Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Products

Apple’s new tablets pack cutting-edge hardware, revamped software

Sprint's new deal will offer the iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.9 on June 13

Kyle Wiggers
By

Update: We updated the section on availability to include Sprint availability info. 

Apple took the wraps off the new iPad Pro lineup at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday. The iPad Pro 10.5 and the iPad Pro 12.9 — the company’s latest slates — replace the iPad 9.7 and last year’s iPad Pro 12.9, respectively. They both boast sleek, slim designs, cutting-edge hardware to match, and revamped software with a focus on productivity.

Recommended Videos

Release date, availability, and pricing

The iPad Pro 10.5 and iPad 12.9 are available now from a variety of online retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, and Apple’s website.

Related

Here is how they are priced:

  64GB 256GB 512GB
$650 $750 $950
$800 $900 $1,100

Some carriers and retailers are throwing in a few bonuses.

Sprint said that it will offer every iPad Pro 10.5 and iPad Pro 12.9 model on a payment plan, with pricing to be announced at a later date. Starting June 13, new and existing Sprint subscribers can pick up a tablet with an unlimited 4G LTE data plan.

T-Mobile is offering every iPad Pro 10.5 and iPad Pro 12.9 model on a payment plan. Starting this week, new and existing T-Mobile One customers can pick up a tablet with an unlimited 4G LTE data plan for as little as $20 a month (with AutoPay).

  64GB 256GB 512GB
10.5-inch iPad Pro $60 down and $30 a month for 24 months $160 down and $30 a month for 24 months $360 down and $30 a month for 24 months
12.9-inch iPad Pro $210 down and $30 a month for 24 months $310 down and $30 a month for 24 months $510 down and $30 a month for 24 months

Best Buy is throwing in a gift card with every iPad Pro purchase. iPad Pro 10.5 inch orders get a $25 gift card and iPad Pro 12.9 inch pre-orders get a $50 gift card.

We will update this section as carriers and retailers announce pricing.

Specs

Design is the highlight of the new iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.9. The tablets’ Retina displays, which have the same physical footprint as the iPad Pro models they’re replacing, feature narrower bezels and Apple’s True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts color temperature based on surrounding lighting conditions. They also boast wider color gamut, as well as  Pro Motion, a new innovation that uses a combination of software and hardware to improve the iPad Pro’s screen refresh rate from 60Hz to 120Hz.

Under the hood of the new iPad Pro 10.5 and 12.9 is Apple’s six-core A10X processor and 12-core GPU, a significant step up from the iPad 9.7’s processor. Apple says it’s 30 percent faster than the A9X, 40 percent faster in graphics, and 500 times faster than the original iPad. Apple says it’s incredibly energy efficient, too — despite all those performance improvements, the new iPad Pro models last an impressive 10 hours on battery.

The new iPad Pros are also notable for the the similarities they share with the outgoing iPad Pro 9.7 and 12.9. They have the same four-speaker technology introduced on last year’s iPad, which adjusts bass and higher frequencies according to the position in which they’re held. And their cameras are the same as the iPhone 7’s, including a 12-megapixel f/1.8 sensor with optical image stabilization on the rear, and a 7-megapixel HD camera on the front.

Apple is also shipping new accessories alongside the new iPad Pros. USB-3 and USB-C adapters will work via a dongle, and there’s a new sleeve for the Apple Pencil.

New software additions — courtesy of iOS 11, the upcoming version of Apple’s mobile operating system — include a full-size on-screen keyboard, called the Flick keyboard, that will support more than 30 languages at launch. A new predictive area in the iOS dock can switch between apps, and a new drag-and-drop feature lets you move images, text, and URLs between panes of split-screen apps by tapping and holding on them.

Those aren’t the only improvements in tow. Infinity Photo, an editing tool, lets you mock up photos in real time. Notes has a built-in document scanner that the Apple Pencil can launch from the iPad Pro’s lock screen. And a new app — Files — provides access to the iPad’s on-device storage. You can search tags across third-party storage providers, and dive into nested folders, recent documents, and even iCloud content.

Finally, Apple has revamped some of the Apple Pencil’s tools. You can mark up any document that prints using AirPrint, and create a PDF — or handwritten email via iOS’s Mail app — on the fly. Even better: Handwriting is searchable across apps.

The new iPad Pro 9.7 and iPad 12.9 ship next week. Both come with double the base storage — 64GB of memory versus 32GB — and start at $650.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
Apple’s new iPad Pro now has the same M2 chip as the latest MacBook Pro
The M2 iPad Pro.

The 2022 iPad Pro has finally been announced and, after months of speculation, seems to be a solid step up from last year's version thanks to the M2 chipset that it boasts — the same found in the redesigned MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The shared DNA between the 2022 iPad Pro and MacBook Pro makes a lot of sense following Apple's announcement earlier this year that iPadOS 16 would push to make the line between Apple tablets and laptops thinner than ever before.

To achieve this, the 2022 iPad Pro comes with the highly anticipated OS upgrade installed right out of the box. While there are still plenty of differences between iPadOS and MacOS, the new Stage Manager app is meant to make multitasking on iPads just as simple as on MacBooks. With the M2 SoC (system on chip), switching between tasks and apps should feel smoother than on previous iPad generations. That said, Stage Manager will run on older iPads despite their lack of the M2 chipset, Apple has announced.

Read more
Apple’s 14-inch iPad might not have two critical features
Reading a comic on an iPad Pro.

Rumor has it that a 14-inch iPad is in the works at Apple. However, while it was once thought to be an oversized iPad Pro, new information suggests that it'll be much more similar to Apple's baseline iPad. Industry analyst Ross Young was in line with plenty of other sources when he claimed last week that the 14-inch iPad Pro would be coming in 2023, but now he's telling his Super Followers on Twitter (via 9to5Mac) that the device will be launching without a mini-LED display and ProMotion.

The lack of mini-LED in the rumored oversized iPad is a major hit for anyone who was hoping for top-tier display quality on the 14-inch iPad. Because the display size is so big, it seems like a 14-inch screen is a perfect candidate to receive the mini-LED treatment. But if Young is correct, that might not be what Apple has in mind for it. According to Young, the iPad will instead have "regular LED edge lightning."

Read more
Apple’s powerful M2 chip may come to the iPad Pro this September
how much ram do you need apple ipad pro spring21 5g connectivity 04202021

Apple is reportedly planning to launch an iPad Pro refresh that will bring both wireless charging and the new M2 chip to Apple's tablet lineup. In the Q&A section of Bloomberg’s Power On newsletter, the ever-reliable Mark Gurman says that an iPad Pro upgrade will break cover sometime in September or October.

Adding more about the upcoming tablet, Gurman mentions that we'll see 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro updates, both powered by the M2 silicon. The next-gen M-series chip was revealed at Apple’s WWDC event earlier this month and has already found its way inside the redesigned MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro refresh.

Read more