Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The 2020 iPad Pro is a fantastic tablet , although you ’ll find most of its improvements over the previous good example in the photographic camera array . This mannikin now has a 10MP ultra - wide lens system and a LiDAR sensing element for augmented reality — both of which seem like they ’d see little use on a tablet .
In 2018 the new iPad Pro was bold and silklike , and just what Apple needed to shake up a mathematical product line that was set about to show its age . Unlike its predecessors , it featured Face ID , a new and improved Apple Pencil , a USB - speed of light port , thin bezels , and a blazing fast C.P.U. .
The 2020 fashion model look and performs much the same , but now much of the initial excitement has settled . Instead of going for a new design , Apple used this updated modelling to test repel some technology that may become more important to other Apple products down the line , although it ’s not particularly exciting or even well - suited for this particular equipment . This is emphatically the best iPad ever made , but the material question is whether all of its flashy feature make it the best iPad for you .
Augmented specs
This review is base on the 12.9 - in model , which is identical to the 11 - inch model in virtually every regard aside from screen sizing and weightiness . ( The 12.9 - column inch mannikin with cellular weighs 1.42 pound ; its 11 - column inch counterpart free weight just over a pound . )
From the front , the 2020 iPad Pro could pass for a clone of the 2018 poser . The 11.05 x 8.46 - inch dimension for the 12.9 - inch modeling are the same , it still has a USB - blow / Thunderbolt 3 port , and it still charges thesecond - generation Apple Pencilthrough a magnetic strip show on the side . Were it not for the new square camera bump accommodating the surplus lenses in this model , even the rear would look identical . alas , because of that hump , you wo n’t be able to reprocess a 2018 Smart Keyboard Folio with this font , unless you do n’t heed the back cover version awkwardly jutting out because of the poor fit .
thing get a little more interesting on the inside . Some features remain the same , such as Apple ’s TrueTone display and the ProMotion 120Hz display refresh rate that makes legal action such as scrolling noticeably smoother than they are on non - Pro iPads . The show still has an upper brightness limit of 600 nit , the resolution for the 12.9 - inch example remains at 2732×2048 pixels at 264ppi , and the active battery life still clocks in at around 10 minute .
Elsewhere , you ’ll find the spec blow you ’d expect to see after more than a class without a new release . All configuration now have 6 GB of RAM , for example — in 2018 , only the 1 TB model had that much . Storage got a welcome cost increase for such a pricey product , too , so the incoming - level unit bulge at a roomy 128 GB rather than 64 GB , with the next three options persist the same at 256 GB , 512 Gbit , and 1 TB . There ’s also a “ unexampled ” chip call in the A12Z which Apple care to say lay down the iPad Pro “ fast and more brawny than most Windows microcomputer laptops , ” much as it said in the linguistic context of the A12X chip that come in before it . As you’re able to see in the benchmarks below , it ’s hardly a boost at all in terms of central processing unit usage , but the A12Z bit pull a bit ahead in graphic functioning because its GPU has eight cores instead of seven . They ’re both powerful lozenge . If you already have a 2018 iPad Pro , in other words , you ’re going to be fine .
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These are the kinds of upgrades you ’d await to see in a machine that ’s specifically aimed at people who ’d like to use an iPad over a traditional laptop computer , and Apple hammered home that tie with the sack of the optional raw Magic Keyboard slip . in the end , we have an Apple - made keyboard case with a properly adjustable show , backlit Florida key , and — curiosity of wonders — a work up - in trackpad . It makes the iPad employment so much like a laptop , in fact , that it in reality gain the iPad more unmanageable to utilise with an Apple Pencil . It ’s great , if pricey — the $ 349 12.9 - inch model costs more than a 10.2 - inch iPad . Read thereview for the Magic Keyboardif you ’d care to live more .
The new trackpad allows you to do Mac - like gestures without having to attain up and poke your screen .
reckon how much the Magic Keyboard is aimed at users who do n’t often take their iPads out of their case , it ’s a piffling shocking that nothing sets this iPad Pro apart from its forerunner quite like its camera . Its raw square photographic camera protrusion recalls the one we see on the iPhone 11 Pro , but it boasts a few conjuration of its own .
The 2020 iPad Pro on top of the 2018 example .
The iPad Pro now has a 12 megapixel , ƒ/1.8 camera and a 7 megapixel , ƒ/2.2 front tv camera , and in addition to the 4 K video you’re able to film at 60fps , you’re able to now shoot in 1080p at 240fps , up from the 720 in 2018 . You also get a 10 megapixel , ƒ/2.4 radical - wide lens that captures photo with a 125 - degree field of prospect . ( Alas , there ’s no nighttime musical mode . ) you’re able to get an thought of what to have a bun in the oven in the photo below . It ’s a nice feature article to have , specially if you are fond of taking landscape photos , but it ’s a little bizarre to find it on a lozenge .
An unedited exposure looking toward San Francisco Bay , taken with the new iPad Pro ’s ultra - broad lens .
Augmenting reality, but not appeal
But wait ! It gets stranger still . Apple equipped this mannequin with a LiDAR time - of - flight sensor , which is aimed at boost the strength and accuracy ( and , Apple no doubt hopes , the popularity ) of augmented reality . Before , augment realness in the iPad and iPhone relied primarily on automobile erudition , which rede data point delivered by the tv camera and made as much mother wit out of it as it could . The process was dim , battery - avid , and prone to inaccuracy , especially when you made the tv camera quite a little with likewise colored surfaces or blue lighting .
With LiDAR , the gimmick is specifically “ mapping out ” the space by shoot out low - powered lasers and calculating the fourth dimension it hire for them to give to the detector . Compared to the old method , hopping into AR feels almost instantaneous .
It does n’t work too well in the moody ( like Apple ’s TrueDepth sensing element on the front photographic camera do ) , but it represents a phenomenal melioration in tone and accuracy with even a small ambient light . This was most unmistakable in a series of tests I ran with Apple ’s own AR - based Measure app . When I tried measuring a tapeline cadence to test its accuracy , the 2018 iPad Pro fight to even take up the mensuration at the good power point , and when I move away , the measuring stemma I made would easily misplace its anchorperson on the taping quantity . It also took a few bit to determine what was an actual airfoil .
The 2020 iPad now distinguish that the surfaces . And not only was the measuring dead - on precise with the 2020 iPad Pro , but the measurementstayedaccurate and roughly anchor even when I walked several invertebrate foot out from the magnetic tape amount . And when I walked back , the AR measurement line stayed bond to the top of the tape beat as though it had been paint on there .
After move around 10 human foot away from the original measurement , the mensuration mark moved “ off ” the tape bar only a little . When I walked back over , it was “ painted ” mightily where I ’d drawn it before . That was far less likely to happen with the 2018 model .
This is telling , and it does make Apple ’s efforts in augmented realness worth paying attention to . But I see it as a hapless fit for the iPad , particularly for the 1 TB 12.9 - in framework with Wi - Fi and cellular , which costs $ 1,649 . The whole time I was try out with it , I was afraid I was going to drop the affair . It ’s also certainly not impressive enough to be a main consideration for buying this equipment because of thetiny library of worthwhile AR apps , and I can all but guarantee that the novelty will wear out off quickly . It ’s honorable to opine of it as a snitcher peek of whatever Apple has in mind for itslong - rumour AR eyeglasses or headset . I’dloveto see this variety of technology at piece of work in a hands - free twist .
Consider AR more of a incentive if you need a young iPad Pro and you did n’t pick one up in 2018 . You ’ll be glad you waited . The price are better now , as the $ 799 start price for the 11 - in model with Wi - Fi get you 128 GB of space , up from 64 GB in 2018 . I might balk at how a 1 TB 12.9 - inch iPad with Wi - Fi cost $ 1,499 , but its counterpart in 2018 would have set you back $ 1,549 .
The iPad Pro ’s four - speaker setup still sounds fantastic . Along with the excellent video recording caliber , this makes it a bang-up gadget for watching picture show and TV show .
There are other feature deserving consider as well , even if , strictly address , they have very little to do with this specific model . With iPadOS 13 , Apple lately ameliorate the user experience across many other contemporary iPads , whether by including long - need lineament like right mouse or trackpad support or allowing us to use thumb crusade with our tablets . Apple ’s new Magic Keyboard caters to these fresh feature film and will enhance your experience on a day-to-day ground in a path the new LiDAR scanner probably wo n’t .
This is nothing fresh , but the iPad Pro ’s laminated display is ridiculously prostrate to finger daub . This is how mine look after touching it one prison term to pull it out of the Magic Keyboard case for a photo .
But that leads to an of import peak . The iPad is now a decent — though not arrant — gadget forsometypes of study . In my2018 recapitulation , a few months before the reveal of iPadOS , I say that the new iPad Pro was “ a fantastic tablet , if not a marvellous laptop computer . ” With black eye and trackpad bread and butter , with the improved multitasking in iPadOS , with a wider reach of supported devices , those line are more glaze over now . If you work chiefly tangled writing , you could make this tablet work .
But on the other helping hand , keep in mind that you may get a absolutely adequate to 256 GB 13 - in MacBook Air for just $ 999 . If you bribe the 12.9 - in iPad Pro , you ’ll pay off $ 999 — but then you ’ll have to fork out $ 349 for the Magic Keyboard , leading you to a $ 1,348 terms tag . Sure , the screen will be smoother and brighter than on the MacBook Air , but you ’ll still be stay put with a gimmick that ca n’t do as much , and for that topic , you ’ll only have 128 GB of storage on your tablet at that toll .
Bottom line
This is the best iPad Apple has ever made , and computer peripheral like the novel Magic Keyboard make Apple ’s tablet more appealing as a oeuvre machine . The fact remains , though , that unless you ’re heavily knotty in television editing or professional nontextual matter , most masses will be served just fine with the $ 499 iPad Air — although it presently does n’t come with that dapper keyboard . If youdoneed the power of a Pro , though , it ’s still worth considering getting the 2018 model . On the low-down end , at least , you ’ll almost for sure be able to find out one for a lower price , and Apple ’s novel Magic Keyboard is even compatible with it .
As for this iPad Pro ’s AR potentiality ? perhaps Apple will surprise us with some mind - blow new software at WWDC , but for now it ’s just a pricey peek at what Apple is rumor to have in mind for future products .
If you omit out on the 2018 iPad Pro , this yr ’s poser should get off as a more appealing purchase — and in that font , the new camera capabilities come off as skillful side perks . Just do n’t make them the main rationality to get purchase one .
