Apple touts the attractive OLED display and speedy M4 processor within the newest iPad Professional, however another options quietly disappeared.
And extra that had been rumored or simply hoped for merely by no means appeared.
M4 iPad Professional is ever so slim
iPad Pro is actually a pc in a touchscreen. That makes the show essential, and Apple went “all in” with an OLED screen in the 2024 model that gives a vivid, even picture with robust distinction. As a result of every pixel glows by itself, no backlight is required. This allowed designers to slim down the pill, and drop the load, too.
Whereas that’s a profit to customers, clearly there’s not room for the whole lot. And that features some options that have been within the 2022 model.
No Extremely-wide digital camera
In 2020, Apple added a ten megapixel ultra-wide digital camera to the M1 iPad Professional. This characteristic was additionally within the M2 model however dropped from the 2024 mannequin. (The usual 12MP rear digital camera stays.)
Because the identify suggests, ultra-wide cameras are used to seize extensive pictures, like buildings, teams of individuals, landscapes, and so forth. The one within the present iPad Professional is what powers the 0.5X mode within the Digicam utility that enables the person to zoom out when taking an image.
Apple didn’t clarify why it dropped the digital camera from the brand new mannequin, but it surely may very well be as a result of it was merely underused. Whereas iPad rear-facing cameras have followers, extra folks favor to make use of their iPhone even when they then must switch the picture to their pill.
And decreasing the thickness and weight of the system undoubtedly required some cuts.
5G mmWave is gone
Earlier iPad Professional fashions with non-compulsory built-in 5G mobile wi-fi capabilities supported mmWave. This particular model of 5G has been dropped from the brand new M4 iPad Professional.
Some carriers, such as Verizon, are delivering multi-gigabit obtain speeds over mobile connections utilizing 5G mmWave. However the connections are brief vary in comparison with rival mobile choices, and alerts don’t penetrate partitions properly. The result’s that the know-how has not been broadly adopted.
It most likely acquired reduce from the M4 iPad Professional as a result of so few potential patrons would ever be capable to use it. mmWave stays within the newest iPhone fashions, although … for now.
Help for Apple Pencil 2? Nope.
Together with the 2024 iPad Professional got here Apple Pencil Pro that boasts a brand new “squeeze” gesture, an inside gyroscope, haptic suggestions and Discover My help. One of many causes it’s needed is the most recent iPadOS system doesn’t support the previous Apple Pencil 2.
Apple apparently needed to redesign the wi-fi charger utilized by the stylus, making the previous model incompatible. Shifting the iPad Professional front-facing digital camera to the lengthy fringe of the display left much less room for the magnetic Apple Pencil charger that sits in the identical place. Apple Pencil 2 had been designed for a particular charger that doesn’t match within the new mannequin.
To be clear, the brand new stylus isn’t the one choice. Professional pill customers can use Apple Pencil USB-C, because it doesn’t require wi-fi charging. It’s additionally considerably cheaper than Pencil Professional.
Battery life isn’t longer
Apple guarantees the earlier 13-inch iPad Professional provides as much as 10 hours of net entry on Wi-Fi or watching video. It says the 2024 mannequin provides the identical.
Apple’s determination to slim down the pill by 20% means it gave up the chance to maintain the iPad the identical measurement as its predecessor whereas considerably growing battery life.
No MagSafe or extra ports
Pre-release rumors indicated that Apple might put MagSafe in the 2024 iPad Pro. It didn’t occur.
Including the MacBook’s MagSafe charging port would have allowed the pill’s single USB-C port to be devoted to knowledge, with out the person having to cost the system by means of it as properly.
There was additionally hope — not backed up by leaks or rumors, simply hope — of more than one USB-C port. Nope.