Now with 5G capabilities, you can connect to the fastest wireless networks when you need to download files, stream movies, collaborate with colleagues, and upload content on the go.
iPad Pro 2020 review (12.9 inch)
The iPad Pro 2020 (12.9 inch) is one of the best tablets you can buy, with blazing speed, long battery life, improved cameras and trackpad support. Until now, the iPad Pro has been more like a tablet on steroids, beating a lot of laptops on speed and battery life but certainly not on computing comfort.
iPadOS now fully supports cursor input, and there’s a (pricey) Magic Keyboard with a trackpad and satisfying scissor switches. The iPad Pro 2020 also ups the ante in the performance department with a A12Z Bionic chip with an 8-core graphics engine, a dual-camera system that includes an ultra-wide lens and a LiDAR scanner that offers a more responsive augmented reality experience.
The iPad Pro lasted over 10 hours no our web surfing battery test, which beats most Windows-powered 2-in-1s. When viewed from the front in landscape mode, there’s still a magnetic strip on the top edge for attaching the Apple Pencil.
Like the 2018 model, the iPad Pro houses a TrueDepth camera up front, which enables Face ID for quickly unlocking the device. It’s bright, colorful and leverages ProMotion technology for automatically adjusting the refresh rate up to 120Hz. When watching the trailer for James Bond No Time to Die, the iPad Pro’s display rendered 007’s Aston Martin DB5 with exquisite detail as its twin machine guns popped out of the headlights.
In another scene, Daniel Craig’s stern and battle-worn face stood in stark contrast to a gorgeous bridge he was throwing himself off of. No longer relegated to being an accessibility feature, iPadOS now has a redesigned cursor that appears as a circle on the screen. And in the Photos app, the circle highlighted the Share and Heart icons in a small box as I hovered over them.
You can also pull up the dock by pushing the cursor past the bottom of the screen, activate Control Center by clicking the status bar in the upper right corner and pull up Notifications by clicking the status bar in the upper left corner. iPadOS’ Slide Over and Split View gestures are also fairly easy to activate when using a mouse or trackpad. iPadOS’ recent cursor and trackpad optimizations came just at the right time, and we like how effortless it feels to swap between apps by swiping three fingers left and right on the touchpad. You can adjust the iPad Pro between about 85 to 130 degrees, which beats the pair of positions the Smart Keyboard Folio allowed, but we still wish it moved a bit more.
The iPad Pro 2020 includes an A12Z Bionic processor that offers an 8-core CPU and a new 8-core GPU that’s designed to provide a big boost in graphics performance. That’s a mild improvement over the last iPad Pro with the A12X Bionic chip, which turned in respective scores of 4,635 and 1,114.
By comparison, the Surface Pro 7 scored a lower 4,443 on the multi-core Geekbench 5 test and a higher 1,241 on single-core, and that’s with a 10th gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. The iPad Pro took only 34 seconds to export a 4K video to 1080p after applying a color filter and transition in the Adobe Rush app. In this shot of cherry blossoms in bloom, the white flowers in the center look clear but the left side of the frame looks somewhat blurry.
I also snapped this photo of a birdhouse, and the iPad Pro did a fine job capturing the bright yellow roof, the pink ornamental flower and a yellow-and-blue butterfly decoration.
Indoors, the iPad Pro captured a well-balanced pic of a candle, and it’s nice to see that the wick didn’t get blown out. I shot a quick clip of a residential neighborhood, and the tablet did a fine job rendering little details, including a leaf blowing by and a small American flag waving in the wind.
Thanks to this LiDAR scanner, which works in close concert with the A12Z Bionic chip and Apple’s Neural Engine, AR placement is now instantaneous. The iPad Pro continues to support the second-generation Apple Pencil ($129), which lets you draw, take notes and mark up documents.
We’re in the process of running our battery test, but in everyday use, the iPad Pro has delivered strong endurance. I have started my workday unplugging at 7 am and have used the tablet for streaming video, taking photos, word processing and checking email, and it was down to 39% by 4 pm, so the iPad Pro should be able to last you through most days. The new iPad Pro lasted 10 hours and 16 minutes on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi on 150 nits of screen brightness. I do think the iPad Pro 2020 can replace a laptop for some, especially those who want to travel very light and creative pros who want to do content creation and editing on the go.
I spend a lot of time in Chrome on a daily basis, bouncing between email, real-time traffic reports and Google Docs, and not having a bookmarks bar that’s always visible is a dealbreaker for me. To be fair, iPadOS has only been around as its own thing since September, but I would like to see developers start better optimizing their apps for cursor and keyboard support without sacrificing the iPad Pro’s touch-first approach.
We especially Apple Pencil upgrades, like the new Scribble feature that automatically converts handwriting to text and Shape recognition. Other enhancements include pinned conversations in Messages, site translation in Safari and spatial audio support if you use AirPods Pro. You also get better cameras with the iPad Pro and the ability to run a new class of AR apps, two areas where the Surface Pros are far behind. However, it’s clear that developers have not yet optimized their apps for the new cursor control powers in iPadOS, and Apple and its partners should push the platform even further to make the iPad more touchpad- and keyboard-friendly.
I also wish Apple included a larger charging cable; yes, you get a lot of endurance from this tablet, but the length of this cord now looks like a joke given the bigger ambitions of this device.
iPad Pro: Time to Buy? Reviews, Issues, More
The Magic Keyboard attaches to the iPad Pro through a magnetic connection, and it features cantilevered hinges that allow it to work on a desk or on a lap. A USB-C port is included on the Magic Keyboard for passthrough inductive USB-C charging capabilities, leaving the iPad Pro’s Thunderbolt port free for accessories like external drives and displays.
2021 iPad Pro models work with the second-generation Apple Pencil that was introduced in 2018. It features advanced palm rejection, extreme precision, and imperceptible lag for a paper-like writing experience that’s unmatched by third-party styluses.
iPad Pro 2020 vs. iPad Pro 2021 Buyer’s Guide
In April 2021, Apple updated its popular iPad Pro lineup, introducing a faster M1 chip, a Liquid Retina XDR display, a Thunderbolt port, and more, replacing the previous models from March 2020. Although the 2020 iPad Pro models have now been discontinued by Apple, it is common to find them available at discounted prices with third-party retailers.
Being only a year apart, the 2020 iPad Pro has more in common with its 2021 successor than it has in contrast, including key features such as the design and rear camera setup. Liquid Retina display with 264 ppi, full lamination, oleophobic and anti-reflective coating, P3 Wide Color, and True Tone Apple’s specification breakdown shows that the two iPad Pros share an overwhelming majority of features. Even so, there a number of meaningful differences between the 2020 and 2021 iPad Pros that are worth highlighting, including their display technologies, processors, and front-facing cameras.
2020 iPad Pro Liquid Retina LED display with 600 nits max brightness (typical) 2021 iPad Pro Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display with 1,000 nits max full-screen brightness. The 12.9-inch 2020 iPad Pro, as well as the two generations of the 11-inch models, have the exact same Liquid Retina LED display, featuring 120Hz ProMotion, full lamination, an anti-reflective coating, P3 wide color, and True Tone. The result is an improved visual experience that captures the brightest highlights and subtle details in even the darkest images. Now creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, and filmmakers, can view and edit true-to-life HDR content on the iPad Pro. If you can take advantage of the new display by consuming or creating HDR media, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro presents a clear upgrade over the 2020 model.
6GB in the 2020 iPad Pro will be adequate for casual users, but 8GB will be defter at handling multiple windows of the same application and a range of intense background tasks. Ultimately, iPadOS is excellent at memory management, so it is unlikely that the amount of RAM in your iPad will be important in most cases.
The improved specifications of the 2021 model’s camera facilitate a 2x optical zoom out and Center Stage for video calls. As well as being considerably faster, Thunderbolt opens up the potential for compatibility with a much broader range of Thunderbolt-only accessories such as external hard drives and monitors.
Therefore, if the 2021 iPad Pro, which starts at $799, is already moving out of your price range and you want an accessory such as the $299 Magic Keyboard, you may need to opt for the older iPad Pro to bring down the overall cost. The iPad Air offers a large number of features shared with the iPad Pro, such as the latest all-screen design, a fast, capable processor, practical features like USB-C, and compatibility with the latest Apple accessories, all at a lower price point.
Unless you need iPad Pro features such as a more advanced camera setup, Face ID, more RAM, or stereo audio recording, the iPad Air is the best option for the average consumer. The M1 chip shows a distinct performance bump over the A12Z, but most users will likely not have workflows that can take advantage of the added power. 5G connectivity is the only other reason that it may be worth buying the 2021 iPad Pro, but again only a minority of users who choose the cellular configuration will likely be able to take advantage of it. If you are intending to keep your iPad Pro for more than a few years, it may be worth buying the newer model to ensure better performance over time through successive updates and with more demanding apps. For the latest pricing on 2020 and 2021 models, check out the iPad Pro section of our Apple Deals roundup.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020)
6 GB RAM Apple A12Z Bionic We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
Apple iPad Pro 11 (2020)
6 GB RAM Apple A12Z Bionic We can not guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct.
iPad Pro 2020 review (12.9 inch)
The iPad Pro 2020 (12.9 inch) is one of the best tablets you can buy, with blazing speed, long battery life, improved cameras and trackpad support. Until now, the iPad Pro has been more like a tablet on steroids, beating a lot of laptops on speed and battery life but certainly not on computing comfort. iPadOS now fully supports cursor input, and there’s a (pricey) Magic Keyboard with a trackpad and satisfying scissor switches.
The iPad Pro 2020 also ups the ante in the performance department with a A12Z Bionic chip with an 8-core graphics engine, a dual-camera system that includes an ultra-wide lens and a LiDAR scanner that offers a more responsive augmented reality experience. The iPad Pro lasted over 10 hours no our web surfing battery test, which beats most Windows-powered 2-in-1s. When viewed from the front in landscape mode, there’s still a magnetic strip on the top edge for attaching the Apple Pencil. Like the 2018 model, the iPad Pro houses a TrueDepth camera up front, which enables Face ID for quickly unlocking the device. It’s bright, colorful and leverages ProMotion technology for automatically adjusting the refresh rate up to 120Hz. When watching the trailer for James Bond No Time to Die, the iPad Pro’s display rendered 007’s Aston Martin DB5 with exquisite detail as its twin machine guns popped out of the headlights. In another scene, Daniel Craig’s stern and battle-worn face stood in stark contrast to a gorgeous bridge he was throwing himself off of. No longer relegated to being an accessibility feature, iPadOS now has a redesigned cursor that appears as a circle on the screen. And in the Photos app, the circle highlighted the Share and Heart icons in a small box as I hovered over them.
You can also pull up the dock by pushing the cursor past the bottom of the screen, activate Control Center by clicking the status bar in the upper right corner and pull up Notifications by clicking the status bar in the upper left corner. iPadOS’ Slide Over and Split View gestures are also fairly easy to activate when using a mouse or trackpad. iPadOS’ recent cursor and trackpad optimizations came just at the right time, and we like how effortless it feels to swap between apps by swiping three fingers left and right on the touchpad. You can adjust the iPad Pro between about 85 to 130 degrees, which beats the pair of positions the Smart Keyboard Folio allowed, but we still wish it moved a bit more.
The iPad Pro 2020 includes an A12Z Bionic processor that offers an 8-core CPU and a new 8-core GPU that’s designed to provide a big boost in graphics performance. That’s a mild improvement over the last iPad Pro with the A12X Bionic chip, which turned in respective scores of 4,635 and 1,114.
By comparison, the Surface Pro 7 scored a lower 4,443 on the multi-core Geekbench 5 test and a higher 1,241 on single-core, and that’s with a 10th gen Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. The iPad Pro took only 34 seconds to export a 4K video to 1080p after applying a color filter and transition in the Adobe Rush app.
In this shot of cherry blossoms in bloom, the white flowers in the center look clear but the left side of the frame looks somewhat blurry. I also snapped this photo of a birdhouse, and the iPad Pro did a fine job capturing the bright yellow roof, the pink ornamental flower and a yellow-and-blue butterfly decoration.
Indoors, the iPad Pro captured a well-balanced pic of a candle, and it’s nice to see that the wick didn’t get blown out. I shot a quick clip of a residential neighborhood, and the tablet did a fine job rendering little details, including a leaf blowing by and a small American flag waving in the wind.
Thanks to this LiDAR scanner, which works in close concert with the A12Z Bionic chip and Apple’s Neural Engine, AR placement is now instantaneous. The iPad Pro continues to support the second-generation Apple Pencil ($129), which lets you draw, take notes and mark up documents. We’re in the process of running our battery test, but in everyday use, the iPad Pro has delivered strong endurance.
I have started my workday unplugging at 7 am and have used the tablet for streaming video, taking photos, word processing and checking email, and it was down to 39% by 4 pm, so the iPad Pro should be able to last you through most days. The new iPad Pro lasted 10 hours and 16 minutes on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi on 150 nits of screen brightness. I do think the iPad Pro 2020 can replace a laptop for some, especially those who want to travel very light and creative pros who want to do content creation and editing on the go. I spend a lot of time in Chrome on a daily basis, bouncing between email, real-time traffic reports and Google Docs, and not having a bookmarks bar that’s always visible is a dealbreaker for me. To be fair, iPadOS has only been around as its own thing since September, but I would like to see developers start better optimizing their apps for cursor and keyboard support without sacrificing the iPad Pro’s touch-first approach.
We especially Apple Pencil upgrades, like the new Scribble feature that automatically converts handwriting to text and Shape recognition.
Other enhancements include pinned conversations in Messages, site translation in Safari and spatial audio support if you use AirPods Pro. You also get better cameras with the iPad Pro and the ability to run a new class of AR apps, two areas where the Surface Pros are far behind. However, it’s clear that developers have not yet optimized their apps for the new cursor control powers in iPadOS, and Apple and its partners should push the platform even further to make the iPad more touchpad- and keyboard-friendly.
I also wish Apple included a larger charging cable; yes, you get a lot of endurance from this tablet, but the length of this cord now looks like a joke given the bigger ambitions of this device.
iPad Pro 2020 vs. iPad Pro 2021 Buyer’s Guide
In April 2021, Apple updated its popular iPad Pro lineup, introducing a faster M1 chip, a Liquid Retina XDR display, a Thunderbolt port, and more, replacing the previous models from March 2020. Although the 2020 iPad Pro models have now been discontinued by Apple, it is common to find them available at discounted prices with third-party retailers. Being only a year apart, the 2020 iPad Pro has more in common with its 2021 successor than it has in contrast, including key features such as the design and rear camera setup.
Liquid Retina display with 264 ppi, full lamination, oleophobic and anti-reflective coating, P3 Wide Color, and True Tone
Apple’s specification breakdown shows that the two iPad Pros share an overwhelming majority of features. Even so, there a number of meaningful differences between the 2020 and 2021 iPad Pros that are worth highlighting, including their display technologies, processors, and front-facing cameras. 2020 iPad Pro Liquid Retina LED display with 600 nits max brightness (typical) 2021 iPad Pro Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display with 1,000 nits max full-screen brightness. The 12.9-inch 2020 iPad Pro, as well as the two generations of the 11-inch models, have the exact same Liquid Retina LED display, featuring 120Hz ProMotion, full lamination, an anti-reflective coating, P3 wide color, and True Tone. The result is an improved visual experience that captures the brightest highlights and subtle details in even the darkest images.
Now creative professionals, including photographers, videographers, and filmmakers, can view and edit true-to-life HDR content on the iPad Pro. If you can take advantage of the new display by consuming or creating HDR media, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro presents a clear upgrade over the 2020 model.
6GB in the 2020 iPad Pro will be adequate for casual users, but 8GB will be defter at handling multiple windows of the same application and a range of intense background tasks. Ultimately, iPadOS is excellent at memory management, so it is unlikely that the amount of RAM in your iPad will be important in most cases. The improved specifications of the 2021 model’s camera facilitate a 2x optical zoom out and Center Stage for video calls. As well as being considerably faster, Thunderbolt opens up the potential for compatibility with a much broader range of Thunderbolt-only accessories such as external hard drives and monitors. Therefore, if the 2021 iPad Pro, which starts at $799, is already moving out of your price range and you want an accessory such as the $299 Magic Keyboard, you may need to opt for the older iPad Pro to bring down the overall cost. The iPad Air offers a large number of features shared with the iPad Pro, such as the latest all-screen design, a fast, capable processor, practical features like USB-C, and compatibility with the latest Apple accessories, all at a lower price point.
Unless you need iPad Pro features such as a more advanced camera setup, Face ID, more RAM, or stereo audio recording, the iPad Air is the best option for the average consumer. The M1 chip shows a distinct performance bump over the A12Z, but most users will likely not have workflows that can take advantage of the added power.
5G connectivity is the only other reason that it may be worth buying the 2021 iPad Pro, but again only a minority of users who choose the cellular configuration will likely be able to take advantage of it. If you are intending to keep your iPad Pro for more than a few years, it may be worth buying the newer model to ensure better performance over time through successive updates and with more demanding apps.
For the latest pricing on 2020 and 2021 models, check out the iPad Pro section of our Apple Deals roundup.
iPad Pro: Time to Buy? Reviews, Issues, More
The Magic Keyboard attaches to the iPad Pro through a magnetic connection, and it features cantilevered hinges that allow it to work on a desk or on a lap. A USB-C port is included on the Magic Keyboard for passthrough inductive USB-C charging capabilities, leaving the iPad Pro’s Thunderbolt port free for accessories like external drives and displays. 2021 iPad Pro models work with the second-generation Apple Pencil that was introduced in 2018.
It features advanced palm rejection, extreme precision, and imperceptible lag for a paper-like writing experience that’s unmatched by third-party styluses.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2020) Specs
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is available in Space Gray and Silver and retails at $999 with 128GB of storage.
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