Every product Apple creates is always the something-est device they have ever made. So it comes as no surprise that the new iPads are the fastest, brightest, have the best display and are the most powerful devices they have ever made. Only this time, they were not as convincing as they have been in the past. Or do I simply no longer trust Apple?
13-inch iPad Air
Buying an iPad Pro hasn’t made sense in years unless you were going after its big screen and storage. That’s about all the iPad Pro has had going for it in a while, and Apple seems to have shot itself in the foot with the new 13-inch iPad Air, which has 1TB of storage and runs the M2. It’s basically the M2 iPad Pro rebranded to Air, and they have removed a few negligible features. That you probably won’t miss. For note-takers, the new iPad Air is great news. Taking notes doesn’t need a lot of horsepower, and the M2 is already overkill. With the bigger screen, the M2 iPad Air is the most logical iPad to buy.
M4 iPad Pro
I love how they say the iPad Pro is for everyone. Who? Against the new iPad Air it is ridiculously overpriced for ordinary users. For the creatives they are targeting, iPadOS won’t have all the tools they need to give them the best creative experience on a 13-inch screen. If only we had got a bigger screen. For creativity, the bigger the screen, the better, right? We watched the crushing ad ten times before we got the message that Apple was trying to convey. We probably still don’t get it, but we’ll give it a shot anyway. Apple is crushing all the limits of the iPad Pro’s creativity capability in the thinnest iPad Pro they have ever made. Did you guys also get the same message?
New display
What is the stunning new design of the new iPad Pro? It’s probably a worse design than its predecessor; thin is not always good. After the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, we are not fans of thin tablets. We’re tired of Apple presenting old ideas like they are new, and at this point, it now feels like they are lying to us. The Tandem OLED display is not new because they’ve decided to name it differently. OLED screens have been around for years now. Apple is reminding me of Anytype, being innovative with renaming ideas that have existed for years already.
The brighter screen would be interesting to check out, but I will probably never find out as I have no intention of upgrading my iPad Pro 2018 to this. Apple will sabotage every device you buy anyway; you might as well not bother upgrading; at least, that is how we feel. What’s funny is that the M2 iPad Pro is now ridiculously slow, but the M2 iPad Air with the exact same specs will probably work better simply because it is the latest device. It makes us wonder when Apple says a new device is 50% faster than the previous one, does it mean 50% faster than when it launched? Or is it 50% faster than our devices now (after they have slowed them down)? They have never specified that, and I am starting to think that is not a coincidence.
They mentioned 1600nits like it’s an upgrade! Unbelievable. We already have that on the M2 iPad Pro. For a long time, we felt Apple was marketing their new products, but after the recent keynote, we are starting to think Apple has no respect for its customers. They must think we are so stupid that whatever they dangle in front of our eyes, we’ll hop onto it. Could this be their last stroll, or are we still under their magical spell?
M4
M4: Wow! To what end? Is anyone else fed up with theoretical specs that translate to nothing in everyday use? We are curious to see if we get iPadOS Pro for the new iPad Pro. Or at least the option to run macOS on the iPad? It could convince some users to actually consider the iPad Pro.
Creative apps
We are curious to know if creatives would use the iPad Pro for professional work. If you’re a videographer or music producer, let us know if any of the updates brought to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro would convince you to use the iPad Pro. The ones we asked are not convinced, but perhaps they are missing something. It’s probably safe to say that though Apple claims they’ve designed the iPad Pro for everyone, they are really just targeting creatives. Do they really expect them to replace their desktops and PCs with tablets? Wonders never cease. They’ve gone to great lengths to market the new iPad Pro to creatives.
Apple Pencil Pro
The Apple Pencil USB-C was a terrible design. Maybe they thought of fixing it with the Apple Pencil Pro. I am still struggling to get used to the hover feature, which, after a while, I decided to turn off. I have never liked the double-tap feature to switch between tools either. I also turned that off. So, you can imagine the horror when I saw the new features of the Apple Pencil Pro. Most app tools are readily available on the screen. If the app is designed well, you can quickly reach most features without much effort. It probably makes sense for complicated apps maybe. Apple should consider allowing developers to come up with their own presentations. Or even better, don’t include them in your keynote if you don’t want to hear their honest, unfiltered opinions.
“Cheaper” iPad
Apple told so many lies in this keynote; it’s depressing. We’ve stopped thinking it’s harmless marketing and decided to call a spade a spade. “The new iPad Pro comes with double the storage,” they said. Double than what? All they did was remove the 128GB option; about time, too! The iPad 10th generation is now more affordable, than what exactly? The 6th generation iPad launched at $349; when did they decide to bump up its price? Now they have decreased it back to $349, and we’re supposed to be grateful, is it?
Verdict for the May 2024 keynote
Most of us loved Apple products because of their durability, which was partly why we didn’t mind paying a premium for them. But, with the company promoting this much consumerism around its products, we’re getting tired. They are sabotaging our old devices to force users to upgrade. Is it time to look into alternatives?
