Apple’s iPad Pro 10.5-inch is the real deal, more efficient at multitasking

Apple’s iPad Pro 10.5 inch model has already hit the stores from yesterday, which is apparently receiving positive feedback as of now. The original 12.9-inch iPad Pro hit the scene in November 2015. Its sheer size and high-end specs made it a standout of the tablet scene, while the Apple Pencil made to work with it made it a hit with designers and other creatives. Now, just a year after Apple introduced a smaller, still capable 9.7-inch iPad Pro with a more typical form factor, the company has replaced it with a new larger model with a 10.5-inch screen.

This new model — which replaces the 9.7-inch iPad Pro — has a display that’s 20 percent larger than its predecessor. Apple squeezed a bigger frame into essentially the same space by reducing the bezels by 40 percent. Perhaps most importantly from a physical perspective is that the tablet still weighs in at just one pound.

The bigger screen also means Apple can call the onscreen keyboard “full-size.” Similarly, the Smart Keyboard accessory (still sold separately) is also full-sized. For the first time, too, there will be a Japanese-language keyboard.

Apple isn’t just introducing a new iPad Pro — it’s also refreshing the 12.9-inch model. Both iPads now feature the “True Tone” display Apple introduced last year, which adjusts color temperature on the fly depending on lighting conditions. Other display improvements include the wide P3 color gamut that’s being found in more and more Apple products, a low-glare panel and 600-nit brightness. Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro gets the Rose Gold (pink) color option which was previously unavailable.

Under the hood, the iPad Pro uses an A10 X Fusion chip with a six-core CPU, which combines three high-performance cores and three high-efficiency ones. There’s also a 12-core GPU on deck, which should translate to a 40 percent boost in graphics performance, according to Apple. There’s a new 12-megapixel camera (and a 7 MP FaceTime HD camera) with optical image stabilization and a high-speed sensor with a 1.8 aperture. The camera has a six-element lens, quad-LED True Tone Flash, wide color capture, and 4 K video capture. Apple predicts 30 percent faster CPU performance than the A9 X chip in the first-generation iPad Pro models, and 40 percent faster graphics performance.

Apple’s iPad Pro (10.5 inch new release) supports fast charging with a 10-hour battery life. Storage and pricing have been tweaked a bit, as well.The entry models will start with 64 GB of storage, twice the amount the entry line had previously. But the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro now costs $649, up $50 from last year’s model. The 12.9-inch model still starts at $799, and spending an extra $100 in both cases will get you 256 GB of storage. Finally, Apple has added 512 GB models for the first time that cost a whopping $949 or $1,049, depending on your preferred screen size.

If that’s not enough, iOS 11 has a plethora of new iPad-specific features — but while the new hardware will be shipping next week, you’ll have to wait until the fall to try the out the latest software.

The iPad Pro 2 (well, technically it’s still called just ‘iPad Pro’) was announced at WWDC 2017 on 5 June 2017.
Despite the fact that Apple’s iPad sales have been declining for the past several quarters, Apple seems determined to make iPad work as a serious computing device, not just a tablet people use to shop and browse and consume. This is clearly another step in that direction.