Impossibly thin
Apple just announced the new iPad. It skipped a chipset generation whilst getting even thinner. At 5.1mm thin, the new M4 iPad truly is a "magical piece of glass". I flew to London to check it out in person, and chat with Jon Ternus and Greg "Joz" Josiak from Apple.
The improvements
Unmatched Performance and Efficiency
The M4 chip, built on second-generation 3-nanometer technology, boasts a CPU with up to 10 cores, featuring both performance and efficiency cores. This results in up to 1.5x faster CPU performance compared to the previous M2 chip. This boost is not just a marginal upgrade; it’s a leap that will allow users to handle complex tasks effortlessly, from editing 4K videos to working with intricate orchestral music files.
Advanced Graphics and Gaming Capabilities
The 10-core GPU brings next-generation architecture to the iPad, introducing Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and mesh shading. This means more realistic graphics, enhanced gaming experiences, and pro-level rendering capabilities that are up to four times faster than the M2. Imagine playing games like Diablo Immortal with realistic shadows and reflections, or using apps like Octane with insane efficiency.
The Neural Engine: A Powerhouse for AI
The M4 chip’s Neural Engine is another standout feature, capable of performing up to 38 trillion operations per second. This is 60 times faster than the first Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic chip, making AI tasks like real-time video editing and music notation creation incredibly swift and efficient. The Neural Engine also enhances AI-driven features in iPadOS, such as Live Captions and Visual Look Up, providing users with powerful tools at their fingertips. I’m expecting some updates to this at WWDC in June with the new iPadOS release.
A Display Like No Other
The new display engine of the M4 chip powers the Ultra Retina XDR display, delivering precision, color accuracy, and brightness that’s unmatched. This is achieved through the use of two OLED panels, providing a visual experience that’s perfect for both creative professionals and casual users. Apple are calling this Tandem Oled and basically it’s two panels sandwiched together.
Key Features
- CPU: 10 cores, up to 1.5x faster than M2.
- GPU: 10-core with ray tracing and mesh shading for better graphics.
- Neural Engine: Handles up to 38 trillion operations per second.
- Display: Enhanced Ultra Retina XDR with top-notch color accuracy.
- Efficiency: Uses half the power of M2.
Neural Engine
38
10-core CPU
150
Display
The new display engine of the M4 chip delivers precision, colour accuracy, and brightness uniformity that’s unmatched. This is achieved through the use of two stacked OLED panels.
For anyone using their iPad as a primary device, this upgrade is pretty substantial.
Kane Vato
Let's draw
One of the key additions to the new iPad line up is the Apple Pencil Pro. The iPad has become “the” go to device for digital artists, so enhancing the drawing experience is a smart move from Apple. The new Apple Pencil Pro has haptic feedback, a “squeeze” function to bring up contextual menus and probably most amazingly, a “barrel roll” which allows artists to draw almost exactly like they were using a tradition nib or brush at any rotation or angle.
Apple have started to accept that iPad is used primarily in it’s landscape orientation and moved the FaceTime camera to the side now, exactly where the Apple Pencil Pro docks, from a video conferencing perspective this is great, however because of the reworking of the magnetic dock, this does mean that the older Apple Pencils are not compatible with the new iPads, and vice versa.
“After using the Nanotexture screen option on the iPad, I really hope that Apple will bring this anti-glare texture to the next iteration of the iPhone.”
Kane Vato, Blueprint of Tomorrow
