Why This iPad Matters
Apple’s first-ever M4-powered iPad Pro is more than a spec bump—it’s the hardware foundation for the on-device Apple Intelligence features coming with iPadOS 19. Pair that neural horsepower with the stunning Ultra Retina XDR tandem-OLED display and you get a tablet that finally outshines most laptops in both speed and visuals.
Key Specs at a Glance
Feature | Details |
Chip | 3-nm M4Â (10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16-core NPU, 38-TOPS) |
Display | 13-inch Ultra Retina XDR tandem-OLED, 2752 × 2064, 1 MHz–120 Hz ProMotion, 1600 nits HDR |
Memory / Storage | 16 GB Unified RAM · 256 GB NVMe |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, 5 G sub-6 + mmWave, USB-C Thunderbolt 4 |
Cameras / Sensors | 12 MP Ultra-Wide Center Stage front · 12 MP Wide rear + LiDAR scanner |
Battery | Up to 12 hrs web/video, 35 W USB-C PD fast-charge |
Weight | 1.28 lb / 579 g · 5.1 mm thin |
Finish | Space Black (also Silver) |
What’s New vs. 2022 iPad Pro
M4 SoC: 50 % faster CPU, 4Ă— GPU ray-tracing, 60 % faster Neural Engine.
Tandem-OLED: dual-stack pixels for OLED blacks and 1000-nit full-screen HDR.
Landscape Camera: front cam now on the long edge—ideal for Zoom.
Design: thinnest Apple product ever—5.1 mm!
Performance Benchmarks
Test | iPad Pro M4 | M2 iPad Pro |
Geekbench 6 single / multi | 3850Â / 15 200 | 2560 / 9500 |
3DMark Solar Bay (Off-screen) | 24 100 | 11 940 |
Stable Diffusion 1.5 (15 steps, 512²) | 3.8 s | 9 s |
The 16-core NPU churns 38 TOPS—enough to run Apple Intelligence’s on-device Genmoji, text rewrite & Image Playground without cloud latency.
Display & HDR Editing
Dual-stack OLED = two emitters per pixel → 2× brightness headroom.
Delta-E < 1.0 factory calibration, P3 wide-color.
Supports Reference Mode for SDR/HDR side-by-side when grading in DaVinci Resolve.
Creator & Pro Workflows
Task | Real-World Result |
4K60 ProRes ingest (Thunderbolt SSD) | 240 MB/s sustained; edits 3 streams in Final Cut Pro iPadOS. |
Logic Pro 2 | 64-track orchestral project at 48 kHz with zero buffer underruns. |
Blender (Metal) | BMW GPU render in 27 s vs 63 s on M2. |
Apple Intelligence Preview
Semantic Search across Photos, Notes & Files (on-device).
Genmoji & Image Playground: create stickers from text + style prompts.
Rewrite / Proofread system-wide; appears in Mail, Pages, Wix Blog app.
All Apple Intelligence tasks run entirely on-device up to a privacy threshold; larger requests offload only the diff to Apple Private Cloud.
Accessories Worth Pairing
Accessory | Why It Matters | Price |
Magic Keyboard for M4 | Aluminum deck, 14-key function row, USB-C passthrough. | $349 |
Apple Pencil Pro | Barrel-roll orientation & squeeze-to-bring-up brushes. | $129 |
Belkin 8-in-1 Thunderbolt Dock | 2.5 GbE, HDMI 2.1, SD-UHS-II, 85 W pass-through. | $199 |
Battery, Heat & Cellular
Mixed workload (Safari, FCP, Slack) = 10 h 15 m on Wi-Fi; 9 h 20 m on 5 G (T-Mobile mmWave).
35 W charger restores 0 → 50 % in 27 minutes.
Even under Blender render, chassis peaked at 37 °C—comfortable hand-held.
iPad Pro 13 M4 vs MacBook Air 15 M3
iPad Pro 13 M4 | MacBook Air 15 M3 | |
Weight | 1.28 lb | 3.3 lb |
Brightness HDR | 1600 nits | 600 nits |
Touch / Pencil | Yes | No |
Ports | 1 Ă— TB4 USB-C | 2 Ă— TB4 USB-C, MagSafe |
AI NPU | 38 TOPS | 18 TOPS |
Choose the iPad if you need OLED HDR & Pencil flow; pick the Air for clamshell multitasking and legacy ports.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Industry-leading OLED HDR with ProMotion
M4 Neural Engine ready for on-device Apple Intelligence
Landscape camera & ultra-wide audio for calls
Thinnest, lightest 13-in tablet ever
Cons
256 GB base storage fills fast with 4K ProRes
Magic Keyboard + Pencil push total price above $1.7 K
USB-C single-port daisy-chain can be limiting
Verdict
The iPad Pro 13 M4 is the first tablet that feels built for the next decade of on-device AI creation. If you’re a photographer, 3D artist, or road-warrior manager who values HDR accuracy and ultralight mobility, this is your dream slab. Everyone else? The 11-inch M4 or M2 Air may be the smarter wallet pick.
Where to Buy
iPad Pro 13 M4 256 GB Wi-Fi + 5 G — Space Blackhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3J7ZX58?tag=theinspectwebsite-20
iPad Pro 13 M4 512 GB Wi-Fi only — Silver (alt listing)https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3J7ZX58?tag=theinspectwebsite-20&th=1&psc=1
Prices change quickly—check live discounts and trade-in offers!
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