Apple Launches New iPad Pro Featuring M4 Chip for AI Performance Boost

New iPad Air Model Unveiled
Launching in 29 Countries... Domestic Release Date Undecided

Apple launched the new iPad Pro and Air on the 7th (local time). With the new iPad models equipped with the next-generation chip 'M4' specialized for artificial intelligence (AI), Apple has made a strategic move to revive its sluggish AI market performance.

Apple unveiled the new iPad lineup through an online event that morning. This is the first time Apple has released a new iPad in 18 months since October 2022.

The newly announced iPad Pro comes in two models: 11-inch and 13-inch. The 11-inch model is 5.3mm thick, and the 13-inch model is 5.1mm thick, making them the thinnest iPads ever released. The 11-inch weighs less than 450g, and the 13-inch is over 100g lighter than its predecessor.

The display uses 'Ultra Retina XDR' with OLED instead of the previously adopted LCD. Ultra Retina XDR employs a technology called 'Tandem OLED,' which combines two OLED panels to maximize screen brightness. Until now, Apple had only used OLED in iPhones.

The iPad Pro is equipped with Apple's latest chip, the M4. The M4 is a system-on-chip (SoC) manufactured using a second-generation 3nm (1nm = one billionth of a meter) process. Apple explained that this allows for power efficiency, a thinner design, and the installation of a new display engine. It also includes Apple's fastest neural engine to accelerate AI machine learning. The neural engine has a computational processing capability of 38 trillion operations per second, which is 60 times faster than the neural engine first introduced in Apple's A11 Bionic chip.

The price starts at $899 for the 11-inch and $1,199 for the 13-inch model.

Additionally, Apple unveiled a new iPad Air. The iPad Air is available in 11-inch and 13-inch models, both equipped with Apple's M2 chip. The M2 chip is an improved version of the M1 chip. Compared to the iPad Air with the M1 chip, it offers about 50% faster performance. It combines a CPU machine learning (ML) accelerator and a powerful graphics processing unit (GPU) to deliver groundbreaking AI performance.

The price starts at $599 for the 11-inch and $799 for the 13-inch model.

The iPad Pro and Air can be ordered starting today in 29 countries including the United States. The release schedule for South Korea is yet to be determined.