally, a function row.

The new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro (M4) comes in two colors (black and silver) and two sizes: one for the 11-inch Pro and one for the 13-inch model. They cost $299 and $349, respectively, and like the new iPad Pro models, they are available for preorder today, shipping next week. They are not compatible with the new 11- and 13-inch iPad Air models announced today or with previous iPad Pro models. Those still use the first-gen Magic Keyboard, now called Magic Keyboard for iPad Air (M2). Rolls off the tongue!

Apple’s next-generation chip, the M4, is coming to the new iPad Pro. The new OLED iPad Pro models will include the upgraded chip, which is focused on improving performance for AI-related tasks in iPadOS.

During an event on Tuesday, Apple focused heavily on the M4’s AI capabilities. A new neural engine makes it “an outrageously powerful chip for AI,” the company says, capable of 38 trillion operators per second (TOPS). It’s supposedly 60 times faster than the NPU of Apple’s A11 chip, from 2017, but that number still falls short of the Snapdragon X Elite’s 45 TOPS. However, Apple still claims the M4 can deliver the same performance as the latest PC chips with only a quarter of the power.

At its “Let Loose” virtual event this morning, Apple introduced its long-awaited iPad Pro updates. The new 13-inch and 11-inch tablets have a fresh design, more powerful internals, and a thinner profile than ever before, and they come with a major display upgrade. As rumored, Apple has switched to OLED screens on both sizes, bringing perfect blacks, richer color saturation, and enhanced contrast to its flagship iPads. Oh, and the front-facing camera is now in the correct (landscape) position for video calls.

The iPad Pros use a tandem OLED structure that allows the display to reach 1,000 nits of peak full-screen brightness — just like the Mini LED model before it — and 1,600 nits for HDR content. The 13-inch model measures just 5.1 millimeters thick, which Apple says is its thinnest device ever. (The 11-inch is 5.3 millimeters thick.) For those who prefer a matte display finish, a nano-texture glass coating will be available for the first time with these iPad Pros.