iPad Pro M4 Review: Record-Breaking Top Performance?

The Apple iPad Pro (2024) is the latest top model from Apple and a truly powerful and innovative tablet. With an excellent casing, a bright and accurate OLED display, the powerful Apple M4 processor and a long battery life, it leaves almost nothing to be desired.

There are also improved cameras and powerful speakers. However, it lacks IP certification and the range of software is still limited compared to a MacBook. It is available in 11-inch and 13-inch versions in silver and space black and with a storage capacity of 256 GB to 2 TB.

Design and build quality

From the outside, the new iPads Pro really are diamonds. The 13-inch version comes with a 5.1 mm thin aluminum unibody housing that weighs an incredible 579 g, making it 103 grams lighter than its predecessor and almost 40 grams lighter than the iPad Air (13-inch). It is also the thinnest Apple device ever released. The 11-inch version weighs just 444 g and is just as light in the hand.

As with all iPads, only the camera protrudes slightly from the back, but it fits in very well with the elegant casing. It looks as if it has been cast from a single mold and, if you look closely, there are no irregularities in the gaps between the display glass and the casing. Everything looks very evenly finished and has an extremely elegant appearance. The buttons also all sit very firmly and there is nothing to criticize about the physical finish of the device.

Unfortunately, the only thing that is still missing is IP certification against dust and water, which the competition has been providing for a long time, and not just for premium devices.

Display

During our practical test, we edited photos with Lightroom, which initially all came out underexposed, as the iPad Pro’s display is so unusually bright that it takes some getting used to. However, we were completely fascinated by the extremely innovative and all-round beautiful OLED display.

This is the first time Apple has tried its hand at OLED technology and it has been a great success. Unlike the competition, Apple is building a so-called tandem OLED display, which actually consists of two OLED panels mounted on top of each other and can therefore be much brighter and more color-intensive than conventional OLED displays. It achieves a brightness of an incredible 1,000 nits. The 13-inch version has a resolution of 2752 x 2064 pixels and the 11-inch version has 2420 x 1668 pixels. Incidentally, this is the first 11-inch iPad Pro with an OLED display, as all its predecessors had classic LCDs. Of course, the iPad Pro can also be purchased with nano-textured glass to reduce reflections and, unlike all other iPads, it offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz.

In a direct comparison with other top devices, the iPad Pro clearly leads in terms of display brightness. It is far ahead of Samsung flagships such as the S9+ or the S10 Ultra, beats the iPad Air and therefore currently has the brightest tablet display. The OLED tandem also counteracts the blooming effect. Compared to the old iPad Pro, white text on a black background is significantly less bright.

As the Tandem OLED has twice the number of pixels, this also means that twice as many pixels have to be controlled by the chipset. However, the proud M4 chip never reaches its limits in our practical test.

Hardware and performance

This brings us to the heart of the premium device. Apple’s M4 chipset. A top-class chip. It offers significantly more computing and graphics power than the previous model or the iPad Air with the M2 chip. The area responsible for AI operations alone, the “Neural Engine”, can perform up to 38 trillion calculations per second. The iPad can get very warm when editing images or other graphics-intensive apps, especially with the Apple logo, which is presumably by Apple’s design.

The variants with 1TB or 2TB storage capacity even offer one more CPU core and benefit from the entire performance package of the iPad Pro. From the 1TB version upwards, 16 GB RAM is installed instead of 8 GB. It’s a shame that you can’t get the full features of the device with 512 GB. But Apple is now famous for this kind of sales pitch.

The interface is a USB-C 4.0 port, which, unlike the iPad Air, supports Thunderbolt 3. Apple uses FaceID as the security system on the iPad Pro, just like on iPhones. Incidentally, all other iPads only have the fingerprint sensor, which is less secure.

The iPad Pro is also at the top of the benchmark tests and is unbeaten in CPU and GPU performance. Samsung is left miles behind and the iPad Air ranks relatively evenly below the iPad Pro.

Incidentally, there is no longer a SIM card slot for the 5G version of the iPad Pro because, as with the new iPad Air, Apple relies exclusively on eSIM technology. This is actually unfortunate because some mobile phone providers do not yet support it.

Speakers

The Apple iPad Pro 2024 also impresses with great speakers. Two of them are installed on the upper and lower short side, which deliver really nice, pleasant sound. This makes listening to videos or music on the device a lot of fun.

However, the speakers do not come close to the extra-large speakers of the Lenovo Tab Plus in terms of quality. The Honor Magic Pad 2 was able to compete with the iPad Pro in terms of volume. But in terms of sound, especially the bass, the iPad Pro was ultimately convincing and stood out in the practical test with a more balanced sound.

Gaming Review

If you want to play PUBG Mobile at an almost constant 120 fps on the highest graphics settings, you should be extremely satisfied with the iPad Pro. All iPad games in the App Store run very smoothly on the iPad Pro on the highest graphics settings and also look very enhanced on the beautiful OLED display.

For example, the shadows in Assassin’s Creed Mirage look very realistic and you can really see every detail. However, the iPad Pro’s processor is actually too good for gaming. In our benchmark tests, the iPad comes out on top by a huge margin, leaving all competitors far behind.

If you are looking for a gaming iPad with which you can play all the games in the App Store on the highest settings, you should perhaps go for the iPad Air 13” if you are on a budget, as it is the unbeaten number two.

Software

The device runs the latest iPadOS 18. As a rule, you can assume that the iPad Pro will be supplied with updates for at least 5 years.

Most likely even a little longer. The Pro models in particular are predestined for this due to their powerful hardware. In any case, security updates will be available for a few years longer, as is usual for Apple.

Like the iPad Air, a comparison can certainly be drawn with a MacBook, whereby the iPadOS software in particular comes with too few desktop functions and is limited exclusively to the apps in the App Store. However, this now offers more and more well-known application software adapted to iPads, creative programs and a complete Office package. Far more than is available on Android. The iWorks Suite, Affinity and video editing programs such as DaVinci Resolve are now also available. The Stage Manager familiar from MacOS can make multitasking easier; alternatively, apps can be displayed in split-screen view or one app can be minimized to hover over another in side-over mode.

For truly productive use of the Apple tablet, however, we would like to see a more fully-fledged MacOS; apps and the operating system are simply much more limited under iPadOS. The focus here is clearly on creative use and entertainment.

Battery life

The two differently sized models also have different batteries. The 13-inch device we tested has a larger one with 39 watt hours and the 11-inch iPad Pro has a battery with 31 Wh.

In our battery test, the iPad Pro lasted just under 10 hours when playing a YouTube video with maximum display brightness.

Pencil and keyboard   

The Apple Pencil Pro (120 dollars) and the USB-C version (79 dollars) are supported as styluses. Unfortunately, the Pencil 2 can no longer be connected, but the Pro version really does offer many very good features, such as the hover function.

There is also a new version of the Magic Keyboard Pro for 299 dollars, which can only be connected to the iPad Pro and feels much more premium than the previous models, as it is now partly made of metal. In addition, the touchpad is larger and there are now also function keys.

Cameras

Even if the image quality of the cameras does not come close to the top quality of the iPhones, the cameras of the iPad Pro also belong in the top league. It comes with a 12 megapixel rear camera that records videos in 4K at up to 60 fps or even at up to 30 fps in ProRes codec.

The TrueDepth landscape ultra-wide-angle front camera also has 12 megapixels and is equipped with many camera functions, such as portrait mode, which creates a realistic bokeh effect for selfies.  As the camera is now mounted in landscape format on the long side of the iPad, it is also ideal for video conferencing.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it is fair to say that Apple has really stepped up a gear with the iPad Pro 2024 and delivered an innovative premium device that may have a hefty price tag, but also has a lot to offer. In addition to the finest workmanship, Apple has come up with a very bright, innovative tandem OLED and the most powerful processor chip to date.

Unfortunately, there are still a few little things that stand out, such as the lack of dust and water protection or the absence of a SIM card slot, but the least pleasing thing is probably Apple’s price composition for the iPad Pro.

Apple has dropped the small 128GB storage model and slightly reduced the prices of the other storage variants by between 30 and 70 dollars, while an optional 5G modem will cost an additional 200 dollars (+50 dollars). In addition, the full hardware configuration with 16GB RAM is only available from 1TB storage. If you also want a matt nano-textured glass on the display, this costs another 100 dollars more, meaning that a top price of up to 2,599 dollars can be achieved.

With so much money, it is important to find out exactly which target group the iPad Pro is ideal for. We definitely recommend it to professional users who need maximum performance and features. Creative professionals, designers, users who need intensive applications (e.g. video editing, graphic design) and want to work on a tablet should definitely be happy with this device.

However, the very high price makes it less attractive for occasional users or gamers, precisely because the iPad Air also masters most applications such as games or drawing apps at a top level.