Apple’s Pencil pen now also paints on the entry-level iPad. The new entry-level iPad now supports the Apple Pencil. What makes them more than twice as expensive iPad Pro stand out from the 350-Euro-iPad? The differences at a glance.
Pen for everyone: Compare the new iPad 6 and iPad Pro
The Apple Pencil used to serve as a unique selling point of the iPad Pro. Those who wanted to use the pen for writing, annotating, drawing and operating had to dig deeper into their pockets. But this is no longer the case: The new iPad of the sixth generation supports the Apple Pencil for the first time and is available from just under 350 Euros – less than half the price of the iPad Pro with the 10.5-inch display.
Apart from Pencil support, however, the list of differences is still long, starting with the display: the screen of the cheapest iPad Pro with a diagonal of 10.5 inches is not only approximately larger than that of the 9.7″ iPad but also offers the extended DCI-P3 color space to reproduce the high-contrast HDR content.
The display of the inexpensive iPad still does without an anti-reflective coating and probably shows considerably more reflections outdoors in sunlight, for example – also, it should deliver somewhat less brightness at a maximum level than the Pro models.
The iPad 6 also does not require a laminated display, so the panel and glass panel is not glued together. That can create additional reflections and make apps and their content look a little more remote than iPad Pro and new iPhones.
True Tone and ProMotion display technology only for iPad Pro
The iPad Pro also stands out for “True Tone,” the automatic adjustment of color temperature to ambient light, and “ProMotion”: The screen is capable of dynamically increasing the refresh rate up to 120 Hertz (instead of only 60).
The differences were subtle in the Mac & iPad Pro test, but scrolling or wiping seems a little smoother, photos and text stay sharper in motion. The increased frame rate should also ensure a faster response when drawing with the Apple Pencil – you have to do without that with the cheaper iPad, it is probably on the level of the first iPad Pro generation, which also managed without ProMotion.
Unlike Apple’s A10 in iPad 6, the A10X chip in iPad Pro promises significantly higher graphics performance – and probably also higher performance in processor-intensive applications. Benchmarks and practical tests must show how noticeable this is in everyday life.
iPad 6 with limited memory
While Apple uses 4 GByte of RAM in the Pro series, the iPad of the sixth generation will probably still have to make do with 2 GByte. This not least limits the multitasking capabilities: If you use two apps side by side (“Split View”) and additionally wipe in another app from the side (“Slide Over”), you can no longer use all three apps in parallel on the entry iPad, as iMore notes.
The sixth-generation iPad has also equipped Apple with significantly less powerful cameras than the iPad Pro and incorporates the somewhat more unreliable first-generation touch ID sensor. The Smart Connector is also reserved for the Pro series, but apart from Apple’s Smart Keyboard, there are hardly any other accessories.
The iPad Pro features four louder speakers, while the iPad 6 still has only two at the bottom. If you need more than 128 GByte of storage space, you will find this only with the iPad Pro – with a massive surcharge. The sixth generation iPad is only available with 32 GByte or 128 GByte; the cheapest iPad Pro has at least 64 GByte storage space.
New iPad Pro models on the horizon
While the sixth iPad generation is entirely new, an update of the iPad Pro is still pending – it should follow in the next few months, at the latest in autumn. If one believes the rumors, the innovations could be comprehensive and would set the Pro series even more distinctly apart from the entry-level model.