New iPad Pro: Apple brings its M1 chip to its tablet during live event

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Apple is releasing a new version of the iPad Pro – with its well-regarded computer chip inside.

The tablet will include the M1 chip that was first revealed in its computers last year. That helps bring a 50 per cent increase in performance, Apple said during its launch event.

And it includes new mini-LED display technology that borrows from the Pro Display XDR that was first unveiled with the Mac Pro. It calls the one in the iPad “Liquid Retina XDR”, and said that bringing it to the iPad was an “enormous challenge”.

Though Apple will sell two versions of the Pro – an 11- and 12.9-inch version – only the larger one will get that new display technology.

But they will both get a range of new features, including 5G connections. Apple lent heavily on the new wireless technology with the iPhone last year, and it will now come to the tablet too.

It also has new cameras, including a new front-facing “ultra wide” camera that focused on video calls. That enables a feature called “centre stage”, which allows the phone to zoom in on people as they move around, in a similar way to the tools on Facebook’s Portal.

It also includes a Thunderbolt connection at the bottom, allowing it to both power large displays as well as quickly import files from elsewhere.

The 11-inch iPad Pro will start at £749, while the 12.9-inch Pro will begin at £999, with both tablets due to go on sale in the second half of May.

:: Read our live coverage here