Getting started with the new iPad Air and iPad Pro 2024

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That's what we call a hell of a coincidence. A few days ago, the IDC firm announced that the tablet market had started to rise again in the first half of 2024, after long months of scarcity. Certainly, the improvement is slight, but the sector has not experienced any since the start of 2021.

Although this is reassuring, these results are a bit like the forest for the trees. In fact, between 2022 and 2023 alone, iPad sales revenue fell by 25%. At the same time, the last year, Apple somewhat surprised everyone by not releasing any new digital slate. This has never happened since the launch of the iPad, the first of its name, in 2010.

Consequently, this Keynote of May 8, 2024 takes on a highly symbolic character and strategic for the Cupertino company. Will these new iPad Air and iPad Pro 2024 be able to restore momentum to the American giant's tablets ? The answer in our support hand and our complete decryption.

A Keynote like no other

New, yesterday's Keynote entitled “Let Loose “, or ” let go& nbsp;» in the language of Molière, is in several respects. Already, by its place and time. This is the first time in more than ten years that an Apple Keynote has taken place in Europe, and moreover in the afternoon, 4 p.m. in France.

No need to be a guesser here to understand that Apple now wants to align with as many time zones as possible, particularly in Asia. Indeed, let us remember that over time, China has become one of the most important markets in the company's financial results.

Another particularity of this Keynote is that it was held at the Battersea Power Station. Famous for appearing on the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals album, this former coal factory now houses, among other things, an Apple Store, as well as the group's offices in the United Kingdom. A magnificent place that many French journalists discovered for the first time.

After a thirty-minute video presentation, which you were able to follow live on our site, Ali Baba's cave opened for journalists. We were then able to get to grips with and test the new features of the new iPad Air and Pro for a good two hours. Here are our first impressions.

Price and availability of the new iPad Air and iPad Pro 2024

All the products announced during this Keynote are already available for pre-order and will be marketed from the week of May 13.

The iPad Air 2024 is available in 4 colors (blue, purple, starlight and space gray) and in the following configurations:

The 11-inch iPad Air from 719 euros (128 GB and Wi-Fi) and up to 1519 euros (1 TB, Wi-Fi and Cellular) .
The 13-inch iPad from 969 euros (128 GB and Wi-Fi) and up to 1769 euros (1 TB, Wi-Fi and Cellular ).

For its part, the iPad Air 2024 is available in two colors (black and silver) and in the following configurations & nbsp;:

The 11-inch iPad Pro from 1219 euros (256 GB and Wi-Fi) and up to 2809 euros (2 TB, Wi-Fi and Cellular and nano-textured glass).
The 13-inch iPad Pro from 1569 euros (256 GB and Wi- Fi) and up to 3159 euros (2 TB, Wi-Fi and Cellular and nano-textured glass).

Finally, the two new Magic Keyboard are available for 349 euros for the 11-inch models and 399 euros for the larger models, while the Apple Pencil Pro costs 149 euros.

iPad Air 2024, Apple sees double

As we announced to you in a previous article which summarizes all the new features of the iPad Air, the Californian firm decided in 2024 to expand its offering. For this 6th generation of iPad Air, the traditional 11-inch model is joined for the first time by a new companion, a 13-inch model.

According to Apple, the large 13-inch format is the most popular on the Pro model. The American therefore wanted to offer more freedom of choice to customers turning to this range.

Although it offers 30% more display space than the 11-inch version, the large-format iPad Air remains relatively manageable. It must be said that Apple still controls the finesse and weight distribution of its products just as well. Each slate is 6.1 mm thick, while the 11-inch model weighs only 462 grams and the 13-inch model weighs 617 grams.

In terms of display quality, Apple is not overturning the table. It is still the excellent Liquid Retina technology (LED IPS) which will flatter our retinas.It's a shame all the same that the Apple brand doesn't take the opportunity to slightly beef up the definition of the smallest model which remains stuck at 2360 x 1640 pixels. We remain just below QHD, or 2560 x 1440 pixels. Logically the 13-inch model goes higher, 2732 x 2048 pixels.

During our handling, this large model greatly impressed us. Despite the flood of lights throughout the presentation room, we were able to watch some videos from good viewing angles. Note also that the colorimetry always turns out to be extremely accurate.

At the heart of these new iPad Airs, we find, almost without surprise, an M2 chip. This processor update was as expected as it was necessary. Indeed, released in 2022, the latest iPad Air was starting to run out of steam a little compared to Android tablets with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

iPad Pro: OLED and finesse, the perfect combo?

Let's now move on to the stars of this event. And from the year 2024 ? The two new iPad Pro 11 and 13 inches. After two years of waiting, Apple pulled out all the stops for this 7th generation.

From the first time you get hold of it, the grip is breathtaking. It must be said that the large model is only 5.3 mm thick, while the 11-inch variant goes down to 5.1 mm. A real small technological prowess, especially when we know what happens next.

For a long time, we suspected Apple of sticking to LED technology for design reasons. In fact, an OLED screen mechanically results in a thicker tablet. However, these new iPad Pros are ultra-thin and feature a new OLED screen. So what is this sleight of hand ?

Always eager to push technological boundaries, Apple is introducing a type of screen on these new models called “Tandem Oled”. The latter merges two panels to offer an “Ultra Retina XDR” display with a definition of 2 420 x 1 668 pixels for the 11-inch model and 2 752 x 2 064 pixels for the 13-inch model.

That’s not all! In addition to allowing this wasp waist, the “Tandem Oled” screen offers a brightness of 1000 nits for normal use and 1600 nits peak. This is simply unheard of on tablets. And our first handling quickly confirmed that Apple is in no way exaggerating these figures.

For a quarter of an hour, we were able to watch several contained in SDR and HDR and without trembling, we can say it. Whether in terms of colorimetry, brightness or contrasts, we are facing the most impressive screen we have ever seen in a 13-inch format.< /strong>

For purely professional use, whatever your sector of activity, these new iPad Pros are almost perfect companions. Especially since the accessories also get in tune with their masters.

To know a new Magic Keyboard(haptic feedback, new ergonomics and function keys) and a new stylus called Pencil Pro. On the latter, Apple spent a long time and it was not wrong. This new stylus has a slew of new gestures and features. We will be sure to dissect them during a future test.

With the M4 chip, Apple is ready to enter the AI war

This was the other big surprise of this Keynote, the new iPad Pros feature a brand new M4 processor without going through the M3 box. These are present on the latest MacBooks presented at the end of 2023.

There is no point here in dwelling too much on the pure performance of this chip. It is currently the best in the tech industry. See for yourself: GPU and CPU with 10 cores each. And also, a take of the best display technologies (Dynamic caching, Mesh sading and Ray tracing).

What is most interesting about this generational leap is to learn that the M4 integrates an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) with 16 cores and capable of supporting 38,000 billion operations per second. And yes, Apple will no longer be able to hide its ambitions in terms of generative AI for much longer.

First, because time is running out, the competition is already a few steps ahead, notably Samsung with Galaxy AI. But not only that… If we look more broadly, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have also already taken part in this war.

Then, because all specialists and the general public are impatient to see the way in which the American firm will integrate generative AI functionalities into its product ecosystems. In this domain, Apple remains the undisputed master. And finally, this will allow the iPad Pro, for at least a good year and a half, to become both Apple's technological showcase and testing ground.< /p>

For the simple reason that it is currently the thinnest, most powerful product, the one with the most beautiful screen and the one capable of welcome new AI functionalities. Indeed, it is very unlikely that the American firm will not release a batch of MacBooks this year under the M4 flag.

Obviously, we are here in analysis and projection. Always as skillful in its communication, Apple has never been inclined to tease, the brand has always been about announcing and controlling its new products. For example, during this Keynote the word AI was only pronounced…twice for more than thirty minutes. The American giant prefers to talk about machine learning by highlighting its M4 chip.

2024, a pivotal year for Apple

To conclude, it is interesting to return to the temporality of this Keynote in Apple's year. It comes at a busy start to the year. Or between the recent launch of the Vision Pro headset and the next WWDC, which is due to be held in June and will notably unveil new software features, including iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

This proximity of events is rather rare for the Cupertino company. Presumably a sign that shows us that Apple wants to occupy the media space in all directions in 2024. With the field of AI in its sights generative, of course, but also a desire to make its new iPad Pro the ultimate hardware.

In our opinion, this Keynote supports this. Afterwards, even if these new iPad Pros seem perfect on paper, there remains a small problem which is not new. Many users are used to macOS. And for our tastes, iPadOS has always somewhat restricted the possibilities of the iPad Pro. Unifying the two ecosystems could be a possibility… Except that for this Apple will have to choose between one of its children. Which would be economic nonsense.

Whatever happens, we will not fail to offer you complete, large-format tests of all these new products very soon. Thus, in addition to the design, the screen and the performance, we will be able to evaluate the autonomy, the charge and the photo part which was difficult to gauge during this handling.

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Teilor Stone

Teilor Stone has been a reporter on the news desk since 2013. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining Thesaxon , Teilor Stone worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my teilor@nizhtimes.com 1-800-268-7116