Apple Goes Big With iPad Pro

/ 24th November 2015 /

Apple released its iPad Pro this month, an attempt at stopping the rot of ex-growth in tablet sales as the iPhone models have got bigger.

The Pro model has a 12.9-inch screen (diagonal) compared with 9.7 inches for the current flagship, the iPad Air 2. As the name suggests, iPad Pro is aimed as business and professional users and is seen as a response to the Microsoft Surface tablet/laptop hybrid, which has gained good traction among enterprise customers.

Powered by Apple’s new A9 chip, the company says iPad Pro “will enable a new generation of advanced apps for everything from productivity, design, illustration, engineering and medical, to education, gaming and entertainment”.

The company has also launched Apple Pencil for iPad Pro, a stylus for drawing and sketching. “The touch subsystem of the Multi-Touch display in iPad Pro has been redesigned to work with Apple Pencil to reduce latency and deliver accuracy for activities like fine art illustration and detailed 3D design,” said Apple.

“Advanced sensors in Apple Pencil measure both pressure and tilt for a fast and fluid drawing experience, while a built-in Lightning connector makes for quick and easy pairing and charging. Apple Pencil also works with apps like Mail, Notes, Procreate and Office 365 for iPad.”

The new Apple Smart Keyboard attaches to an iPad Pro port, eliminating the need for a separate battery, on/off switch or Bluetooth pairing. Apple says the keyboard offers “the accuracy, stability and satisfying key feel of standard keyboards, but is also easily foldable and can transform into a Smart Cover”.

Both the Pencil and Smart Keyboard are sold separately from the iPad Pro, and they currently available for shipment in two to three weeks.

Potential PC replacement

But potential iPad Pro users continue asking: Is the tablet meant to replace a laptop?

The devices' inability to sufficiently replace a personal computer may add to the continued decline in tablet sales, as follows according to Statistica:

Monday Note writer Jean-Louis Gassée refutes consumers' expectation that the iPad should work like a laptop:

"Presenting the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement for 'many, many people', or asking 'why would you buy a PC anymore?' doesn't shed much light," Gassée writes. "If you prepare complicated documents, proposals, financial filings, you should stick with a Mac or Pc."

Gassée argues the individuals who will be most impressed with the Pro as a computer replacement are those who never quite got what they needed from traditional laptops:

"You work with architects, civil engineers, materials, fixture and appliances suppliers, kitchen and bathroom installers. Your iPad Pro is flat on a table while you sketch a design for the architect to flesh out, you scribble annotations on drawings and budgets, you redraw a layout by superimposing a layer on the original. The iPad Pro does more than replace your laptop."