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2020 iPad Pro Confirmed to Lack a U1 Ultra Wideband Chip
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I also don’t have it and the 2020 seems like a bad purchase if you could get a cheaper refurb 2018. They’re roughly the same device.
You make it sound like I can just pick up a refurbished ipad off the corner of the street. What are the odds you can find one in the exact spec that you want? For most people who get their tech from retail stores, the 2020 ipad is the most accessible option there is.
That depends on your level of urgency. If you need it tomorrow then understandably you’ll pick a new one off the shelf and pony up the extra cost. For users like myself who’ve been waiting for some time already and our current devices work fine (10.5” iPad Pro here) I don’t mind holding on for a desirably spec’d refurb or even better, for a real update to come along.
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I don’t buy 2nd hand and quite frankly the prices aren’t much different and I wanted 128GB which the new model has and more ram.
Refurbished and 2nd hand aren’t always great options
How long is a piece of string? Nobody knows when it will be updated next. Could be 6 months or end of 2021 now. New tech is always around the corner and you could be waiting even longer nobody knows
I find the price difference significant, in Germany at least. With regard to quality, it's impeccable. Do you think you're getting a new device if you're eligible for a guarantee-covered device swap? It's a refurb. And given Apple's pricing, I think refurbs are a no brainer. 2nd hand is a different story.
Entirely up to you. I cannot assume what is your level of necessity and/or budget. In my case even the 2018 refurb feels like a superfluous indulgence given my 2017 Pro works fine and my daily driver is a Mac. New tech is always around the corner which is also why I'd rather wait until a more compelling upgrade comes round that corner that will really feel like a bang for my buck, because the 2020 iPP honestly does not. Let's also not ignore that a lot of people will have to strap their budgets and planning due to covid, which will affect that urge(ncy) to upgrade significantly.
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Here in the UK the difference is about £100 for a refurb 12.9 model. So for me not really a big difference to not get a brand new model. Plus I do like more ram and this has helped in certain tasks now that i use this as my laptop replacement
I do agree the 2020 isn‘t really worth it if you have a recent model...if i had a 2018 model i wouldn’t have upgraded either
More RAM
More storage
Wifi 6
Better Mic
Lidar
Better Camera
Better GPU
Same price
If you found a really good 2018 deal okay why not, but for 100$ more the 2020 iPad is a far better deal IMHO
The extra ram is a big bump in real world usage, maybe it’s not a bump for benchmark, but personally I couldn’t care less about benchmarks
RAM I get, but for storage I wouldn't trade down from the 256GB I already got so no difference there. Wifi 6 is good to have. GPU results are comparable with the 2018 iPP (which is already stellar) because sometimes benchmarks kinda do matter.
Of course it would be the same price as 2018. Barely anything changed, and it's a super expensive product to begin with, if you also factor in the peripherals.
Mic, Lidar, Camera, I don't care about at all and I presume most users don't either. Since I bought my iPP in October 2017 I don't think I've used the camera more than twice in total.
So, in my case, I'd feel like I'm paying more for nothing.
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Realistically, the people have no problems if Apple can update the products semi-annually with a price drop due to lower production costs.
WIFI 6 is a major improvement for penetrating thicker dead spots.
The price for the 256Gb dropped so yes the storage as increased for everybody not only the base model
GPU is better, even in benchmarks, it’s the only point where the 2018 beats the 2020. 8 cores vs 7 cores
Good for you, but for me it’s a really nice update, the 2018 is super good, this one is even better, I don’t have any complaints for the moment and to be honest I prefer double storage on the base model and more ram rather than a A13X which makes for me 0 difference for my usage, of course if this update had included an A13X it would have been the cherry on the cake, but we can’t ask for too much
Yeah I’m glad I upgraded to my 12.9 2018 iPad Pro, tho I still use my 10.5 iPad Pro. I simply can’t see Apple pushing out many expensive products this year in light of COVID-19, and the uncertainty of when people return to work and a sense of normalcy returns. Could be 3 months, could be 18 months. We don‘t know yet, but the part that bothers me, is I don’t believe we will see a roaring come back economically for many people, which means expensive Apple product purchases are on the back burner for a while.
No.I copied and pasted my original post from a thread earlier this week on the iPad Pro 4th generation
Regarding the storage options on the iPad Pro Line up:
iPad Pro 1st generation had a storage options of 32gb, 128gb, and 256gb
iPad Pro 2nd generation had storage options of 64gb, 256gb, and 512gb
iPad Pro 3rd generation had storage options of 64gb, 256gb,512gb, and 1tb
iPad pro 4th generation has storage options of 128gb, 256gb,512gb, and 1tb
I know that 128gb storage isn't revolutionary. What is great about it though is Apple is now giving those who buy the base model 128gb storage. Whereas, on previous generations base storage was 32gb or 64gb for base model. Also the 4th generation base model didn't increase in price going from 3rd gen to 4th gen yet apple still gave double the storage for the base model so that's pretty cool. Although the 2nd gen iPad Pro did increase in price going from 2nd to 3rd generation.
What you missed was that 6gb was on the iPad Pro 3rd generation, but only on 1TB iPad Pro 3rd gen. The 64,256,and 512gb iPad Pro 3rd generation got only 4gb.
Now on the iPad Pro 4th generation every single model 128gb,256gb,512gb, and of course 1tb get 6gb of Ram. That's pretty neat for those NOT buying the 1tb model.
As mentioned you're going from a single to a dual camera. Also the rear camera is now for the first time in an iPad wide lens and ultra wide lens.
I know the LiDAR scanner was mentioned but it does a lot of cool things especially for those interested in augmented reality.
LiDAR Scanner measures the distance to surrounding objects up to 5 meters away, works both indoors and outdoors, and operates at the photo level. New depth frameworks measured by the LiDAR Scanner, data from both cameras and motion sensors, and is enhanced by computer vision algorithms on the A12Z Bionic for a more detailed understanding of a scene. The tight integration of these elements enables a whole new class of AR experiences on iPad Pro.
As mentioned Five “studio quality” microphones: offers improvements in sound in some scenarios and offers no improvements in other scenarios. Overall, the studio microphones aren't a major improvement, but they are an improvement albeit a very very very small one.
Wifi 6 as mentioned is new to this 4th generation iPad.
wifi6 is awesome here is more info on it: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/21/18232026/wi-fi-6-speed-explained-router-wifi-how-does-work
U1 chip -ultra wideband was first introduced in the iPhone 11 and is now being introduced in the 4th gen iPad pro
Apple U1 ultra wideband chip will give AirDrop “spatial awareness” capabilities, so it can recongnize an iPhone you are pointing at. UWB can track proximity up to 20cm by measuring the time it takes for a radio signal to pass between two connected devices. While it is slower than WiFi, UWB is much faster than Bluetooth. It is also less vulnerable to interference, as its signals can pass more easily through the walls of a room. It's like a radar. Which is why UWB is useful for finding lost keys or wallets using tags such as the Bluetooth-based Tile.
A12Z: GPU upgrade (meh but sure why not) same as previous with some core unlocked?
Not sure if the GPU upgrade is because a core is unlocked. Although I am not ruling that out. Regardless the 12x chip utilizes 7 cores and the 12z utilizes 8 cores. Thus, the small GPU improvement. The CPU is most likely exactly the same between both chips.
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the 2020 iPad Pro scored 712,218 points — slightly higher than the 705,585 points scored by the 2018 iPad Pro and its A12X Bionic chip. A breakdown of the benchmark scores indicates the CPU performance of the A12Z and the A12X Bionic chips are nearly the same — 186,186 for the A12Z vs 187,572 for the A12X Bionic. The GPU performance has seen a slight uplift for the A12Z Bionic as it scored 373,781 compared to 345,016 for the A12X Bionic. Apple itself had made it clear that the A12Z Bionic chip uses an 8-core GPU versus 7-core GPU on A12X which explains the improvement in performance.
2020 iPad Pro Benchmark Shows A12Z Bionic Offering Similar Performance as A12X Bionic
The first benchmark scores of the A12Z Bionic chip inside the 2020 iPad Pro have made their way to the internet. It looks like the chip does not bring that big of an improvement in performance compared to the A12Xaaawww.iphonehacks.com
Overall, the upgraded features in the 4th gen iPad Pro aren't groundbreaking especially for those coming from an iPad Pro 3rd gen. However, there are several really cool improvements like U1 Ultra wideband chip, WifI 6 etc. that some here don't seem to realize, understand, or acknowledge.
So we learned that the U1 Ultra wide-band chip is not in the new 2020 iPad Pros disappointing for sure. There are still alot of cool additions. Again the new things adding to this 2020 iPad is not groundbreaking or revolutionary. But the additional Ram,higher base model storage, WiFi 6, the studio quality microphones, the extra core in the chip for better graphics, the lidar scanner, better rear cameras that are wide and ultra wide angle are all welcome additions.
Here's my opinion on what they should have done
they should have added the U1 chip to the 2020 iPads
They should have kept the 3rd gen 2018 iPad Pro around for sale and drop the price to $649 for the 11 inch base model and $849 for the base model. Which would give $150 savings off the newer 2020 iPad Pro models.
Now below is the new part of my post that I am adding to this post for the first time:
I disagree the extra ram let me keep open more apps at the same time without having to refresh, the dual rear camera is quite a bit better than the rear camera on the 2018 iPad, the new lidar sensor allows me to measure objects quickly and more accurately,The new "studio quality" michrophones actually give better sound in some, but not all instances, the extra core allows me to have slightly better gaming experience, and wifi 6 is a big deal for me cause I just ordered a wifi 6 modem a few days ago. Thus, my 2020 iPad should be able to see faster wifi speed once my new wifi 6 router comes in. Which will compliment my iPhone 11 Pro which has a wifi 6 modem in it as well.
So Yes I know this 2020 iPad isn't groundbreaking, but there are some neat improvements.
I bet Apple only released this so that developers could adapt their apps to take advantage of the LIDAR sensor and extra RAM(new iPad Pro has 6GB on all variants now), in preparation for iPhone 12 Pro getting the same treatment, 6GB RAM + LIDAR sensor.
Or, Apple will do another refresh in October 2020, adding U1 chip, an A13X or even A14X CPU, and 5G. Meaning that this iPad Pro is only a stop-gap measure to keep sales going.
Or, Apple will do another refresh in October 2020, adding U1 chip, an A13X or even A14X CPU, and 5G. Meaning that this iPad Pro is only a stop-gap measure to keep sales going.