The Let Loose event has happened!!!!!!

Yep. Tuesday was the day (and 7 am PT/10 am ET was the hour)! Now let's see what happened at the event (which Tim Cook called at the end "the biggest day for iPad since its introduction"). So I don’t forget later, the iPad 9 has been discontinued and replaced with an iPad 10 that’s now only $349 (the price change brings the iPad 10 to where the 9 was: a less expensive iPad introduction).

First, let's jump all the way to the second and biggest announcement of the show: the iPad Pro. Apple definitely made a grand entrance to this announcement, calling the new iPad Pro "the next chapter of iPad Pro" and also saying "Today, we're not just going to push the limits of the iPad Pro, we're going to crush them." On the display side, we got OLED on (not just OLED: Tandem OLED, which layers two displays on top of each other) on both sizes for a display Apple calls Ultra Retina XDR, on the chip side we got not just M3 but a new M4 (with 2nd-gen 3nm, 10 CPU cores (4 performance, 6 efficiency: no improvement except efficiency cores, maybe a 5/5 split might have been better), a Neural Engine with 38 trillion operations per second, and support for "up to five streams of 4K ProRes footage" at once), and on the camera side we got one less camera (bye, Ultra Wide!) and a landscape front camera (just like the iPad 10). Don't forget how much thinner the iPad Pro is: it has been called "the thinnest Apple product ever", surpassing even the iPod nano. Finally, Space Gray is replaced with the MacBook Pro's Space Black on the color side, and nano-texture glass is now an option (though at a $100 premium and, if that wasn't enough, only for the models with 1/2TB of storage). Prices are $999 at base for the 11” and $1,299 at base for the 13” (both discounted $100 for education).

Next, the iPad Air. The iPad Air, along with the same landscape front camera as the iPad Pro, includes a new 13" size, Wi-Fi 6E and the M2 chip (as a reminder, the M2 chip includes: 8-core CPU (equal performance/efficiency split), 10-core GPU, 20 billion transistors, up to 24GB RAM, 100GB/s memory bandwidth, and a 16-core Neural Engine). That's it. The price is the same $599 (the 13” is $799) as before (for education, it’s $50 cheaper).

Anyway, onto Final Cut Pro for iPad. Apple went so far as to call the new Final Cut Pro version 2 of the app, so we're in for a lot a year after the announcement of Final Cut Pro for iPad. First, on the Final Cut Pro side, we got Live Multicam, a feature that allows you to look at up to 4 different streams at once, fully harnessing the power of M4 in the iPad Pro. Each of these streams can be edited individually while playing, and once the user is done streaming, editing can happen immediately due to quick syncing. Live Multicam is supported via a new free app called Final Cut Camera (with Final Cut Pro or standalone) that edits recordings. Final Cut also now allows for external projects, which can be brought to another person or the Mac edition of Final Cut Pro. You can also use external storage for internal projects. And don't forget the extra editing tools. The Mac didn't miss out, with new tools (some use AI!) and features.

The other pro iPad app, Logic Pro, also got some updates (and the "version 2" christening for those updates). Stem Splitter, which can be used to work on different instruments in a song, ChromaGlow, which adds warmth, and a Keyboard Player and Bass Player for the Drummer feature.

Next, Apple Pencil Pro. The new Apple Pencil Pro (compatible with both new iPads) can sense squeezes to bring up a list of functions, scrolled through with barrel-rolling the pencil (rolling the pencil can also change the orientation of tools that are shaped, something where Apple Pencil Hover comes in). The Pencil Pro also can sense a double tap of the pencil to select a function, and all of this (as well as a rough drawing changing into a perfect Smart Shape), is helped by haptics. Oh, and I can’t forget the Find My functionality. I don’t know why Apple kept the Apple Pencil 2 in the lineup at $129 when the Apple Pencil Pro is at the same price but is much better (education price is $10 cheaper).

Finally, the new Magic Keyboard. Exclusive to the new iPad Pro, it includes a function row just like on Mac keyboards, as well as a palm rest made of aluminum and a bigger trackpad that works better with haptics. Colors are white and black, with palm rest colors mimicking the iPad Pro’s (silver with a white keyboard, and space black with a black one). Prices are $299 for the 11” model (sizes match with iPad Pros0 and $349 for the 13”. And don’t forget the Smart Folio, in new colors (white, denim, and black) and with several angles for viewing (prices are $79 for 11” and $99 for 13”).

By Leo