The new iPad Pro M2 captures ProRes video and supports the Apple Pencil hover gesture.

Apple’s new iPad Pro M2 supports ProRes video recording, a new hover gesture for the Apple Pencil, and more. It will go on sale October 26th.

iPad Pro M2 gets ProRes video capture

Both the new sixth-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the fourth-generation 11-inch iPad Pro use the Apple M2 chip, which supports ProRes video recording.

Originally available on iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 Pro, ProRes video capture is now available on iPad Pro. ProRes is Apple’s video format for professional image quality, multi-threaded editing, and other features that Hollywood professionals love.

Using the M2 chip’s new media engine and image signal processor, the new iPad Pro M2 allows people to record video using the ProRes codec. Apple also promises up to 3x faster performance when transcoding footage from another format to ProRes. Read: How to extract audio from video on iPhone, iPad and Mac

“This means content creators can capture, edit and publish cinema-quality video from a single device in the field,” the company explains.

No mini LED for 11 inch!

The iPad Pro still comes in two sizes, 11-inch and 12.9-inch, but only the 12.9-inch model comes with a mini LED screen, which Apple markets as “Liquid Retina XDR.”Mini-LED provides an OLED-like experience (no blooming). Another thing that only the 12.9-inch model supports is the reference mode, which precisely matches the color requirements of workflows such as viewing, color grading, and compositing.

Now professionals can edit HDR images and videos in full detail, and preview HDR footage with a color profile that represents the final shot, all on iPad Pro.

The display, as before, supports ProMotion and True Tone.

Faster network

iPad Pro M2 supports Wi-Fi 6E (not available in mainland China and Japan) and download speeds are up to 2.4Gbps, twice as fast as the M1. 5G models of the iPad Pro M2 support both sub-6GHz and mmWave networks and now support more 5G networks worldwide.

International buyers don’t care much about mmWave providing true 5G speed because mmWave only works in the US and Puerto Rico.

How fast is the M2 chip?

The new M2 chip isn’t much faster than the M1, but it’s not stupid either. It delivers 15% faster CPU performance and 35% faster GPU performance than the M1 chip while delivering 50% higher throughput at 100GB/s.

The M2 also supports 16 gigabytes of combined memory, and memory efficiency helps improve performance when multitasking and working with large assets. However, the iPhone maker did not say if the 16GB of storage is only available for 1TB and 2TB models like the iPad Pro M1.

M2 combines eight compute cores, 10 graphics cores, 16 Neural Engine cores for machine learning, and many other specialized coprocessors. Neural Engine in M2 is 40 percent faster (15.8 trillion operations per second).

Introduction to the Apple Pencil hover gesture

Samsung once experimented with hover gestures for its stylus and it didn’t work. Now it’s Apple’s turn to introduce a new hover gesture for the Apple Pencil.

The iPad Pro M2 screen can detect Apple’s second-generation stylus up to 12mm above the display. When you point your Apple stylus at the display, a preview of your mark appears so you can sketch with more precision.

The Scribble feature, which lets you use handwriting to fill in text fields, also supports the new hover gesture. Apple claims that the text field automatically expands as soon as the stylus is in the area where the iPad’s display is triggered.

This functionality won’t be limited to a select set of apps – Apple has provided developers with the tools to recognize the hover gesture in their own apps.

Tell me about the elephant in the room!

The new iPad Pro M2 has iPadOS 16 with Stage Manager preinstalled. Stage Manager, if you haven’t heard of the controversy, is Apple’s latest attempt to boost iPad multitasking and doesn’t seem to solve any problems.

Apple has already warned that the initial version of iPadOS 16 will not include the promised robust support for external displays up to 6K resolution.

Instead, you’ll need to wait for an iPadOS update later in 2022 to be able to connect your iPad Pro to an external display and run up to eight apps at the same time (four apps on the iPad display and four more on the iPad display). external).

“Full external display support for Stage Manager on iPad M1 and M2 models will be available in a software update later this year,”Apple said in a statement. iPadOS 16 also brings the Apple Weather app to the tablet for the first time.

Prices and Availability

You can order the iPad Pro M2 starting Tuesday, October 18, 2022 at apple.com/store and the official Apple Store app for iOS [ App Store link ]. The tablet is still available in Apple’s somewhat dull silver and space gray colors, as well as the usual 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB memory configurations.

Retail availability begins Wednesday, October 26th.

The 11-inch Wi-Fi model starts at $799 in the US, while the 5G cellular version is another $200. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $1,099 for the Wi-Fi model and $1,299 for the Cellular model.

Students should review education pricing at apple.com/us-hed/shop.

The Black or White Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro M2 costs $299/$349 for the 11/12.9-inch version. Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio is available for $179/$199 for the 11/12.9-inch model. As for the regular Smart Folio (Apple’s most affordable iPad keyboard), it’s available for $79/99 for the 11/12.9-inch iPad Pro. The standard Smart Folio is available in black, white, and navy blue.

Read the Apple press release or visit apple.com/ipad-pro for more information.