Enlarge / One of many human-created objects destroyed in Apple's "Crush!" ad for the iPad Pro. (credit: Apple) Earlier this week, Apple took the wraps off of a thoroughly leaked iPad Pro refresh with a 1 minute and 8 second ad spot wherein a gigantic hydraulic press comprehensively smushes a trumpet, an arcade cabinet, a record player, paint cans, a piano, a TV, sculptures, a bunch of emoji, and plenty of other tools that one might loosely categorize as "artistic implements." At the end of the ad, the press lifts away to reveal a somewhat thinner, somewhat faster version of Apple's iPad Pro ..read more

Enlarge / Many different Apple stickers from many different products and eras. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) As a noted sticker enthusiast, I’m always on the lookout for news at the intersection of stickers and technology. Which is why this report from 9to5Mac caught my eye: Apple is apparently starting to wind down its decades-long practice of including Apple logo stickers in the box with all of its products. If you buy a new iPad Air or iPad Pro, you’ll be able to get some stickers if you ask the people at the Apple Store to include them (stores will get a “limited quantity” of stickers they ..read more

Enlarge / A screenshot of the Apple iPad ad. (credit: Apple via YouTube) An advert by Apple for its new iPad tablet showing musical instruments, artistic tools, and games being crushed by a giant hydraulic press has been attacked for cultural insensitivity in an online backlash. The one-minute video was launched by Apple chief executive Tim Cook to support its new range of iPads, the first time that the US tech giant has overhauled the range for two years as it seeks to reverse faltering sales. The campaign—soundtracked by Sonny and Cher’s 1971 hit All I Ever Need Is You—is designed to show ..read more

Enlarge / The new M4 iPad Pro. (credit: Apple) When Apple announced the Apple M4 chip during its iPad Pro event yesterday, it mentioned that the chip came with "up to" four high-performance CPU cores. Those short, easily missable words always mean that there's a lower-end version of the chip coming that doesn't include that many CPU cores, and the tech specs page for the new iPad Pro has the full details: iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage use a version of the M4 with three high-performance CPU cores and six smaller efficiency cores. Only the models with 1TB and 2TB of storag ..read more

Enlarge / Apple's latest iPad Air, now in two sizes. The Magic Keyboard accessory is the same one that you use with older iPad Airs and Pros, though they can use the new Apple Pencil Pro. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Apple has a new lineup of iPad Pro and Air models for the first time in well over a year. Most people would probably be hard-pressed to tell the new ones from the old ones just by looking at them, but after hands-on sessions with both sizes of both tablets, the small details (especially for the Pros) all add up to a noticeably refined iPad experience. iPad Airs: Bigger is better ..read more

Enlarge Apple is lowering the price of its 10th-generation iPad from $399 to $349, the company announced at its Let Loose event today. The 10th-generation iPad did away with the top and bottom bezels that previous iPads carried. The 10.9-inch tablet also doesn't have a home button, showing Apple, under pressure from European Union regulations, moving from a Lightning port to USB-C. It debuted with a $449 starting price in 2022 with an A14 chip. However, Apple is also doing away with the $329 9th-generation iPad, effectively increasing the price of entry for an iPad. Read 1 remaining paragra ..read more

Enlarge (credit: Apple) Apple's newest iPad Pro puts an M4 chip inside a thinner frame and is available in new 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, while also upgrading the screens on both to "tandem" OLED displays for more brightness. Compared to the last iPad Pro, released in early 2022, Apple is highlighting how thin and light these new Pros are. The 11-inch model is 5.3 mm thick and weighs less than a pound, while the 13-inch is 5.1 mm, which Apple says is its thinnest product ever, at 1.28 pounds. The tandem OLED design, dubbed Ultra Retina XDR, delivers 1000 nits at full-screen brightness, and 1 ..read more

Enlarge / M2-based iPad Airs come out next week. (credit: Apple) Apple today announced the first 13-inch iPad Air. The company is also releasing a revamped 11-inch iPad Air next week, meaning the tablet will be available in two sizes for the first time. The 13-inch iPad Air has 30 percent more screen real estate than its smaller counterpart, so Apple is marketing it as being for multitasking and applications like iPadOS' Split View. During its Let Loose event today, Apple said it decided to release a 13-inch iPad Air because "about half" of iPad Pro users opt for the larger (12.9 inches vers ..read more

Enlarge / The promotional image for Apple's May 7 event. (credit: Apple) On May 7, Apple will host a product announcement event at 9 am ET. Labeled "Let loose," we expect it will focus on new iPads and iPad accessories. We won't be liveblogging the stream, but you can expect some news coverage as it happens. Below, we'll go over our educated guesses about why Apple might be doing this. Why hold an event now? It's unusual for Apple to host an event shortly before WWDC. New products debut at that event all the time, so if it's just a faster chip and a nicer screen for the iPad Pro and iPad Air ..read more

Enlarge / The Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. (credit: Anadolu AgencyGetty) Apple's earnings report for the second quarter of the company's 2024 fiscal year showed a slide in hardware sales, especially for the iPhone. Nonetheless, Apple beat analysts' estimates for the quarter thanks to the company's rapidly growing services revenue. iPhone revenue dropped from $51.33 billion in the same quarter last year to $45.96 billion, a fall of about 10 percent. This was the second consecutive quarter with declining iPhone revenues. That said, investors feared a sharp drop before the earnin ..read more