In what was probably one of Apple’s least surprising announcements ever, an all new iPad Pro has been announced. Pre-orders are open now at the Apple Store in 28 countries and regions, including Australia, with availability in stores beginning Thursday, 27 October 2022.
M2 processor give performance boost
As you’d expect, the new M2 processor will give the iPad Pro a boost over the previous generation model. Apple is claiming an extra 15% on the CPU side of the M2 which is a solid improvement. But there’s a stronger 35% improvement with graphics performance. Neural Engine performance gets a 40% boost and there’s a 50% increase in memory bandwidth.
We have to remember that the M2 is not a processor. It is a system on a chip which combines CPU (central processor unit) cores, GPU (graphics processor unit) cores and Apple’s Neural Engine for artificial intelligence and machine learning operations. The M2 has eight CPU cores, 10 GPU cores and 16 Neural Engine cores on the one chip. By combining them onto a single slab of silicon Apple is able to improve performance markedly over the traditional approach that would have each of these functions on its own chip.
Overall, these changes may seem modest on their own but they add up. Apple says users will be able to capture ProRes video for the first time and transcode ProRes footage up to three times faster., making the iPad Pro a tool creative professionals can use in the field for video production.
Apple Pencil gets a “Hover Experience”
The new iPad Pro and iPadOS 16 will allow the second generation Apple Pencil to be detected up to 12 mm above the display. This allows users to see a preview of their mark before they make it and enable you to sketch and illustrate with even greater precision. With Scribble, text fields automatically expand when the pencil gets near the screen and handwriting converts to text even faster. Third-party apps can also take advantage of this new feature.
Pricing and availability
The new iPad Pro can be ordered beginning today with availability in stores beginning Thursday, 27 October 2022. The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be available in silver and space grey finishes with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB configurations.
The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at RRP A$1,399 inc. GST for the Wi-Fi model and RRP A$1,649 inc. GST for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at RRP A$1,899 for the Wi-Fi model, and RRP A$2,149 inc. GST for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.