An almighty beast of a tablet, that becomes more niche as it gets more powerful and expensive.
> From £1,249 FROM Apple, apple.com/uk > FEATURES Finish: Silver, Space Grey. Capacity: Up to 2TB. Size: iPad Pro 11-inch: 9.74-inches x 7.02-inches x 0.23-inches. iPad Pro 12.9 inch: 11.04-inches x 8.46-inches x 0.25-inches.
The fancy new feature is ‘hover over’ sensing with the Apple Pencil
The iPad Pro 12.9 (2022) is not a huge upgrade over the previous model, adding only more power (to an already extremely powerful tablet) and hover-detection for the Apple Pencil. The latter is a nice feature that’s been very well-implemented, and cements the iPad Pro as the drawing tablet of choice. These changes ensure it remains the ultimate tablet powerhouse, thanks in part to a screen that’s still best-in-class, and the range of software that’s better for the form factor than anything else on the market.
Design
The iPad Pro 12.9 doesn’t feature any significant design changes compared to the previous version… and, really, to the version before. It still comes in Space Grey or Silver finishes only – none of the fun colours of the iPad Air or the new iPad 10.2 (2022).
It’s still a very nice design, of course. The large surface area and svelte chassis make it feel ultra-thin and sleek in the hands (when used without a case, at least), and the fit and finish is unimpeachable, as you expect from Apple.
It works great when the iPad is in a holder, such as the Magic Keyboard case, on a desk, but the position is fundamentally flawed for other tablet use, and always has been. Inexplicably, Apple moved the camera on the new cheap iPad 10.2 (2022) to work better in landscape, but left it in the same place here.
On the rear of the iPad, you’ll find a small bump for the camera (this is shallow enough that it doesn’t matter much that it makes the iPad uneven when laid flat – it doesn’t rock when you’re drawing or writing on it), and the Smart Connector for attaching it to compatible keyboards.
Display and Apple Pencil
The mini-LED screen of the iPad Pro 12.9- inch remains unique in Apple’s tablet range. Apple refers to it as an XDR Display, implying that it’s like an HDR (high dynamic range) screen, but even more extreme. And, to be fair, when compared to other tablet (or the vast majority of laptop) screens, they’re not wrong.
The XDR Display is a bright and pinsharp (2732x2048 resolution; 264 pixels per inch) masterpiece, delivering beautiful and accurate colours (with DCI-P3 support), and dazzling brightness in HDR applications – and more importantly, stunning inky black tones in all applications, in spite of the display technology at work.
The screen’s other big feature is Apple Pencil support, of course. The second-
