Apple took the wraps off of the new iPad Pro, revealing the biggest single upgrade since the iPad was originally introduced.

As expected, the latest iPad Pro is powered by Apple’s new M4 custom silicon. Apple touts the performance and efficiency of the M4 over the M2 that powered the previous iPad Pro:

The new CPU offers up to four performance cores and now six efficiency cores, with next-generation machine learning (ML) accelerators, to deliver up to 1.5x faster CPU performance over M2 in the previous-generation iPad Pro. M4 builds on the GPU architecture of M3 — the 10-core GPU includes powerful features like Dynamic Caching, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, which come to iPad for the first time. Coupled with higher unified memory bandwidth, pro rendering apps like Octane will see up to 4x faster performance than M2. M4 also delivers tremendous gains and industry-leading performance per watt. Compared to M2, M4 can deliver the same performance using just half the power, and compared to the latest PC chip in a thin and light laptop, M4 can deliver the same performance using just a quarter of the power.

The new model includes an industry-first display, with Apple using two OLED screens and combining the light from both to provide the brightness, as well as unprecedented range and depth of color. Apple calls this tandem OLED tech the Ultra Retina XDR display. The display provides 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for both SDR and HDR, and 1,600 peak nits for HDR.

Apple Pencil

Apple released the Apple Pencil Pro, bringing a slew of new capabilities to the accessory. The Pencil Pro includes a sensor in the barrel that senses and responds to squeezes, giving users the ability to set up custom actions.

The Pencil Pro also includes a custom haptic engine to provide feedback when users trigger various actions, while a gyroscope gives users the ability to fine-tuned control of tools by rotating the barrel.

AI Takes Center Stage

Early reports suggested that Apple’s M4 could be an AI powerhouse, and the company was quick to show off the M4-powered AI features of the new iPad Pro.

The new iPad Pro with M4 features Apple’s most powerful Neural Engine ever, capable of 38 trillion operations per second, which is 60x faster than Apple’s first Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic chip. Combined with next-generation ML accelerators in the CPU, a high-performance GPU, more memory bandwidth, and intelligent features and powerful developer frameworks in iPadOS, the Neural Engine makes the new iPad Pro an outrageously powerful device for AI. With iPad Pro with M4, users can perform AI-enabled tasks even faster, like easily isolate a subject from its background in 4K video with just a tap with Scene Removal Mask in Final Cut Pro. With this advanced level of performance, the Neural Engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today.

All-in-all, the new iPad Pro is one of the most compelling upgrades the iPad line has ever seen, especially for professionals.