Apple’s 13-inch iPad Pro is Apple’s thinnest device yet at 5.1mm, thinner than an iPod nano, with its AI-enhanced M4 chip delivering impressive capabilities that make traditional Windows PCs look seriously anaemic, with iPad Air models getting genuine upgrades, and Apple Pencil going Pro – with a manufactured controversy around the Apple “Crush” ad raising its head, too.

Apple has long been wary of using the words “artificial intelligence” or the term “AI” in its presentations and launches. It’s a term its competitors use at every opportunity, showing just how ubiquitous AI is becoming, while Apple has favoured the term “machine learning” instead – until now.

The M4 chip has debuted in the iPad Pro 2024 range first, and will inevitably come to the MacBook Air and Pro, the iMac, and the Mac mini and Mac Studio late this year and into 2025.

This chip is said to be powerful enough to do generative AI on device, although we’re waiting for the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2024) in June to find out exactly how good this on-device AI will be, with the latest reports saying Apple has done a deal with OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, to deliver even more advanced AI results, with even more reports that Apple also has its own also powerful AI system that can run on Apple’s own M2-Ultra powered data centre servers.

So, what does Apple have to say about this new M4 processor in the iPad Pro? Here’s the official video, which is a segment from the the live 38 minute event (which is also embedded a little further below):

Now, I can easily rewrite all of the features and benefits of the new iPads, but you are best placed to read them all from Apple directly. The new iPad Pros can be seen at Apple here, the Apple Pencil Pro, and the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Pros here.

You can also read the very detailed press release for the iPad Pro and Pencil Pro here, the M4 chip here, the iPad Airs here, Final Cut Pro 2 for iPad and Mac here, and the new Logic Pro music creation software with AI features here.

The links above to the press release and the Australian website have all the Australian prices, anyone reading from overseas can look at Apple in their respective countries to get local pricing.

Here’s the video showing the iPad Pros in all their glory:

So, what else can we say about the M4’s AI power, and the iPad Pro itself?

Apple’s WWDC announcements are all yet to happen, but that event will happen on Monday June 10 in the US to Friday June 14, and it is exciting to see what Apple will unveil on the Gen AI front that has captured the world’s attention in an incredible way since ChatGPT arrived on the scene in November 2022.

This is even though Apple has worked on “machine learning” for many, many years, and introduced a “neural engine”, or “neural processing unit” as Intel and AMD call it, in the iPhone’s A11 Bionic back in September 2017, so Apple has been both ahead of the curve and behind it at the same time.

The M4 able to achieve 38 TOPS, or “trillion operations per second”, with its performance 60 times faster than the aforementioned A11 Bionic. Apple calls the M4 an “outrageously powerful chip for AI”. It has to be said Qualcomm says its chip delivers 45 TOPS, but whether Qualcomm’s chips have access to the same calibre and quality of apps on iPad Pros and macOS is yet to be seen – the most vibrant apps are made for iPads first and foremost, everyone else is still catching up.

We also don’t yet know what kind of neural engine will be within Apple’s more powerful M4 variants to come later in the year, or whether the M4 chips destined for Apple’s Mac ranges will have even more powerful neural engines – nor do we know what Apple will do with its A18 chip due for the iPhone 16 Pro later this year.

So, without the added details of how Gen AI will work on the M4 processors, what do we know of their AI capabilities thus far?

One example we’re given is of how this enables “amazing things even faster”, like easily isolating a subject from its background in 4K video, with just a tap in Final Cut Pro 2, or in Logic Pro, a single tap letting you make a song isolate the singer, drums and instruments, which is impressive.

But clearly, Apple wants its big AI bang to happen in June, so while we do have some examples like the ones above, the next versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, Siri and more will be where we’ll discover just how ambitious Apple has become and how close it has come to fulfilling those ambitions.

In addition, as noted above, developers will also be the ones to unleash more AI magic, too. The most exciting apps are being released on iPads, not on Windows devices, with the pro apps available for iPads from a range of companies the most advanced apps for consumers, businesses, creatives and other professionals on the planet. Indeed, Apple claims the M4 enables iPad Pro to “widen its lead as the most powerful device of its kind” – and when you see the new iPad Pro models in action during the presentation, you’ll see for yourself, embedded a little further below.

There’s also the issue of the 13-inch iPad Pro being so thin and 5.1mm that people are worried it might bend, as the iPad Pro did for some people in 2018 and the iPhone 6 did for some, too. You’d have to think Apple would have thought of this, but either way – you need to get a case. And a screen protector is also an excellent idea! I often think those who use their devices without any kind of case are headaches, but each to their own – and be careful!

What else did we learn about the iPad Pros during the keynote that you can watch below in full?

The iPad Pro models sadly do away with the widescreen camera lens that was in the previous iPad Pros, which has caused concern with some, and while there is naturally 5G on the cellular models, there is no 5G mmWave capability, and just like iPhones in the US, there is no SIM card slot either, it’s eSIM all the way – but you can have multiple eSIMs loaded into the device and change between them as needed. I don’t know whether you can have two eSIMs active at the same time as you can on an iPhone though.

What about the new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil Pro accessories?

The new Magic Keyboard is also thinner and lighter than the previous model, with a new row of function keys including the ESC key, and a new haptic and larger trackpad, along with the same USB-C charging passthrough port. The fact this keyboard is thinner and lighter, alongside a lighter iPad Pro iself, and you have a more portable device that before, which any new iPad Pro owner will welcome.

Then there’s the Apple Pencil Pro. It has a new squeezable capability to bring up controls, and haptic feedback that lets you know you’ve chosen a particular action. You can even “rotate” the pencil which rotates the on-screen brush of other tips you see in your chosen apps, as the keynote shows (and Procreate video below also demonstrates) – it’s all impressive stuff – and of course the new Pencil Pro can be found via the Find My app, too.

Here’s the iPad Pro + Procreate + Apple Pencil Pro video:

One added controversy is the 2nd-generation Apple Pencil, the one that magnetically attaches to iPad Pro models, can’t be used with the new 2024 iPad Pro models, but the Apple Pencil with USB-C can, although it doesn’t have the fancy features the Pro pencil has.

So, what about the new iPad Air models – and that iPad price cut?

Here we have something new beyond simply an M2 powered iPad Air at 11-inches in size – we have a second iPad Air with M2 at 13-inches in size, giving those who want a bigger iPad screen without having to pay the most expensive iPad Pro price. The Air line was always meant to indicate a lighter device than the Pro models, but given the iPad Pros are lighter and slimmer than the 2024 iPad Air models, the Air this time means you’ll have less Air in your wallet and more money in it, because the Airs are naturally cheaper than the Pros. The price is lighter!

I mean that was always the case, and there have been suggestions that Apple retire the Air name, but the iPad Air range has always been better than the entry-level iPad but not as powerful as the Pro iPads.

Rumours of a 15-inch iPad haven’t panned out as yet though – perhaps we’ll see one of those in a future 15-inch iPad Air using the M4 chip, and a future 15-inch iPad Pro using a future M5 or M6 chip – we’ll just have to wait and see on that front.

Meanwhile, the 9th-gen iPad with home button is no longer officially on sale (although stocks would still be available through existing retailers until sold out), but the 10th-gen iPad which looks like an iPad Air, but instead of the M1 chip of the previous iPad Air, or the M2 of the current iPad Air, the entry level iPad has an A14 chip.

It is clearly due for an upgrade at some point, but whether that happens later this year or not is yet to be seen. The current 10th-gen iPad has dropped in price to $399 in the US and $599 in Australia, with 64GB, with cellular and 256GB storage options as standard, naturally at higher prices.

Ok, so what about that iPad Pro ad controversy, what are the details?

The “Crush” ad has created a lot of controversy because Apple dared to crush musical instruments, paint tins, emoji balls, an arcade machine and more, but not to “destroy” them as such, but fuse them all together into the super thin iPad Pros. It’s an ad. It’s meant to catch your attention and be spoken about.

However, creative people who have seen the ad object to all the physical objects being crushed, because those objects represent human creativity, which is all being replaced not by devices that humans operate, but by an AI system that will theoretically do it all for you – even though it still, at least for now, requires a human to operate, and humans who know how these instruments sound, work and are meant to be cared for – and even in a world of AI everything, I seriously doubt people will no longer want to master physical items like musical instrouments. So while some people are “outraged”, others can’t see what all the fuss is about.

Here’s the iPad Pro Crush ad to watch for yourself, which has racked up those millions of views online:

Apple has “apologised” for “missing the mark” and pulled the ad from TV networks, but the ad, embedded below, is still on YouTube! From this controversy, Apple has saved money by not needing to play that ad in addition to the others, and caused millions more to see the ad anyway as it has been played on TV shows galore worldwide.

And finally, there isn’t an Apple launch of some kind that doesn’t have a controversy, usually manufactured by critics (although not always!), and this just happens to be the latest one. It’s a storm in a teacup, and whether it was the right thing to do, or not, Apple has moved on.

One important thing to note – it has been reported that Apple had better not “miss the mark” with its AI reveals to come at the WWCD 2024 event next month. Apple needs to knock its AI capabilities out of the park, as it were – we need to be wowed by Apple’s prowess!!

Conclusion:

Well, from the looks of it, Apple’s iPad launch has, advertisement controversies aside, been a big success. Now we are yet to see what consumers think of these iPads, but given people have been complaining for some time that they wanted new iPads to purchase, rather than older models, this is exactly the devices to offer those new capabilities, whether the new iPad Pro are too thin, or not.

People will buy a case to house their iPad Pro models, and those that don’t will simply have to treat them carefully, but that’s the case with any modern electronics. A Tweet online notes Apple has placed a sheet of metal at the back of the iPad Pro:

Electronics can be fragile, and unless you are buying a specialised, ruggedised model, treat your electronics with care! Buy a case, and you are really uncertain, buy a rugged case! If this makes your tech thick again, imagine how much thicker and heavier it would be were the iPad Pro not shrunken in width.

So… this should be Apple’s biggest year of iPad sales for many quarters and at least a couple of years. Apple already is the biggest seller of tablets, but this new boost – aided by the AI capabilities of the M4 that are yet to truly be unveiled – and which will only get better with OS updates and future improved hardware to come – and the future for Apple is bright, as usual.