Apple moves fast. On Tuesday, 7 May, the Fruit Company ‘let loose’ a slew of new M4– and M2-touting iPad Pro and iPad Air models, along with a fitting line-up of overpriced ‘Pro’ peripherals — including a new Pencil and Magic Keyboard. Today, South Africa’s iStore has put the devices up for pre-order (minus the Magic Keyboard), along with a solid date to expect the devices to be in your hands.
That’ll be next week Friday, 17 May, matching the US launch date. It’s a rarity that South Africa is so on the ball regarding Apple products, but we’re not complaining. As long as it’s able to keep this energy when the iPhone 16 is inevitably unveiled in September.
iPad M4 quid pro quo
The iPad Pro was long overdue for an upgrade. But if you, like most, were busying yourself with something more important during Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event, you might’ve missed the big news: the iPad Pro is an OLED machine, now. Oh, and it’s repping Apple’s latest M4 chip gains, effectively turning these tablets into the most powerful bedtime Netflix machines in the industry.
You didn’t expect Apple to let go of that M4 chip without a worthy enough sacrifice, did you? Just keep in mind the fact that payday is still two weeks away when you get a look at the crème de la crème of the iPad Pro range. That means a 13in display, Wi-Fi + cellular, 2TB of storage and that gorgeous matte nano-texture screen — you’ll need to shell out R60,000. Prefer traditional glass? You’ll be spared R2,000, making for a total of R58,000.
What about the opposite end of the spectrum? The weakest of the M4 OLED-wielding Pros will still set customers back R23,000, arriving with 256GB of storage, Wi-Fi-only connectivity, and a coating of ‘standard’ glass to go with it. Middle-of-the-road specs, such as Wi-Fi-only and 512GB of storage on a 13in screen, will set you back R34,500.
A breath of fresh M2 Air
If the new iPad Air, chugging along with an M2 chip is more your speed, your wallet will breathe a sigh of relief. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still got that Apple twang of overpriced-ness about it — but it’s a far cry from the iPad Pro’s R60,000 pricetag.
Sitting at the bottom of the barrel is the Wi-Fi-only iPad Air rocking 128GB of storage and Wi-Fi-only connectivity, coming in at R14,000. Bump that display up to 13in, with 1TB of storage and added cellular capabilities, and watch that number rise to R33,500.
Finally, we have the new Apple Pencil Pro, which features “even more magical capabilities and powerful new interactions,” like a squeeze-sensor built into the body, or improved rotating powers thanks to the new gyroscope. It fetches a rather high price of R3,500 considering that it is not backwards-compatible, and can only work when hooked up to the new M4 iPad Pro or M2 iPad Air.