The iPad Pro 2022 promises four big upgrades so far, with more likely to follow. The iPad Pro is the most wanted of Apple’s tablets, and the good news is that it will be upgraded again in 2022. Since the premium tablet debuted alongside the Apple Pencil in 2015, a new version has been released every year save 2019, and 2022 appears to be no exception.
What improvements may we expect from the iPad Pro 2022? Currently, four major categories have been reported as receiving a bump when compared to the 2021 tablet, though there is sure to be much more to come.
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We’ve dug through the latest rumours to give you an idea of what Apple’s upcoming iPad Pro will look like.
Mini-LED for all
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro introduced mini-LED screen technology in 2021, but the 11-inch model did not receive the upgrade and continued to use the same IPS LCD as prior versions. It’s adequate, but not as impressive as the panel on the larger model, particularly when it comes to high-contrast HDR content.
That will change this year, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, the famed Apple analyst, who claims that both models will use mini-LEDs this time around.
Mini-LED technology, as the name implies, works by shrinking the size of the LEDs to around 200-600 micrometres across — or roughly one-fifth the size of a conventional LED. This implies not only more LEDs, but also carefully controlled lighting zones that may be separately brightened or dimmed, resulting in outstanding contrast and brightness.
However, there is a drawback to this, which may explain why Apple appears to be planning to supply…
A bigger battery
Our tests of the 2021 iPad Pro 11-inch and 12.9-inch models uncovered an intriguing finding. Despite the former’s smaller 7,540mAh battery, it outlasted the latter’s 10,758mAh cell – and by a long shot: 13:42 to 10:48. Granted, some of that will be due to simply having a smaller display to power, but it appears evident that the fancy new screen tech is more demanding on the battery regardless of how you slice it.
It appears that Apple intends to address this. According to 9to5Mac’s sources, the 2022 iPad Pro will have a larger battery than previous generations. How much larger has yet to be revealed, but ideally this, along with other efficiency gains, will allow the 2022 tablets to run for a few more hours.
A new, faster chipset
The efficiency of a tablet is, of course, determined in part by the processor used, and the same source predicts that the 2022 iPad Pro will include a fresh new chip. This is most likely the M2 SoC predicted to arrive in the next MacBook Air 2022, but an early report also stated we could be getting a 3nm CPU of some kind.
When it comes to new tech products, a faster CPU isn’t the most shocking news, but Apple Silicon has been off to a flying start since its arrival at the end of 2020. The M1 Pro and M1 Max, which power the new MacBook Pro 14 (2021) and MacBook Pro 16 (2021), have increased performance while decreasing battery life.
We’re hoping that whatever powers the 2022 iPad Pro will follow suit, and while the M2 is said to have the same eight CPU cores as the M1, a 10-core graphics processor is rumoured – which would undoubtedly improve the tablet’s performance in graphically taxing applications.
Wireless charging at last
Finally, the 2022 iPad Pro appears to be Apple’s first tablet to support wireless charging. While wireless charging has been available on Apple’s iPhones since the iPhone 8, it has yet to appear on any iPad.
Originally, it was planned for this functionality to be supplied through a glass back, but Apple has supposedly chosen to reconsider due to the fact that it would make the tablet too brittle.
Instead, the current prototype is said to have a larger than normal Apple logo and is made of glass to allow conductivity to the charging stations within. Apple is reported to be working on a new MagSafe wireless charger that will work with this, with larger magnets to prevent any mistakes.
Because the new versions might debut as soon as March or April, we may not have to wait long to find out whether these rumours are true (and see what other treats the iPad Pro 2022 has in store for us).
We anticipate an Apple Spring event in one of those months, and there’s reason to believe that an iPad Pro will be among the new products on display. The most usual month for the iPad Pro (2016 and 2020) is March, whereas the 2021 model was released in April 2021. We’ll be crossing our fingers that we get a new Apple super-tablet in the next few months, with all of the above advancements.