Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman again indicated that 2024 will see a “major update” to the iPad Pro lineup. This follows his earlier report saying much the same thing, though with less detail.
He described this as a much-needed move, given that we’ve seen no significant since the redesign, which launched back in 2018 – but even this report isn’t tempting me to upgrade …
I’ve noted before that I’m pretty much resigned to my iPhone upgrade cycle being an annual one. Ever since the iPhone X, Apple has managed to add enough capability to the device to persuade me to upgrade. That saw me upgrade in turn to the iPhone 11, 12, 13, and 14 – and I’ve no doubt that the periscope lens will sell me an iPhone 15 Pro Max this year.
I’m also still reluctantly considering a three-year upgrade cycle to my MacBooks, though that’s more driven by reliability concerns than features.
But on the iPad front, I’m still using my 2018 12.9-inch model (albeit adding Apple’s Magic Keyboard accessory in 2020) – and I’m not feeling any drive to upgrade it.
As Gurman notes in his latest piece, not too much has changed since I bought it.
The iPad Pro hasn’t seen a breakthrough update since the current design launched in 2018 […] The current iPad Pro has been upgraded with new chips, cameras, display technology and sensors in more recent years, but hasn’t undergone more fundamental changes.
Gurman says that’s set to change next year, in what he describes as “its first major overhaul in half a decade,” but when you read on, the detail honestly isn’t that exciting, in my view.
Specifically, here’s what his 2024 iPad Pro report says we can expect:
- M3 chip
- A tiny increase in screen size (from 12.9 inches to 13 inches)
- A new Magic Keyboard with larger trackpad
- OLED screen
Addressing each of these in turn …
M3 chip. Apple Silicon has transformed Macs, in terms of both performance and battery life. But when it comes to the iPad, that already had Apple Silicon, simply dubbed as an A-series chip rather than an M-series one. More importantly, I can’t think of a single occasion when I’ve thought “if only my iPad were faster.” It’s just not a performance device for me. Mostly I use it for writing, when I don’t want to carry my MacBook Pro, and for watching videos – hardly demanding tasks. (And not that many of you seem to need it to be a power monster.)
12.9-inch to 13-inch. I don’t need to address that, right?
Larger trackpad. Nice; I love the huge trackpad on my MacBook Pro. But I’m not going to lay out the cash on a new Magic Keyboard for that, let alone a new iPad to go with it.
OLED screen. Now, don’t misunderstand me here: I do expect this to be a very nice feature. But, in all honesty, Apple’s current tech is too good to get me excited by it. Apple has always managed to deliver really great IPS LCD screens, and mini-LED backlighting got them a long way toward the benefits of OLED. If you were to offer me a choice between that and OLED, I’d take the OLED, but I’m not expecting the difference to be enormous. I might be wrong, of course: Maybe the reality will blow me away, and I’ll rush out to throw my money at Apple. But right now, I’m not expecting that to happen.
So far, then, I’m expecting 2024 to be another pass on the iPad upgrade front. Apple’s gonna need to make that long-awaited 14-inch or 15-inch model to get me excited about upgrading. How about you?
Photo: Daniel Romero/Unsplash
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