Let Loose: everything Apple showed off on May 7

Apple held a Let Loose presentation today, May 7, where it showed off updated tablets, a stylus, and apps for professionals in creative professions. Normally, this kind of presentation has been held in March, but this year the company decided to distinguish itself.

Apple iPad Air

The presentation started with it. The device has earned the love of users with its versatility. It’s a great choice for those who don’t need the features of a basic tablet, and for those who don’t need the Pro model. The tablet has a big screen, no button on the display, great speakers and performance. But the company decided it could make it even better. And that’s what it turned out to be.

In the past, there’s always been an 11-inch version only. Now Apple has expanded the lineup by adding a 13-inch version. In terms of display, it’s practically a Pro. They’ve also improved the speakers, adding bass and upgraded the chip to M2. But one of the biggest improvements is moving the front camera to the side, which makes the tablet super convenient. If anyone uses video calling, they’re unlikely to do so with the tablet’s vertical positioning.

The tablet will have four colors, with base storage starting at 128GB and ending at 1TB. Pricing for the 11-inch version starts at $599, while the 13-inch tablet starts at $799.

The price for the 11-inch version starts at $599, while the 13-inch tablet starts at $799.

Apple iPad Pro

The major update to the iPad Pro at today’s event was OLED screens for the 11 and 13-inch tablet. So what does that mean? It means improved picture quality, perfect blacks, richer colors, and increased contrast. Peak brightness will now be 1600 nits rather than 1000 nits.

The company also increased the base storage capacity —256GB. But another important update was the chip upgrade. The iPad Pro will now run on the latest M4 chip, which was also unveiled at today’s show. Prices start at $999 for the 11-inch model and $1,299 for the 13-inch model.

Apple M4

First and foremost, the updatedApple M4 chip is focused on boosting the performance of artificial intelligence-related tasks in iPadOS. If the company is to be believed, it’s 60 times faster than the NPU A11. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The first device with this chip will be the iPad Pro, which we wrote about above.

The chip supports dynamic caching, mesh shading, and ray tracing, as well as a new display engine that’s four times faster to render than the M2.

Apple Pencil Pro

Apple Pencil update was probably the most awaited today. And it’s about time, the device hasn’t been updated for quite some time. Isn’t this a great excuse to add a couple of cool features?

The main thing to know about the update is that the stylus is now more sensitive, thanks to more responsive pressure, compression and pressure sensors and horoscope. The «Pen» tool now does an even better job of mimicking a calligraphy pen, so all you have to do is change the angle of the device. And an extra tap on the tablet’s screen will open a small, personalized shortcut menu for Pencil Pro to make it easier for you to switch between tools, colors and other features.

Also with the Apple Pencil’s new pointing feature, users can visualize the exact orientation of the tool before making a mark on the canvas. And the addition of support for the device’s Find My location system is also a welcome update for absent-minded users who often lose their styluses. It will cost $129.

Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro

A small update for a big accessory. What’s changed. There are now two colors — black and white, function keys have been added, and the trackpad has been enlarged. It’s almost as if nothing else has changed, but for a keyboard case, you don’t really need anything else.

A little update for a great accessory.

Final Cut Pro

The cool video editing app just got even cooler in its new version. And it’s all thanks to the Live Multicam feature. Simply put, with the optional free Final Cut Camera app, you can connect up to four additional devices — iPhones and iPads — to your main device to see the picture from different angles.

If you’ve long wanted to feel like a real filmmaker with a multitude of screens in front of you with different angles, this update is just for you. The frames are transferred in real time. And what’s more — you can separately adjust brightness, foreshortening, focus and more on each additional device.

Logic Pro

The update to this music creation and processing app came out as global as the video editor update. The first — interface and performance. The second — new tools and a simplified format for using them that will appeal to many.

But perhaps the most important whiz acts as the music separator. Tell me, how often, when working with music, have you wanted to «pull» a drum part or bass part out of a song you heard? Now it’s possible. True… the possibilities are slightly limited. You can extract four tracks — voice, drums, bass and other noises from the song you hear. The application will not be able to distinguish between two acoustic guitars, but who knows what will happen next? Either way, it’s great progress, especially for remix fans.

Conclusion

Apple showed off a lot of new stuff at Let Loose. These included updates to tablets, tablet accessories, a powerful new chip and updates to two apps for professional video editing and music editing and creation. It may seem like the updates aren’t that global, to update your devices from, say, past generations. But the innovations are there nonetheless.

So far.

A lot of emphasis in today’s world is on artificial intelligence. And the updates that Apple showed today are aimed at introducing AI in the future. Specifically in iPadOS. So there’s a chance that we’ll only be able to see the full functionality of the tablets shown today when a new version of the operating system is released.