Apple Demos iPad Pro’s New Keyboard Trackpad And A Redesigned Cursor
By Mikelle Leow, 19 Mar 2020
Image via Apple Newsroom
Apple unexpectedly dropped a new iPad Pro on Wednesday, and for the first time ever, it’s been augmented with trackpad and mouse support.
To offer a closer look at the new features, Apple’s software engineering chief Craig Federighi demonstrated the new Magic Keyboard’s trackpad on the iPad Pro, explaining in a video that the company imagined to upgrade the iPad with “versatility… built on the power of touch.”
iPad users will understand the frustration of editing text on their displays, and the many finger gestures Apple introduced for text selection on iPadOS isn’t helping. All will be made simpler with the Magic Keyboard’s trackpad, which Federighi said will streamline the typing process and make text selection, formatting, and dragging and dropping “super easy.”
The new Magic Keyboard, which gets trackpad support through the iPadOS 13.4 software, won’t come cheap, unfortunately. It will be priced at US$299 for the 11-inch tablet and US$349 for the 12.9-inch variation.
While Apple has allowed mouse support in the iPad for a while (it was hidden in the accessibility settings), the company finally announced it as an official feature with the new iPad Pro.
Federighi said the tech giant envisioned the cursor for a “touch-first environment.” Instead of an arrow, it is now a circle to mirror a fingertip.
The cursor is invisible when not in use, and only appears when you touch your trackpad or mouse. To indicate possible selections, the circle turns into a square when hovering an actionable element on the Home screen or in apps.
Take a closer look at these massive upgrades in the video demo below.
For more related news on tablets, head here.
Specs at a glance (11-inch iPad Pro)
Launch | 18 March 2020 |
Price | US$799 (Wifi), US$949 (WiFi + Cellular) |
Finish | Silver, Space Gray |
Capacity | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB |
Weight | 1.04 lb (Wi-Fi), 1.04lb (Wi-Fi + Cellular) |
Display | Liquid Retina display 11-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi‑Touch display with IPS technology 2388-by-1668-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi) ProMotion technology Wide color display (P3) True Tone display Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating Fully laminated display Anti-reflective coating 600 nits brightness |
Chip | A12Z Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture Neural Engine Embedded M12 coprocessor |
Rear camera | Wide: 12MP, ƒ/1.8 aperture Ultra Wide: 10MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture, and 125° field of view 2x optical zoom out; digital zoom up to 5x Panorama (up to 63MP) |
Front camera | 7MP Portrait mode Portrait Lighting 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps Retina Flash ƒ/2.2 aperture Smart HDR |
SIM card | Nano-SIM, eSIM |
Face ID | Yes |
Charging | USB-C |
Battery | 28.65-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery Up to 10h of surfing on the web or watching video on Wi-Fi Up to 9h of surfing on the web on cellular network |
Specs at a glance (12.9-inch iPad Pro)
Launch | 18 March 2020 |
Price | US$999 (Wi-Fi), US$1,149 (Wi-Fi + Cellular) |
Finish | Silver, Space Gray |
Capacity | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB |
Weight | 1.41 lb (Wi-Fi), 1.42 lb (Wi-Fi + Cellular) |
Display | Liquid Retina display 12.9-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi‑Touch display with IPS technology 2732-by-2048-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi) ProMotion technology Wide color display (P3) True Tone display Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating Fully laminated display Anti-reflective coating 600 nits brightness |
Chip | A12Z Bionic chip with 64-bit architecture Neural Engine Embedded M12 coprocessor |
Rear camera | Wide: 12MP, ƒ/1.8 aperture Ultra Wide: 10MP, ƒ/2.4 aperture, and 125° field of view 2x optical zoom out; digital zoom up to 5x Panorama (up to 63MP) |
Front camera | 7MP Portrait mode Portrait Lighting 1080p HD video recording at 30 fps or 60 fps Retina Flash ƒ/2.2 aperture Smart HDR |
SIM card | Nano-SIM, eSIM |
Face ID | Yes |
Charging | USB-C |
Battery | 36.71-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery Up to 10h of surfing on the web or watching video on Wi-Fi Up to 9h of surfing on the web on cellular network |
[via Six Colors, cover image via Apple Newsroom]