Just checked the new ones out at the store for a couple minutes and honestly...
genuinely unimpressed not just coping with being set on not upgrading. I have the iPad upgrade itch much less than iPhone, and even to some degree recently, Macs admittedly but.
It is thin, and I don't care about this aspect as I never saw it an issue with previous iPad Pros, but not nearly as thin as everyone was oooo'ing and ahhh'ing over (mostly Apple themselves and 'influencers' that are always to be taken with a grain of salt since the device isn't coming out of their pocket book).
I don't know what everyone is getting worked up over being worried it'll bend more. It may or may not, but I don't think the extra thinness will contribute to that given its not psychotically thinner - more materials and general build will be the determining factor I imagine (without being a materials engineer or anything).
The OLED display, looks nice but I wasn't blown away by brightness indoors and from memory it actually seemed dimmer than my M1 iPad Pro with LED. That's going off memory of course, I didn't bring mine in to do side by side, but I wonder if it's like when iPhone's got P3 color gamut with iPhone 7 and was a huge boost to brightness outdoors, but otherwise rather reserved in its general idling state. And I am obsessed with screen quality more than most.
I'm sure in a dark room watching movies, it's transformative, but this isn't my first rodeo with OLED displays as someone with OLED switch, steam deck, 4k tv's, and of course, iPhone.
I don't really use my iPad outdoors so that's not overly compelling to me, even if true. I didn't get to see a nano texture unit but I wouldn't be interested in that, even being locked behind the higher priced SKUs. Looks like it degrades the picture too much for my preferences.
What else? Magic Keyboard?
Very samey compared to old, barring slightly bigger trackpad and aluminum interior instead of that exterior feel. The fact that you have to splurge on a new keyboard and pencil, if that's your thing, really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Not consumer friendly, not environmentally friendly, not financially friendly.
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I hate to constantly peddle in doom porn, but with the economy in the state it is and these iPads feeling largely iterative even if they have lots of new stuff on paper (m4, OLED, thinner, updated keyboard and pencil) and commanding a much higher price of +$200 their previous offerings, I just don't see them flying off shelves for average Joe. I hope this isn't the same trajectory for iPhones. It's a little bit of a bummer.
Even though I don't use my wide angle lens on my M1, I don't like that they took it away and replaced it with a fake looking camera underneath. Looks like an Aliexpress camera module for a knockoff.
I think if they put the 0.5x / 1x toggle on the same side as ALL the other photography toggles it might get used more frequently by people. Poor placement. But then again, lots of people don't use their iPad camera at all, ever, regardless of focal length.
Less the product and more baffling decision by Apple Retail and maybe it's just that it's day 1 and they're still imaging their tablets I dont know but the whole table of iPad Pros had Vision in the center of the table (the most immediate one when I walked through the front door) and an app that shows Vision features on the device that you could not exit out of. There was like 8 new iPads and not a single one of them could I test drive..
The only usable single unit I could use was in the corner of the store, as if this product is already on its last bit of life in the generation's cycle. Not a great presentation IMO.
To each their own, but even if I had $999 or $1299+ to be careless with, I wouldn't be able to do it without feeling extremely gluttonous and questioning my choices as a consumer.
