12.9–inch iPad Pro (2021)

Apple’s largest tablet is better than ever — if you can afford it

- By Rob Mead-Green

1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1,600 nits of peak brightness, P3 wide color, True Tone, and ProMotion… the XDR Liquid Retina display looks incredible.

Features 12.9–inch Liquid Retina XDR display (2732x2048 pixels), Apple M1 chip (8–core CPU, 8–core GPU), 8GB of memory (128GB, 256GB and 512GB)/16GB of memory (1TB and 2TB), up to 2TB of storage, Pro camera system with 12MP Wide and 10MP Ultra Wide lenses, 12MP True Depth camera, Wi–Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0, Face ID, Thunderbolt/USB 4 port, 40.88w/hr battery with up to 10 hours battery life

Big things are happening to Apple’s biggest tablet. The 12.9– inch model on test here now sports the M1 — the same Apple silicon System on Chip (SoC) found on the Mac mini, MacBook Air, 13–inch MacBook Pro, and 24–inch iMac.

The 2021 iPad Pro also includes a much-improved display. Dubbed the Liquid Retina XDR display, it features 10,000 mini LEDs with 2,596 local dimming zones for improved color fidelity and brightness — up to 1,600cd/m2 in fact — and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio.

Like its Mac siblings, the 12.9–inch iPad Pro also now comes with a Thunderbolt/USB 4 port connection, enabling you to connect a huge range of peripherals — from Thunderbolt docks and displays to external drives, making it much more flexible.