Image: Apple
Apple said the M4 chip has helped it make the iPad Pro its thinnest device ever, with a powerful display and a focus on gaming.
Apple has revealed the new M4 chip and claims it makes its new iPad Pro an “outrageously powerful” device for AI applications.
At an event yesterday (7 May), Apple said the M4 chip advances the power efficiency of Apple silicon and has allowed the new iPad Pro to have an “incredibly thin” design.
Apple claims the M4 chip is a major improvement compared to the M2 chip seen in previous iPad Pro models, with the M4 chip containing 28bn transistors built using second-generation three-nanometer technology – compared to the M2’s five-nanometer design. This new chip also comes with a CPU that can contain up to 10 cores, including four performance cores and six efficiency cores.
“Fundamental improvements to the CPU, GPU, neural engine and memory system make M4 extremely well suited for the latest applications leveraging AI,” said Johny Srouji, Apple senior VP of hardware technologies. “Altogether, this new chip makes iPad Pro the most powerful device of its kind.”
Apple claims the M4 has 1.5 times faster CPU performance over the M2 to give it solid performance while using demanding apps such as Logic Pro or LumaFusion.
The M4 also includes a Dynamic Caching features, which means it allocates local memory dynamically to “dramatically increase” the average utilisation of the GPU. Apple says this feature increases performance for “the most demanding pro apps and games”.
For AI, Apple says the M4 comes with the company’s most powerful “neural E=engine” yet, being capable 38trn operations per second. The company claims the neural E=engine in M4 is more powerful than “any neural processing unit in any AI PC today”.
A thin design
The new iPad Pro is Apple’s thinnest device ever, with the 11-inch model being only 5.3mm thick, while the 13-inch model has a thickness of 5.1mm. These changes mean the products are extremely light – Apple claims the 11-inch model weighs less than a pound.
The new iPad Pro. Image: Apple.
The new iPad Pro also uses an advanced display called the Ultra Retina XDR, which Apple claims contains state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology to deliver improvements on colour, brightness and shadows. Apple said the thin design and “game-changing” display are thanks to the power of the M4 chip.
The 11-inch and 13-inch versions of the new iPad Pro will be available in silver and space black colours, with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB configurations. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at €1,229 while the 13-inch model starts at €1,579.
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