Apple’s New M4 iPad Pro Lineup Comes In Two Sizes, Features The ‘World’s Most Advanced’ Display And Is The Company’s Thinnest Product Ever

The 13-inch M4 iPad Pro measures just 5.1mm in thickness and is marketed as Apple’s thinnest product yet. However, the obvious concern that potential buyers would have is how durable it would be over long-term use, and while Apple’s executives have attempted to put people’s worries to rest by stating that a protective cowling provides structural rigidity to the latest tablet, a new bend test reveals a different story. However, what is interesting to note is that the larger iPad Pro breaks from the charging position, not from the center, as Apple added the ‘central spine’ there to increase the slate’s durability.

The Kirin 9000S enabled Huawei to regain its lost market in China, staging a comeback that is making rivals like Apple nervous and probably frustrating the Biden administration as their continued efforts to stifle the competition overseas have been fruitless. However, as Huawei shifts towards mass production of advanced chipsets for smartphones and PCs, it will have to take away production resources from all Kirin 9000 variants, as mentioned by one tipster.

Apple has maintained its iron grip in the ARM chipset space, particularly in the single-core department, when it was reported that the M4 completely dominated the Geekbench 6 charts. Unfortunately, some individuals are just not satisfied with these results and have gone to great lengths to ensure that the latest iPad Pro models attain a record that will take a while to be broken, and that is achieving 4,000 points in the benchmarking application. As for how Apple’s latest flagship tablet achieved this figure, all it took was a little help from liquid nitrogen.

China’s largest semiconductor manufacturing firm, SMIC, has reportedly achieved a new milestone and too, without the use of advanced EUV machinery that gives companies like Samsung and TSMC an edge in the cutting-edge chipmaking space. The latest information claims that using DUV equipment, the 5nm process has been completed, and SMIC is ready to mass produce the first batch of wafers. Huawei was previously said to be working closely with its local foundry partner to introduce a new Kirin SoC that will be found in the upcoming Mate 70 series for October later this year.

The latest 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pro models measure 5.3mm and 5.1mm, respectively, making them the thinnest Apple products ever. The company likely attained this by switching over to Tandem OLED technology, which does not need its own backlighting and has individual pixels, allowing Apple to reduce the overall thickness. However, while there is no question that the latest iPad Pro models are design marvels, their extra sleekness can result in another ‘bendgate’ controversy, but a company executive has assured potential buyers that they have little to worry about.

The latest 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pro models are equipped with Tandem OLED technology, making them the first consumer products to be equipped with such panels. The obvious benefits include higher brightness and richer colors, and perhaps the biggest perk of using an OLED apart from the battery life improvements is the longer lifespan of the displays. However, users may not appreciate that the addition of Tandem OLED actually results in worse battery life compared to the M1 version with mini-LED, at least according to the latest tests.

Google is expected to unveil the Tensor G4 later this year for the Pixel 9 lineup, and just like its previous releases, the company is likely sticking with Samsung as its foundry partner. However, next year, the advertising giant is said to take a different direction, with its Pixel 10 range apparently featuring a 3nm SoC from TSMC. To help with the transition, Google is rumored to have expanded its Taiwanese R&D center, where it is expected to collaborate closely with the semiconductor giant to produce its best silicon to date.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite will eventually face competition in the ARM-based AI chipset space from MediaTek and NVIDIA, who have reportedly joined forces to co-develop a new SoC whose design is said to be finalized in the third quarter of this year. The upcoming silicon is said to support advanced technologies, including being mass produced on TSMC’s 3nm process, with the new entrant possibly competing with Apple’s M4 when comparing lithography.

The Galaxy S24 family shipped with Samsung’s ‘Galaxy AI,’ which is the company’s first AI-powered feature set that elevates the smartphone experience. So far, this addition has proven to be successful, as Samsung recently regained the top spot by beating Apple and becoming the largest smartphone vendor in Q1 2024. We expect to see more of these features added to the Galaxy S25 range next year, but ‘Battery AI’ is something that the company is rumored to introduce before it officially announces its 2025 flagship family.

Apple officially discontinued its entire iPod range in 2022, leaving behind memories of a revolutionary product that strongly impacted the music and technology industry. It made little sense to continue selling these devices, as the company giant was selling iPhones in the millions, and its handsets could pretty much do everything the iPod could and more. However, there was a time when Microsoft founder Bill Gates was not so optimistic about Apple’s future with its music player family, stating that it could not sustain the iPod’s success, but there was a reason for these bold claims, as you will soon find out.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 design was previously said to be finalized in April this year, with a target frequency of 4.00GHz and above. However, looking at Apple’s M4 and its high clock speeds that help the chipset attain a record-breaking single-core score, Qualcomm is rumored to introduce a chipset redesign with a new target frequency of 4.26GHz. This change is said to be made to take on Apple’s upcoming A18 and A18 Pro, which may also operate at higher frequencies to gain an edge against the competition.

The ‘less than stellar’ demand for the Apple Vision Pro has caused shipment estimates to drop to 400,000 to 450,000 units for 2024, a massive drop compared to the previous 800,000 estimates. Consumers are discouraged from making the AR headset their daily driver thanks to its ludicrous starting price of $3,499, and even though Apple intends to launch the device overseas, its ‘expensive’ problem is yet to be addressed. Fortunately, the company might overcome this hurdle with the Apple Vision Pro 2, with a rumor claiming that the successor will have a starting price of $1,500 and will add two new suppliers, Samsung and SeeYa, to the list.