It’s preorder day for the new iMac, iPad Pro and Apple TV 4K — and we learned a few unexpected things.
For starters, the rumored May 21 shipping date for the devices looks confirmed.
Secondly, the Magic Keyboard for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is on sale again in both black and white color options, via the Apple Online Store.
Apple’s colorful new M1-powered iMacs, the new iPad Pros (also with M1 chips) and the faster Apple TV 4K go on sale Friday. If you want to ensure you get yours on launch day, you need to get ready to preorder the right way.
Check out our preorder tips before this new Apple gear goes on sale at 5 a.m. PDT on April 30.
iPad shipments increased a whopping 75% during the first quarter of the year over same period of 2020, according a market analysis firm. It’s the result of people needing computers to work and learn from home as the pandemic drags on.
Other tablet makers saw strong Q1 2021 growth as well, but iPad continues to dominate the market.
According to (generally) reliable Apple tipster Jon Prosser, Apple will release the new iPad Pros with M1 chips and the faster Apple TV 4K with redesigned Siri Remote on May 21. And a leak straight outta Cupertino indicates the new M1-powered iMacs will arrive that day as well.
Apple showed off the new devices during last week’s Spring Loaded event. However, at the time, Apple kept the launch date vague, saying only that they would be available sometime in the second half of May. The devices will be available for preorder starting Friday, April 30.
There are some changes in the 2021 iPad Pro that shouldn’t be overlooked, even as most of the attention has gone to the speedy M1 processor and gorgeous mini-LED display. Some of the differences are good, but not all.
Here are five things you shouldn’t miss about Apple’s new top-tier tablet.
iMac … iPad Pro … Apple TV 4K … AirTag …
So much new Apple hardware, so little time!
And that’s not to mention the purple iPhone or the upgrades and updates coming to Apple Podcasts, Apple Card and more. Jump right into all our coverage of this week’s big “Spring Loaded” Apple event in Cult of Mac Magazine. (And if you’re already caught up on that, you’ll find plenty of other Apple news, reviews and how-tos.)
Our iOS mag is free and makes reading easy and fun, but you also can find the headlines below.
The 12.9-inch 2021 iPad Pro unveiled April 20 is slightly thicker than its predecessor. And that’s enough to prevent the latest tablet from being a good fit with the Apple Magic Keyboard released last year. But apparently the fit is just close enough.
Update April 29, 2021: Apple added a paragraph to its support document for this keyboard that says:
“The first generation of the Magic Keyboard (A1998) is functionally compatible with the new iPad Pro 12.9-inch (5th generation) with Liquid Retina XDR display. Due to the slightly thicker dimensions of this new iPad Pro, it’s possible that the Magic Keyboard may not precisely fit when closed, especially when screen protectors are applied.”
The M1 Mac processor in the recently-revealed 2021 iPad Pro forced Apple to reiterate that it’s not planning to combine macOS and iPadOS. According to two top-level executives, the company is producing the best Mac and the best iPad it can make. Not a mashup of them.
The Apple M1 processor in the 2021 iPad Pro could make it the most productive tablet ever. But only if Apple takes the logical next step and lets iPads run Mac apps.
M1-powered Macs can run iPadOS applications. The reverse should be true.
The Brydge 12.9 Max+ is a magnetic clip-on keyboard for the largest iPad Pro models. It includes a sizable trackpad, and a design that mimics a clamshell laptop.
It uses some of the features of the popular Apple Magic Keyboard, but goes in a different direction.
For all its many improvements, the basic design of the 2021 iPad Pro changed hardly at all. That’s good news for anyone in the market for a case or keyboard for Apple’s new tablet, as it means there’s a wide variety available.
But a change in the thickness of the 12.9-inch version mans that many existing products aren‘t compatible. That said, there are already options from Logitech, Brydge, Otterbox and Apple itself that are confirmed to work with the new computer. And likely more that’ll still fit.
Wow, that was the speediest, most jam-packed Apple event in recent memory.
It was so quick-moving, we all got whiplash. There was barely time to catch your breath between announcements: Here’s a new purple iPhone. Fuggedaboutit, here’s a new Apple TV, and new AirTags. Oh, and hers’s new iMacs — and iPads!!
In an hour, Tim Cook and Co. managed to introduce a raft of products with dozens of new features and technologies while dazzling us with some pretty jaw-dropping promo videos.
Once again, the prerecorded format worked well. The promo videos in Tuesday’s “Spring Loaded” event looked super. They hit us with a great mix of head-spinning effects and angles, humor and product placement.
Here are some thoughts and initial reactions to some of the major announcements:
It’s 4/20 and Apple’s big iMac and iPad Pro launch event was a total trip. The new Mac desktop comes in a rainbow of colors, and the M1 processor in the latest tablet will blow you away. And there’s AirTag too, at long last.
Grab some snacks and get ready to find out what the new products mean for Apple users and for the company’s future.
The just-announced 2021 iPad Pro packs at least 8GB of RAM and can be configured with 16GB. The days when Apple’s tablets got an anemic amount of RAM are over.
There’s so much, Apple stopped hiding the amount. It now proudly announces how much RAM is in its latest professional-grade tablets.
The 2021 iPad Pro is built around an Apple M1 processor that brings a tremendous speed boost. And the USB-C has been upgraded with Thunderbolt, leading to faster connections to external drives. Plus, there’s a version with 5G.
But the latest top-tier iPadOS tablet more than fast — it looks great too. The 12.9-inch version includes a mini-LED display that both improves the look and uses less power.
Update: The Apple Online Store is down as well now. Expect it to go back up following the conclusion of today’s Apple event.
The Apple Online Store sitemap page is down ahead of today’s “Spring Loaded” event.
Usually, Apple takes the entire Apple Online Store down ahead of its special events. Today that doesn’t appear to have happened. (Although this could change as the day progresses.)
Nonetheless, this highlights that Apple is expecting to make some changes to the products on offer — likely including a new iPad Pro, iMac, and possible other products like Apple’s location-tracking AirTags. There may also be more information about Apple’s rumored Podcasts+ service.
Amazon is still offering by far the biggest discount we’ve seen on the brilliant Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro. You can save a whopping $100 on the 11-inch model, which is also compatible with the latest iPad Air.
We don’t expect this discount to last much longer now, so grab it before it’s gone.
The next Apple product-release event will happen April 20. Invites went out Tuesday morning for the virtual “Spring Loaded” event, just hours after Siri leaked the date.
Naturally, Apple didn’t announce what’s on the agenda. But rumors point to multiple new iPads, as well as the possibility of next-gen AirPods, a faster Apple TV and the long-awaited debut of AirTags item trackers.
Siri may have just revealed the date for Apple’s rumored April event. According the voice assistant, Apple’s next event will take place one week from now on April 20.
This is likely to be the event at which Apple debuts its next-gen iPad Pro, the eagerly anticipated AirTags item trackers and a new iPad mini.
Apple continues to run into production challenges with its next-gen iPad Pro, but they won’t stop the tablet from debuting later this month, reports Bloomberg.
If you plan to get one, you might want to brace yourself for a wait, though. The next iPad Pro — notably, the larger, 12.9-inch model — could prove tough to get your hands on in the early days.
Dummy mockups of the next-gen iPad Pro and iPad mini suggest that they could look very similar to their predecessors. According to the images, the next-gen iPad mini boasts the same design as the iPad mini 5, released in 2019, although it may be slightly thicker.
Meanwhile, the next-gen iPad Pro resembles the last generation model, with a possible slightly less protruding camera bump on the larger 12.9-inch model.
The biggest ever discount on the outstanding 12.9-inch Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is back. Order yours from Amazon or Best Buy today for just $249 — down from $349 — before the price returns to normal.
You can also save $100 on the 11-inch model for iPad Pro and the newest iPad Air, which is now just $199.
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Microsoft pretends to compare its Surface Pro 7 with the iPad Pro in a video released Monday. Not surprisingly, the Windows product comes out way ahead. But to make that happen, Microsoft had to leave out some facts and distort reality a bit.
To see all the ways Microsoft stretched the truth, watch its video now:
Apple is holding its iPad wrong. The company designs its tablets as if the best way to hold one is in a portrait orientation. But landscape is actually more common, and Apple should make changes to the iPad’s design to reflect that.
On social media, crowing about the beautiful computer setup you finally finished putting together can be a risky gambit. Because, you know, people. They might just gleefully and repeatedly point out small flaws in your masterpiece as if they’re the main thing. Picky, picky, picky.
