May 8, 2024, 12:09 pm | Read time: 3 minutes
After a year-long break, Apple has introduced a new generation of its iPad Pro. The hardware is up-to-date–despite the new, even flatter cases. For TECHBOOK editor Adrian Mühlroth, however, the new devices are a step in the wrong direction.
The iPad Pro 2024 is officially “the thinnest Apple product ever,” as the company proudly announced at the launch event and in the press release. For me, this is no cause for celebration, as Apple is making a mistake that seems all too familiar. I recall past attempts to make devices ever thinner and the obvious limitations that came with it.
Apple Repeats Mistakes of the Past
I thought the era in which Apple pursued the dream of ever-thinner devices was over. For a long time, Apple designers–led by Jony Ive–tried to make devices as thin as possible. This often came at the expense of things like battery life and performance. The turning point came in 2021 when three new devices suddenly became “thicker” again. The iPad Pro 12.9 grew from 5.9 mm to 6.4 mm, the MacBook Pro 16 from 1.6 mm to 1.7 mm. Even the iPhone increased: from 7.4 mm in the iPhone 12 to 7.7 mm in the iPhone 13. The iPhone 14 and 15 are even slightly bulkier at 7.8 mm–with larger batteries that justify the extra thickness. One might think the company has acknowledged past mistakes and is now steering in the opposite direction.
But then suddenly the new iPad Pro 2024 comes along and is simply “the thinnest Apple product ever.” The 11-inch model measures 5.3 mm in height, and the larger 13-inch iPad Pro is only 5.1 mm. This makes both iPad Pros thinner than the iPod Nano from 2015–the thinnest Apple product I have personally ever held.
This is made possible by the new M4 chip and the OLED display, which is being used in an iPad for the first time. OLED panels are significantly thinner than their LCD counterparts because they don’t require backlighting–the pixels simply light up on their own. The brand-new M4, on the other hand, is so energy-efficient that the battery–at least in the 11-inch model–can be smaller than in its predecessor.
iPad Pro 2024 Could Have Been a Battery Life Marvel
Still, Apple states the same battery life of ten hours of use with Wi-Fi and nine hours with mobile data. Isn’t that great? The same battery life as the previous model and yet thinner and lighter cases? A technical masterpiece! That may be true, but it overlooks an important point. Since its introduction in 2015, the iPad Pro has maintained the same battery life unchanged from generation to generation. For nine years, there have been a maximum of ten hours with Wi-Fi and nine hours with mobile data.
Apple had the chance to significantly increase the batteries in both new iPad Pro models and offer users real added value. After all, the previous models at 6.4 mm (12.9 inches) and 5.9 mm (11 inches) were by no means too thick. I fear Apple has fallen back into the old dream that a tablet must be “a magical sheet of glass.” However, it is making the same mistake we’ve seen so often–prioritizing design over functionality.