Sometimes you've got to put the cart before the horse.
For Apple it seems the latest iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Pro are such a big leap forward there's almost not enough ways to demonstrate their potential today.
Nevertheless I've got all the products Apple announced last week and they are nothing short of impressive.
Expanding the iPad Air
Apple admitted during its announcement last week that the iPad Air, a device that sits between the standard iPad and the iPad Pro, is in fact the beneficiary of the advanced features of the iPad Pro but from a generation or two ago.
To that end, the company quite unusually spoke about the sales between the 11-inch iPad Pro and the 13-inch model, saying it was basically a 50/50 proposition.
With that knowledge, it appears Apple is seeking to capitalise on demand for larger screens by introducing a 13-inch iPad Air.
Both devices feature an upgraded chipset, running the Apple Silicon M2 processor but the larger model starts at $1299, $300 above the 11-inch iPad Air.
This brings pro-level power and performance to a mid-range price point.
The move to a larger screen for the iPad Air could result in a solid spike in sales for Apple, in a market that has stagnated.
Sales are now driven primarily by existing users upgrading older devices, which is problematic for Apple when the iPad has a long life in most homes when looked after well.
The 13-inch iPad Air is a reason to upgrade, even if your existing device is functioning just fine.
Desktop power in the new iPad Pro
It was during the announcement of the top-end iPad Pro that Apple got its best reaction from the invited crowd at its new UK HQ in the restored Battersea Power Station.
When announcing the upgraded brains for the iPad Pro, Apple shocked everyone by jumping from the existing M2 processor and skipping the M3 chip currently in its popular MacBook Air, instead revealing a brand new chip: the M4.
Apple said the M3 wasn't capable enough of powering the device it had created. In the new dual OLED screen, both OLED panels are sandwiched on top of each other, both pushing out bright light per pixel to achieve a peak brightness of 1600 nits, and across the screen 1000 nits.
The new M4 processor has a display engine built-in for this purpose, though that raises questions about the scalability of the M4 across other less display-intensive devices.
That said, bring it on. This screen is spectacular. Rich colours, great contrast between the blacks and colours - and as a result of the use of OLED - the entire device is just 5.1 millimetres thick.
That's about the thickness of the metal contacts on a USB stick, or a $1 and $2 coin stacked on top of each other.
Apple iPad Pro with M4 specs and benchmarks
When benchmarking the Apple Silicon M4 processor against previous Apple devices, the scores are staggering.
A Multi-core CPU result of 14,370 compares to 9622 on the previous generation iPad Pro with M2. For context, the M1-powered iPad Pro before that scored 8160.
Single-Core results came in at 3,696, compared to 2,908 of the iPhone 15 Pro, and 2,534 of the iPad Pro with M2. Again, the jump from M2 to M4 is remarkable compared to the 269-point jump from M1 to M2.
The single most powerful and impressive thing I did on the iPad Pro was in music production software Logic Pro.
Updated for iPad, it now allows a range of things, like the creation of AI session musicians to play along with your track, and, and get this - the separation of vocals, drums, guitar and "other" from any track.
I fed in audio from a cassette recording from 30 years ago and the app separated it with ease. Utterly brilliant.
This feels not unlike the time we looked back on the iPhone and considered that it could do things Steve Jobs simply never imagined when he announced it.
When developers really get hold of this, it will be amazing to see what they come up with.
Re-thinking the Apple Pencil
The final piece of the creative puzzle for iPad users and this next generation of pro-level devices is an upgrade to Apple Pencil - Apple Pencil Pro.
It's similar to the second generation in terms of design but with a redesigned charging area to allow for the centred Face ID on the longer side. A lot of thought and feedback, it seems, has gone into this one.
Firstly, the magnetic attachment seems much stronger. That's impressive.
Additionally, you can now press and squeeze the end you hold to bring up the "pencil" menu within supported apps.
Of course, apps will interpret this command in their own way - we have to wait and see what that will be - but for now the demonstrations indicate some cool ideas from creative app creators like Procreate.
There's a gentle haptic feedback in the pencil when you squeeze, and it really feels quite natural.
Perhaps the main party trick of the Apple Pencil Pro is the barrel roll. When you roll the Pencil side to side the tool you are using rolls with it.
This will be used powerfully in design apps, but who's to say it won't also be used in games or productivity apps.
Finally, you'll notice a shadow on your screen. It's not real. As part of the hover of the pencil above the screen, an iOS generated "shadow" follows your pencil around.
These are three great devices. The iPad Pro is a standout, but some will upgrade to the Air for the size and the new Apple Pencil.
