Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
The creative pro who can afford the mega - sinewy but also mega - expensive iPad Pro 12.9 in ( 2018 ) will end up with pure , joyous overkill : this is a processing and graphic creature that eats benchmarks for breakfast and will be able to do any complex editing task you discombobulate at it . It ’s housed in a beautiful and surprisingly light material body , and is attach to by glorious ( albeit also expensive ) accessory . Those of us on less Olympian budget can only admire at a space and accept that such wonders are not for the likes of us . But this is unquestionably the best iPad currently uncommitted .
Best Prices Today: Apple iPad Pro 12.9in (2018)
Ca n’t introduce any more , my keister . After exhaustively redesign its iPhone and Apple Watch lines , Apple did the same for its iPads in former 2018 – remove Home buttons and Lightning port , shrinking bezel , slue corners and generally adjust them with current tendency .
In this review we take an in - depth look at the third - gen iPad Pro 12.9 in . We benchmark its ( absurdly quick ) A12X Bionic mainframe , endure stamp battery and photographic camera tests , and pass judgment its radical new design , updated specs list and humongous prices .
For more general advice , take a expression at ouriPad buying guide . And please note that Apple has since launch a young model of this line of credit : see ouriPad Pro 12.9 in ( 2020 ) reviewfor more information .
Price & Availability
This generation of iPad Pro hit the shop in November 2018 . It is still on cut-rate sale , and stay the most recent version of the Pro line , although Apple has since releasednewversionsof its cheaper iPad manikin . We bear thenext iPad Proto arrive some time between spring and other summer in 2020 .
Here ’s the full Leontyne Price list . take note that as well as offer the most storage , the 1 TB modelling amount with an extra 2 sarin of RAM , although this is n’t officially disclosed in Apple ’s tech glasses – but we cover all thislater on .
you may grease one’s palms the iPad Prodirect from Apple , but it ’s worth looking fordealselsewhere .
Buying the accessories
Thesecond - gen Apple Pencilis a wondrous style ( we discuss its capabilitieslater in this article ) and , since only the 2018 Pro models are compatible with it , constitutes a hefty tilt for kick upstairs your tablet . But it does n’t amount with the tablet , and cost £ 119/$129.Buy from Applebut be certain you get the variant that work with your iPad .
Redesigning the iPad
Apple radically redesigned the 2018 Pros , instantly make the old10.5 in Prolook old - fashioned . The Home push was take away , the bezel shrunk and the display given curve corners to correspond the chassis , all of which mean the front of this iPad is utterly dominated by screen door .
It look bully , but you ’ll want to protect it from damage . See our unit of ammunition - up of thebest iPad Pro ( 2018 ) cases(which has options for both the 12.9 in and 11 in model ) .
The bezel , while pocket-sized , have n’t quite disappear the way they did on the disco biscuit - series iPhones . But ( whether or not this was the principle ) it feels like a two - handed pad postulate at least a little non - screen area for the thumbs , and if there was no bezel at the top Apple would have had to admit a notch for the TrueDepth sensors . No notch is good notch , as far as we ’re concerned .
So much for the front . But the redesign continues around the back , where Apple has for year given its tablet a curved edge to make them easy to plunk up and to make them palpate more accessible . But the 2018 Pros have a more industrial - looking feather - off rear ( faintly remindful of iPhone designcirca 2010 ) and it ’s more unmanageable to get your finger’s breadth underneath when picking them up from flat on a table .
This is the third iPad Pro Apple has released with a 12.9 in screen , but thanks to this redesign the chassis has flinch around it . It ’s far small , as well as thinner and far lighter , than the 2015 and 2017 models , while offering the same screen real estate . Here ’s a visual comparison of the old ( unexpended ) and new 12.9 in chassis :
( Interestingly , Apple has prosecute a dissimilar scheme with its mid - size Pros , which keep change screen door size . After a 9.7 in model in 2016 and 10.5 in in 2017,the 2018 modelcrams an 11 in blind into a pleasingly lilliputian torso . )
At just 5.9 millimeter thickset ( compare to 6.9 mm in 2017 ) and 631/633 GB , we found the 12.9 in Pro incredibly lighting and portable for a gimmick with such a sumptuously big display , and remains lightweight even in its keyboard case . It is comfortable to hold for extended point , and the ideal pecker for sketch on the go .
How to use the iPad Pro
There ’s no Home clitoris , which means you’re able to get a sieve of the same size in a smaller body . But it also stand for you have to relearn many of the standard controls .
Just believe of the social function access via the Home push button : going back to the Home silver screen , switching or closing apps , postulate a screenshot , unlocking the machine , using Apple Pay or Siri . These have all been remapped to other buttons , or to swiping gestures . And by a belt - on process this means still other actions ( such as bringing up the Control Centre ) have been change to make room for the fresh gestures .
It sounds like a incubus . But the just news is that the incubus lasts for about half an hour , and then you ’re used to the new method and ca n’t sympathize why you ever had a problem . Here ’s a quick guide showingHow to expend the iPad Pro 2018 .
And if you own one of the X - series iPhones – which use thesame gesturesin most case – then you ’ll get the hang of it even more speedily .
Specs & Features
The exterior change , then , are substantial . But of row Apple does not disappoint by mode of spec upgrade . Here are the cardinal feature .
Liquid Retina screen
We ’ll begin with the screenland . This is now range as ‘ Liquid Retina ’ , and like its namesake on the iPhone XR it ’s an LCD ( not OLED ) , albeit a bright , bold and colorful one that we loved using . The Liquid Retina branding refers to the pixel mask and sub - pixel antialiasing that allows it to have slue corners .
The pixel density ( 264ppi ) and solution ( 2732 x 2048 ) are standard for iPad cover of this sizing – the 2015 model had exactly the same – and some have complained about the lack of progress in this department . But we had no take with the sharpness , part perhaps because you tend to hold a large twist like this pretty far from your eyes ; and the 120MHz refresh rate ( implement selectively to conserve barrage fire liveliness , thanks to the ProMotion feature ) and powerful processor mean reactivity is exceptional .
Facing facts
Because there ’s no Home button , there is also no Touch ID . Unlocking ( along with substantiation when buy apps , get at saved passwords and so on ) is handle on this gadget byFace IDfacial recognition .
Face ID is with child – degraded , reliable , up to of recognising us in the shadow or when brush our teeth – on the iPhone X , XS and so on , but porting it across to the iPad was obviously no small task . Because it ’s so much larger and tends to be positioned further away from the user , there is far more variation in where the face will be , and this is exacerbated by iPad users ’ fondness for switch from portrait to landscape orientation and confusing the detector still further .
The safe news is that Apple ’s engineers recognised this issue and , as far as we ’re touch , solved it . We found Face ID on the iPad reliable in both orientation and a decent range of consider angle .
With the iPad in landscape and the most vertical positioning in the page number sheath , it worked reliably even when the commentator was some room off to the ( camera ) side – on the other side it spot you when you draw level with the edge of the gimmick . Switching to the more fain placement in the grammatical case , and with the reviewer now lean back and slouch in his chairwoman to hide from the camera , it still exploit exquisitely .
The only event come when we put the iPad flavorless on the table – which lamentably may be a common usage for artists . We tried to arrange ourselves in the natural lottery position and found that Face ID was unable to espy us , and we had to lean frontwards to trigger it .
take note that when handling the iPad in landscape mode , you may find that you obscure the camera by mistake . But the machine sense this , and trigger an error popup that even points to the television camera so you have a go at it which hand to move .
Camera testing
It ’s toilsome to imagine many multitude using the 12.9 in Pro for occasional photography , slimmed down though it may be . Those who do , however , may be cheerily surprised .
Like the A12 in the current batch of iPhones , the iPad ’s A12X bit features a Neural Engine , and among other things this is designed to assist the equipment intelligently reply to challenging photographic condition using machine eruditeness : something Apple call Smart HDR .
( Unwisely ) take a snapshot of an physical object with bright lighting behind it , for instance , and Smart HDR will assess the frame of reference and tweak camera options so you get detail in the shadow on the object without being overwhelmed by the scant source .
This worked pretty well for us , although this can be subjective . In the next shot , for example , some will applaud the 2018 model for recover far more detail in the industrial plant , but others will contend that the overall image find muddier .
Given the size of the pad you may be more probable to use the front - facing tv camera , which is your friend when FaceTiming , Skyping and so on . In most esteem it ’s the same as on the 2017 model : 7Mp , f/2.2 , 1080p video and so on .
However , as on the X- series iPhones – and for alleviate Face ID – this is a TrueDepth camera , and you may therefore take Portrait Mode selfies ( as well as using Animoji andMemoji ) . We got some nice results with this feature , although bear in mind that Portrait Mode require some distance between the subject and the background to be in force , which again is n’t ideal for a larger gadget .
One last word on the depicted object of photography : the Pro does n’t offer Portrait Mode from its hind end - face , single - lense television camera . That might sound obvious , but the likewise fit out iPhone XRdidoffer this from its own individual lens system via software interjection . We did n’t always roll in the hay the results achieved that way , but if you would have liked the option to use it here , you ’ll be let down .
Speed testing
The Pro comes with Apple ’s proprietary eight - core A12X chip , a souped - up rendering of the A12 in the iPhone XS . We put it through our speed benchmark and it isfast – although do note that the model we try was the 1 TB version which has 6 GB of RAM . Other models have only 4 GB so will not do to quite these standards .
In Geekbench 4 ’s central processing unit benchmark , which assesses processing stop number , the 6 GB Pro average 18,165 in multicore . For comparison , the super - fast iPhone XS Max mark 11,204 , and the Galaxy Tab S4 finagle only 6,655 .
Indeed , there are n’t many laptop that can beat it . Microsoft ’s Surface Laptop 2 scored 12,730 and the i7 version of its Surface Book 2 scored 14,585 . The iPad Pro ’s performance is actually corresponding to the lower - end MacBook Pro models liberate earlier this year : the 2.7GHz 13 in model ( with i7 and 16 GB RAM ) score 18,454 .
We also put the tablet through theJetStreamJavaScript test , in which it average out a musical score of 276 . Again , this is mythological , full - in - class carrying into action , even by the standards of iPads ( which are very good at this test ): the 9.7 in iPad release in the first place in 2018 was miles behind with 173 , and 2017 ’s iPad Pro 10.5 in averaged 205 .
But as ever , remember that testing results on paper do not necessarily transform into noticeable existent - humans benefits . The iPad Pro 2018 is ridiculously powerful , but even at sentence of update this article ( July 2019 ) the usable range of apps does n’t really take full vantage of those capabilities ; until they do , the previous yr ’s models will be largely indistinguishable in public presentation – you ’re just catch a passel more future - proofing .
Graphics testing
The Pro has a seven - core GPU , and Apple order it ’s as graphically capable as an Xbox One S. We test this out using GFXBench Metal , and the solvent were something to lay eyes on .
Here ’s how it incur on in the onscreen tests – now include the newest and most demanding Aztec Ruins segment , which it demonstrate through with simplicity :
More excellent figures ( the Microsoft Surface Go pull off only 20fps in the car following , while the Galaxy Tab S4 recorded 13fps ) although it ’s worth note that it could n’t match the 11 in iPad Pro , which has the same processor and RAM allocation but few screen pixels to marshal .
Battery testing
The Pro features a 36.71 - W - hour electric battery , and Apple claims it will last for 10 hours of wireless web surfing .
We cerebrate that may be an underestimate , in fact ; the Pro 12.9 in lasted 10 hours and 41 minutes in the Geekbench 4 stamp battery test , and that ’s an unusually demanding benchmark . We ’d normally ask equipment to last far longer in reality than they do in the tryout .
Charging is done with a bundled 18W USB - 100 power transcriber , and using this on a full consume Pro we reached 19 % billing in 30 second . But fast charging is possible if you buy a higher - powered courser ; using the MacBook Pro ’s 87W social unit we achieve 26 % in the half - 60 minutes .
Connectivity & Audio
The Lightning port at the ‘ bottom ’ of the twist has been replace by USB - C , a faster data transfer standard which Apple says will suit in better with pro drug user ’ workflow . This can be used toconnect to a digital cameraor SD - posting reader – either of which will now appear in a dedicated Import tab key in Photos , or can be access from within other apps – or to mirror to a monitor .
If you obtain aUSB - speed of light to Lightning adapter , you could even link an iPhone to your iPad andcharge the smaller equipment from the larger .
These are useful applications and it is pleasing to see Apple adopt a non - proprietary port , but this does not intend it will work with any and every USB - C accessory out there : grueling drives , for instance , wo n’t show up in any accessible part of the bone when plug into , and our colleagues onDigital Artsfound that USB - atomic number 6 adapter from Huawei and Sony did n’t work . Check detail are compatible with this gimmick specifically before you corrupt .
And this is without addressing the irritation always caused when a larboard standard change . Yes , you may now be capable to tie in a issue of USB - C products you take place to own already , but any Lightning - based pier , rugged cables , headphone etc will have to be trench . And while we ’re on the study of headphones , mark that there is no 3.5 mm headphone jack , so you ’ll needan adapter , or a set of USB - ascorbic acid orBluetooth headphones .
( We found the USB - ascorbic acid port stiff , apropos – it ’s harder to get the cable out of this gimmick than the Lightning cablegram out of other iPads we ’ve reviewed . )
The sizing of the gimmick and the phone situation mean you ’ll probably be more inclined to use speaker for your audio recording : there are four of them . There ’s also an astonishing five microphones , a Smart Connector for the keyboard case ( which has been moved to the back ) and a magnetised docking point for the Apple Pencil .
You get Bluetooth 5.0 ( up from 4.2 on the former generation ) and 802.11ac Wi - Fi ; Apple gas wireless will be faster thanks to simultaneous dual - lot connectivity . And while there ’s a ceremonious SIM tray ( adopt you pay off spare for a cellular model ) , the Pro also stomach eSIM , making this a multi - SIM equipment . This could prove handy if you occasionally influence abroad .
iPad Pro 12.9in (2018) specs
We ’ve picked out the highlights above , but here ’s the residual of the specs lean .
As ever , Apple keeps mum about the memory allotment , and it was only after the first snag - John L. H. Down that we rule out that the troupe is offer 6 GB of RAM for the first time . But note that this apply to the 1 TB mannikin only ; the others all get 4 GB .
Pencil pushing
A new Apple Pencil was launched to go with the 2018 iPads , and although you ’ll have to pay extra – and it ’s not tawdry – the update blueprint and potentiality more than justify the expense .
Thesecond - gen Pencilhas a single flat edge shaved off , compare to the utterly cylindrical first - gen framework , which looked adorable but had a trend to roll off desks and get lost . As well as make the stylus less roster - prone , this edge is functional : it serves as a magnetic attachment point and an input control when double - tapped .
When you bind the Pencil to your iPad it will automatically declare oneself to pair , and start charge wirelessly . This is so much more convenient than the bizarre – and dangerous - seeming – Lightning - based charging frame-up on theolder modelthat one is torn between relief and renewed frustration that they got it so wrong for so long .
Software & Apps
The third - gen iPad Pro tend Io and will arrive with Io 12.3.1 preinstalled if you bribe now . iOS is a smooth , cunning and unchanging operating system with a vast library of compatible apps;version 12added multi - step customs Siri cutoff , Memoji and Screen Time , while the 12.1 breaker point update take the delayedgroup FaceTimefeature .
The Pro will be able to upgrade for free to any and all succeeding version of iOS released in the foreseeable future ; the iPad mini 2 and iPad Air 1 , both released in 2013 , were able-bodied to instal iOS 12 in fall 2018 , and we ’d expect the ultra - powerful Pro 2018 to last at least that long and probably longer before Apple knock off ongoing update support .
The next version isiOS 13 , which will be discharge to the general public in September 2019 ( it ’s already availableas a genus Beta ) and look like a cracker of an update . It ’s been confirmed that the iPad Pro ( 2018 ) will be able to run iOS 13 .
Verdict
The third - gen iPad Pro is an incredible equipment ( in a near way ) at an unbelievable cost ( in a risky way ) . Indeed we ’re still a little appalled that Apple did n’t reduce the price of the previous year ’s iPad Pro 10.5 in by a penny , choosing rather to slot in the new manikin at an altogether new pricing tier over the top . ( The 10.5 in example has since been discontinue , replaced by a 2019 iPad Air . )
The creative professional who can give it will end up with utter , joyous overkill . This is a mega - powerful processing and graphical beast that eats benchmark for breakfast and will be able to do any complex editing labor you throw at it . It ’s housed in a beautiful and astonishingly light chassis , and propose a exercise set of greatly improved accessory , although of course they be extra .
Those of us on less Olympian budgets can only admire at a space and take that such wonders are not for the likes of us . But it credibly goes without say that this is the best iPad so far , and almost certainly the best tab on the market .
