On May 7th, Apple's Let Loose special event brought us a new Apple Pencil 3 and related iPad series products. After an 18-month wait, fans of the brand finally witnessed an update to the iPad by "Uncle Tim" (a nickname for Tim Cook, Apple's CEO).

Both the iPad Air and iPad Pro have received significant upgrades, especially with Apple skipping the M3 chip and directly equipping the iPad Pro with the more powerful M4 chip, which is a delight for many. This epic leap in computational power showcases Apple's ambitions in AI, and with good things coming to those who wait, it's expected that at the upcoming WWDC conference next month, Cook will share more insights related to Apple's products and AI.

In addition, the new sensors of the Apple Pencil are quite impressive. The Apple Pencil now supports pinch and twist gestures, which significantly enhance the experience for users who enjoy drawing on their iPads.

Let's take a closer look at these three products.

iPad Air 11/13-inch

If we consider only the screen size, the 13-inch iPad Air seems to offer better value for money compared to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Apple claims that the usable area of the 13-inch iPad Air's screen is 30% larger than that of the 11-inch model, allowing users to display more functional information on the same screen. Additionally, both the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air feature a Liquid Retina display, which still does not support variable refresh rates.

Regrettably, the new iPad Air still uses the M2 chip, a product that was introduced at WWDC2022 and has finally made its way to the iPad Air two years later. Although the chip may seem a bit outdated in the era of excessive computational power, feedback from users of the 2022 13-inch MacBook Pro suggests that the M2 chip still provides a very smooth user experience today.

In terms of configuration, the new iPad Air starts with 128GB of memory, features a horizontal camera, stereo speakers, and supports spatial audio. It comes in four colors: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, with a 100% recycled aluminum metal casing. It is compatible with the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.

Pricing for the 11-inch iPad Air (Wi-Fi): 128GB version is priced at 4,799 yuan, 256GB at 5,599 yuan, 512GB at 7,299 yuan, and 1TB at 8,999 yuan; cellular models are an additional 1,000 yuan. For the 13-inch iPad Air (Wi-Fi): 128GB version is priced at 6,499 yuan, 256GB at 7,299 yuan, 512GB at 8,999 yuan, and 1TB at 10,699 yuan; cellular models are an additional 1,000 yuan.

iPad Pro 11/13-inch

The newly released iPad Pro has two major highlights.

Firstly, the new iPad Pro features a brand-new OLED screen, marking the first time Apple has used OLED technology in an iPad. Furthermore, Apple has equipped the iPad Pro with a new tOLED display technology that, through a dual-layer structure, maintains high contrast and a wide color gamut while also ensuring screen brightness and durability, preventing screen burn-in.

Thanks to the OLED technology, the thickness of the iPad Pro has been significantly reduced, with the 11-inch and 13-inch versions measuring 5.3mm and 5.1mm, respectively, making them the thinnest Apple products to date. A fun fact: the new iPad Pro is even thinner than Apple's early music player, the iPod Nano.

In terms of brightness, the new iPad Pro has a full-screen brightness of 1,000 nits, with an HDR peak brightness of 1,600 nits. The 1TB/2TB versions can be equipped with a nano-glass panel for better display quality.

Secondly, the iPad Pro has skipped the M3 chip and is now powered by the most powerful M4 chip currently available from Apple. According to the introduction, this chip, which is based on TSMC's second-generation 3nm process technology, includes up to 10 CPU cores (4 high-performance cores and 6 high-efficiency cores) and features a new generation of machine learning processors. Compared to the M2 chip in the previous generation iPad Pro, the CPU performance has increased by up to 50%.

In terms of GPU, Apple has introduced hardware-accelerated tessellation and ray tracing on the iPad Pro for the first time, along with dynamic cache and higher memory bandwidth. When using professional rendering apps like Octane, it can achieve up to a fourfold increase in speed.

Additionally, to align with future AI developments, Apple has equipped the M4 chip with a powerful Neural Processing Unit (NPU). Apple claims that its computing speed reaches 38 trillion operations per second, which is 60 times faster than the first Apple chip to feature an NPU, the A11.

Pricing for the 11-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi): 256GB version is priced at 8999 yuan, 512GB at 10,699 yuan, 1TB at 140,99 yuan, and 2TB at 17,499 yuan; cellular models are an additional 1,700 yuan. The 1TB/2TB versions can be equipped with nano-glass, for an additional 800 yuan; the 13-inch iPad Pro (Wi-Fi): 256GB version is priced at 11,499 yuan, 512GB at 13199 yuan, 1TB at 16,599 yuan, and 2TB at 19,999 yuan; cellular models are an additional 1,700 yuan. Equipping with nano-glass is an additional 800 yuan.

Interestingly, Apple has once again demonstrated precision in its iPad Pro lineup. The specifications of the M4 chip provided by Apple also vary across different storage versions. True to the saying, "you get what you pay for": for example, the 256GB and 512GB versions come with 8GB of memory and a 9-core CPU M4 chip (3 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores), while the 1TB and 2TB versions feature 16GB of memory and a 10-core CPU M4 chip (4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores).

Apple Pencil Pro + Magic Keyboard

A good horse deserves a good saddle.

To enable the new iPad Pro to better handle professional tasks, Apple has significantly upgraded the Apple Pencil, which had not seen any changes for many years. Due to the prevalence of Apple Pencil elements in the promotional materials for this special event, some spectators initially mistook the Apple Pencil for the main star of the show.

According to Apple, the new "Apple Pencil Pro" innovatively incorporates a vibration motor and a gyroscope, allowing users to instantly access the tool palette with a pinch gesture without interrupting the creative process. The gyroscope enables users to freely rotate the Apple Pencil Pro to precisely control the current tool. Moreover, just like a real pen and paper, users can simply rotate the pen body to change the orientation of the brush tip, and developers can also create various custom interactive methods. It can be said that the Apple Pencil Pro is a significant product designed for professionals.

Along with the Apple Pencil Pro, the Magic Keyboard has also been updated.

Apple has introduced a row of shortcut keys similar to those on a laptop at the top of the new Magic Keyboard, allowing users to quickly adjust functions such as brightness and volume. The touchpad has also been upgraded with haptic feedback, making the user experience more precise.

Additionally, the new Magic Keyboard connects to power and data via magnetic attachment without the need for Bluetooth, and the smart connector can instantly connect. The hinge made of precision aluminum metal also features a USB-C port for charging. The new Magic Keyboard comes in two color options that complement the new iPad Pro: black with a space gray aluminum palm rest, and white with a silver aluminum palm rest.

According to Apple, the iPad with the new Magic Keyboard feels like using a MacBook.

Pricing for the new Apple Pencil Pro, compatible with the new iPad Pro, is 999 yuan, with an educational discount price of 899 yuan. The Apple Pencil (USB-C), compatible with the new iPad Pro, is priced at 649 yuan, with an educational discount price of 569 yuan.

The new Magic Keyboard, compatible with the new iPad Pro, is available in black and white. The new 11-inch Magic Keyboard is priced at 2,399 yuan, and the new 13-inch Magic Keyboard is priced at 2,799 yuan, with more than 30 language layout options. The educational discount price for the 11-inch Magic Keyboard is 2,199 yuan, and for the 13-inch Magic Keyboard, it is 2,599 yuan.

On June 10th, Apple will hold its WWDC conference as scheduled. Following past practices, the new iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will be unveiled at that time. AI will also be a key focus of this year's WWDC. Apple needs to prove to the world that it not only has absolute strength in hardware but also maintains a leading edge in the system and software layers.