New iPad Pro with M2 announced with WiFi 6E and an Apple Pencil “hover” feature

Apple has overnight announced several new products including a new iPad Pro with the latest M2 processor on-board.

Greg Joswiak, Apple Senior VP or Worldwide Marketing says “The next-generation iPad Pro pushes the boundaries of what’s possible on iPad, bringing even more versatility, power, and portability to the ultimate iPad experience,”

“Powered by the M2 chip, the new iPad Pro features incredible performance and the most advanced technologies, including a next-level Apple Pencil hover experience, ProRes video capture, superfast wireless connectivity, and powerful iPadOS 16 features. There’s nothing else like it.”

That “hover” experience, which is new to this generation iPad Pro allows you to hover your Apple Pencil (2nd Gen) up to 12mm above the screen so you can see the mark you’re about to make – before you make it. Great for precision drawing and art, and we’ll likely see apps respond by doing things like enlarging text entry boxes as you “approach” the screen to make using hand writing a lot easier.

Of course the headline is the M2 chip. Around 15 percent faster than the M1, there’s better performance all round from a laptop grade processor

For video editors, working on the iPad Pro takes full advantage of that M2 Chip, transcoding ProRes footage up to 3 times faster.

In a first for Apple, the new iPad Pro also supports WiFi 6E – something even the iPhone 14 doesn’t have.

This means faster downloads, but importantly a more efficient connection on advanced WiFi 6E routers, working without the congestion of other devices.

New iPad Pro is available to order today available October 27, starting at $1,399, or $1,649 for the 5G model. The larger 12.9 inch starts at $1,899 and $2,149 for the 5G.