Apple’s most AI-focused chip debuts in its thinnest ever device

Apple has unveiled two new lines of iPads, including an iPad Air which is available in two sizes for the first time, and an iPad Pro that features an OLED screen and is Apple’s thinnest ever device, narrowly beating out the iPod Nano from 2005.

The iPad Pro is also the company’s first device to carry the AI-forward M4 chip, which will likely make its way to the company’s MacBooks and desktop computers. Capable of 38 trillion operations per second, Apple said the chips are more powerful for AI processing than those used in any AI PC currently on the market.

Apple’s recent Q2 earnings beat analyst estimates off the back of strong growth in its services revenue, but both iPhone and iPad sales showed a drop in growth. In fact, iPad revenue was down 17 per cent year-on-year — to $US5.6 billion from $US6.67 billion — indicative of the fact that until this week the category was experiencing its longest ever gap between new models. The redesigned iPads will be on sale in Australia on May 15.

Apple said it created a state-of-the-art display for the new iPad Pro, featuring two OLED panels overlaid to maximise brightness. The screen is capable of 1000 nits of full-screen brightness, with 1600 nit peaks in HDR content. Apple is also introducing nano texture glass as an option for iPad Pro, which can cut down on-screen glare. It comes in an 11-inch and a 13-inch model, with the larger being just 5.1mm thick. Apple said despite the width reduction, the device is just as strong as the previous Pro.

The M4 chip means the new Pro is up to four times faster than the previous model, but Apple also spent a lot of time talking about the AI capabilities of the hardware, including the ability to capture documents quickly with no shadows, upscale images to higher quality or turn objects captured with the LIDAR scanner into a 3D mesh. The M4 also has a new display engine built to power the iPad Pro’s unique screen. The devices will start at $1700 and $2050 in Australia.

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The new iPad Air is also available in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes and utilises the M2 chip, which Apple said makes it nearly 50 per cent faster than the previous iPad Air. The new size option was inspired by the fact that around half of all iPad Pro users opted for the larger screen device. It has stereo speakers top and bottom, with Apple saying the larger model has extra audio gear for double the bass. The devices will start at $1000 and $1250 in Australia.

At the same event Apple also showed off new iPad accessories, including the $220 Apple Pencil Pro, which is compatible with all the new tablets and allows users to squeeze it to bring up menus, or roll it in their fingers to create new effects. There is also a new Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro, which turns the tablet into something of a laptop.