Year on year, the iPad has made considerable strides—whether it be in its developments or external accessories that have made what would be dubbed a tablet as a cut above the rest. But it was today, in a special Apple event housed in London’s new headquarters, Battersea Power Station, where a collective audible gasp marked a new era of the iPad—as well as a new era for the Apple ecosystem.
Expanding on its range of devices and advancing the allure of its handy, adaptable accessories, all eyes were on Apple’s inaugural M4 chip, which in a surprising twist of events, is now part of the new iPad Pro. Forget what was meant to be a natural progression to M3, the shiny new gadget now boasts a massive leap in performance, while serving as a precursor to the tech giant’s slew of updates at WWDC next month. Apart from the grand reveal, the new line-up also includes a Pro version of the Apple Pencil as well as a 13-inch iPad Air.
All that was announced meant exciting progress for the average Apple layman but more than anything, a bigger playground for creators and artists. Longtime users of the iPad and local creators André Wee and Natasha Elle, who goes by her moniker @sadshrimps, put the new devices to work and in turn, sought comfort and a new burst of vigour in their creation process.
The former, who enjoys experimenting with drawing, painting and 3D modelling in his works, has been using the iPad before the first Apple Pencil came about. Since the introduction of the nifty digital pencil alongside other applications, he has transitioned from using the iPad on a personal basis to completing client and commercial work on the iPad Pro. He adds: “This mobility enables me to work on projects on the go while continuously capturing and exploring the world around me through art. I’m no longer confined to my desk; you can often find me sketching and drawing people, places and ideas digitally on the train, in a cafe, or from the comfort of my couch.”
A digital nomad at heart, Wee has also found the new iPad Pro’s Ultra Retina XDR display to be an important update. “The new OLED screen’s dramatic improvements to the viewing angles and screen brightness has allowed me to digitally draw and paint outdoors easily without having to worry about not being able to view my screen due to the stronger ambient lighting conditions outside.”
On the Apple Pencil Pro, which now integrates a ‘Squeeze’ function (to trigger the side tool bar onto the canvas) and haptic feedback, Wee adds: “the inclusion of haptic feedback on the Apple Pencil Pro has made simple actions like double-tapping to swap between brush and eraser tools more apparent—this has helped me avoid accidental erasing! Being able to invoke a quick list of tools and adjustments with just a squeeze really helps speed up the process of choosing and changing tools, allowing me to focus on just making the art. The new sensors in the barrel of the pencil have also allowed me to paint with digital brushes that react to both angle and rotational changes to the Apple Pencil Pro.” With a new Magic Keyboard that boasts a larger trackpad, there’s also a greater ease while working on pixel art animations and video-editing timelines.
Elle, whose journey with the iPad started with free drawing apps and one paid illustrator app, now feels at home with 2D illustration. “My art is now simplified with purposeful strokes, lots more texture and maintaining my signature vibrant colour palette,” remarks the artist. She too, expresses a deep appreciation for the Pencil Pro. “With the new Squeeze, I found myself quickly getting used to having all my tools and buttons near my pencil and moving between strokes is now effortless. With the new updates on Procreate, I can now hover with my Pencil Pro to reveal a time-lapse of my work. It’s perfect for someone like myself who isn’t too great at file organisation. I’m excited to see how more applications implement the new function bar in their softwares in the near future!”
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iPad Pro
Indeed, the chip has fallen as it may—in the best way possible. The M4 specifically, is the driving force behind the device’s range of updates. It’s the reason why the new iPad Pro is thinner than ever, thinner than any Apple products out there in the market—even rivaling the new iPad Air (which we’ll get to later). Its 11-inch comes in at 5.3mm while the 13-inch ups the ante at 5.1mm. Featuring a new display engine that delivers on colour precision, brightness and ultimately, a stunning Ultra Retina XDR, alongside accelerators in the CPU, the result is a formidable product that pushes the envelope to what an iPad can do. This trickles down to in-built apps, processing and how efficiently the device can aid in AI-enabled tasks, like extracting an entire scene from Final Cut Pro. Safe to say, the camera doesn’t disappoint. A 12MP back camera captures Smart HDR images and video with better colour accuracy and detail in low light. Its adaptive True Tone flash also means you can easily scan images or documents with a quick snap on the camera.
Order the new iPad Pro here.
iPad Air
A bigger screen, just because. The lite version of the iPad now comes in an additional expanded size to better enable users, whether it be splitting a screen with ease or maximising your Netflix screen time. Powered by the M2 chip, the device is 50 percent faster as compared to its predecessor. Another sigh of relief? The front-facing camera now sits on the landscape edge, which will fix that frustrating lack of eye contact during Zoom meets.
Order the new iPad Pro here.
Apple Pencil Pro
There’s an upgrade to the iPad’s nifty limb—the Apple Pencil. The Pro model incorporates the use of human interactions like a squeeze to trigger the tool palette. It’s more intuitive than ever, with the Pencil responding alongside the user’s rotation of the tool—manipulating the thickness of brush strokes, as if on pen and paper.
Order the Apple Pencil Pro here.
