iPad Pro — Buy Now or Wait for A14X iPad Pro? By Rene Ritchie

- HGPU core activated, wide angle camera, LIDAR scanner, six gigabytes of memory on every model. That's how Apple updated the iPad Pro last year. And I've been using it every day since it first came out. And I'm gonna tell you whether or not you should get it now or wait for the next generation version that's rumored to be coming out sometime later this year, and I'll be doing this for every Apple product. So hit that subscribe button and bell, so you know how to best save and spend your hard-earned cash in 2021. The 2020 iPad Pro kept the same design as a 2018 iPad Pro because that was just the biggest redesign in the history of the iPad, which also means we're unlikely to get another redesign anywhere nearly as big anytime soon.

So if design is high on your list, go ahead and get the current iPad Pro because the next one just isn't gonna look much different. Liquid retina, Apple's term for the corner to around the corner LCD display technology. is what the 2018 iPad Pro used and what the 2020 iPad Pro still uses. And it's among the best LCD that LCD can be. Just retina, high density crisp, P3 wide gamut colorful and up to 120 hertz, promotion refresh rates smooth.

But because it's LCD, it doesn't get the deep blacks, peak brightness or wide contrast ratio. Basically, the high dynamic range of OLED. Since Apple's apparently still not happy enough with the trade-offs OLED forces, especially at the larger screen sizes. Rumor has it, the 2021 iPad Pro will be going mini LED instead. That's a technology that tries to get as close to OLED levels of HDR as possible, while at the same time, avoiding just some of OLED's problems.

So if you don't care at all about high dynamic range, in other words, watching HDR content like you would on an iPhone or OLED TV, then you can happily get the current generation iPad Pro now. But if you really, really want that high dynamic range, if you just insist on HDR, all the things, then you're gonna want to wait on the next iPad Pro. The 2020 iPad Pro has an Apple A12Z system on a chip. That's the 2018 iPad Pros, A12X, but with higher binning. So instead of just seven functional GPU cores, it has all eight.

But all of those cores, CPU and GPU, are still the A12 generation architecture and IP, just slightly better optimized and with a bit more graphical punch. And while it may not match the single core performance of the A14 in the iPhone 12 or the current iPad Air, it's still a monster when it comes to multi-core and I've yet to max it out in daily use. The 2021 iPad Pro though, is expected to be getting an Apple A14X. That'll be an A14 like the iPhone 12 and current iPad Air, but with the extra performance and graphics cores like the A12Z. In other words, pretty much what Apple just shipped as the M1, minus some max specific IP, which means it'll also be the absolutely most monstrous multi-core iPad ever, or at least until the next, next update.

So if single core performance, isn't the most important thing in the world to you or good enough is just good enough, especially if it's not enough, then get the current A12Z iPad Pro. But if you really absolutely need the fastest multi-core iPad ever, or you just wanna make sure you get iPad iOS updates for absolutely as long as possible. Wait on that rumored A14X. The 2018 iPad Pro introduced a one terabyte option that also came with six gigabytes of memory, but only on that one terabyte option. The 2020 iPad Pro pushed that six gigabytes of memory across the entire lineup.

And that really made a difference, not just for high performance pro apps, but for apps that were just really, really memory hungry, like games and social media. And it's honestly really hard to tell what Apple is gonna do with the 2021 iPad Pro. It could stay exactly the same or Apple could decide to push it even further, with up to 1.5 or two terabytes of storage and up to eight gigabytes of RAM. Because for pro apps like Photoshop, the more it really is, the better. And the top iPad, not even having as much RAM as the bottom Mac, even given the differences in memory handling between iOS, iPad OS, and Mac OS, is just weird at this point.

At the lower end, it's also possible Apple will continue to offer more storage at the same prices, which they've done every so often over the last few years. In other words, same money, more memory. So if you don't need anything more than one terabyte and six gigabytes, then you don't need anything more than the current iPad Pro. But if you really, really do need more storage and more memory, you can roll the dice by waiting and seeing if Apple decides to deliver that more or just more for your money with the 2021 model. The 2018 iPad Pro was the first iOS based device to switch from lightening to USB-C, something that 2020 iPad air did as well.

And absolutely none of the iPhones have done at all and may never do. But it gives the iPads access to more and faster peripherals, almost on par with the Mac. Almost because unlike any of the current max, the iPad Pro USB-C port is only USB-C, where the Max also support Thunderbolt 3. Now Apple added onboard Thunderbolt controllers to the M1 for the new Apple Silicon Max. And since the A14X would theoretically be very similar to the M1, many of us are holding to hope that the next generation iPad Pro will also get a Thunderbolt controller and also support TB3.

Nothing exists, of course, of course, until Apple officially announces it. So right now it remains only in exactly that, a hope. So if USB-C is all you need, then the current iPad Pro will give you exactly what you need. But if you wanna hold out to that hope along with us for Thunderbolt 3, then you'll also need to hold out until the 2021 iPad Pro, at the earliest. The 2020 iPad Pro brought Wi-Fi 6, which admittedly is better than Wi-Fi 5.

But there are rumors the 2021 version might bring Wi-Fi 6E, which adds six gigahertz and makes it actually really a lot better. Likewise, since the iPhone 12 was all about 5G, it's a super safe bet that 2021 iPad Pro will go 5G as well, with support for both frequency range one, the low and mid bands and frequency range two, the high bands, AKA millimeter wave. So if you're fine with Wi-Fi 6 and LTE, you'll be fine with the current iPad Pro. But if you really want you some Wi-Fi 6E and 5G, you'll really wanna wait on the 2021 version. The 2020 iPad pro received a fairly major camera update, at least as far as iPad camera updates go.

It got a dual camera system for the very first time, adding an ultra wide angle and also a LIDAR scanner for near instant augmented reality tracking. But sadly, that LIDAR scanner wasn't hooked into the main camera system like it is on the iPhone 12 and double sadly, it still isn't. And there aren't any solid rumors about the 2021 iPad Pro being any better. That means we'll probably see the same kind of incremental camera hardware improvements we always do. And the A14X image signal processing, which will bring way better computational photography and hopefully features like Pro RA to the table as well.

But will almost certainly once again, fall just way, way short of what the same generation iPhone is rocking. So you're probably just fine getting the current generation iPad Pro when it comes to the camera. But if you wait, you will get slightly better optics and at least some of the latest, greatest computational camera benefits as well, even though I'd love, love, all caps love, to see Apple get way more aggressive here. The 2018 iPad Pro dropped touch ID for face ID, which was great at the time, but has become less great in the age of masks. Apple's begun working around this with the watch, and there are rumors that the next iPhone will bring back touch ID, but in display.

If the iPhone is only getting that this fall though, odds are the iPad Pro won't get to see it until the next, next update in 2022 or 2023. Likewise, with so much work from home going on, there's been a lot of frustration with Apple putting the front facing camera in portrait mode, while we're all using it so often in landscape mode, especially on the magic keyboard. Meaning all everyone ever sees of us is wicked side-eye. But there haven't been any credible rumors of Apple changing any of that, like at all, either. So if you're waiting for better biometrics or video conferencing optics, you may have a long while still to wait.

And while you're waiting, check out this playlist, where I run over just everything Apple has coming next. Just click on this playlist and I'll see you in the next video.

Source : Rene Ritchie