Apple's "Let Loose" event kicks off today at the unusual time of 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and we're expecting to see an iPad-focused event with new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, updated Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories, and perhaps some other announcements.
Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We will also be updating this article with live blog coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the event unfolds. Highlights from the event and separate news stories regarding today's announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account.
Apple's online store was taken down approximately 30 minutes ahead of the event.
Sign up for our newsletter to keep up with Apple news and rumors.
Live blog transcript ahead...
6:31 am:
Take note! I’m so excited for you to join us for today's #AppleEvent at 7am PT. Tune in here: https://t.co/OUTqAbFh1N
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) May 7, 2024
6:41 am: 20 minutes until showtime! This should be a relatively quick event, but grab a coffee and some snacks so you're ready to go.
6:53 am: The stream is live on apple.com, featuring animations of the Apple event logos being drawn.
7:02 am: The event is beginning with a long promotion of the Apple Vision Pro.
7:02 am: "These are just a few examples of the ways Apple Vision Pro is already making an impact in our customer's lives."
7:03 am: Now Tim is talking about the new 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models with M3.
7:03 am: "Now, let's turn our attention to iPad."
7:04 am: "In classrooms around the world. iPad is helping students and teachers bring their lessons and learning to life. From architects to engineers, iPad plays a critical role in helping them get their most important work done in entirely new ways, no matter where they are."
7:04 am: "And we have some huge updates across the lineup."
7:04 am: Starting with iPad Air.
7:04 am: "Designed to make features pioneered on iPad Pro at a more affordable price."
7:05 am: They're focusing on the different types of users who use iPad, from students to creators to small business owners, plus consumers. John is on a subway train giving the presentation, emphasizing the on-the-go abilities of the tablet. Now, a new iPad Air!
7:06 am: Now we zoom to a library. A redesigned 11-inch Air, plus an all-new 13-inch Air.
7:06 am: Liquid Retina display, 11-inch is perfect for some users, but others would prefer a larger screen. Inspired by iPad Pro, where half of users choose a larger screen, we created a new 13-inch model.
7:07 am: Front-facing camera moved to the landscape edge.
7:07 am: Perfect for joining a video conference while using a Magic Keyboard.
7:07 am: 13-inch model has double the bass.
7:08 am: Four colors: New blue, new purple, Starlight and Space Grey. 100% recycled aluminum enclosure.
7:08 am: iPad Air gets M2 processor.
7:08 am: Nearly 50% faster than the previous iPad Air with M1. Compared to iPad Air with A14 Bionic, provides 3x faster performance.
7:08 am: "An incredibly powerful device with AI."
7:09 am: "We're thrilled to amp up performance with M2."
7:09 am: Works with Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil.
7:09 am: Supports Apple Pencil Hover for greater precision.
7:10 am: Starts at 128GB of storage, with more storage options, including 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Still starts at $599, 13-inch starts at $799. Order today, available next week.
7:10 am: Turning attention to the next chapter of iPad Pro.
7:11 am: Walks through a secret door in the library to a mysterious room.
7:11 am: "It's not just for Pros... it's for anyone who wants the best iPad experience."
7:11 am: "We're not only going to push the limits of what you can do on iPad, we're going to crush them."
7:12 am: Games and musical instruments and paint cans are being crushed by a giant press.
7:12 am: Also a TV, camera lenses, a sculpture, and an Angry Birds toy.
7:12 am: The press lifts to show everything has been smashed into an iPad!
7:13 am: "The all-new, impossibly thin, incredibly powerful iPad Pro."
7:13 am: Stunning design, breakthrough display, outrageous performance, and amazing accessories.
7:13 am: With this new design, the vision of iPad as a sheet of glass is brought to life. 11-inch and 13-inch models. Both unbelievably thin, 5.3mm for 11-inch, 13-inch is 5.1mm.
7:14 am: It's even thinner than the iPod Nano, making it the thinnest Apple Product ever.
7:14 am: Two finishes, Silver and Space Black. 100% recycled aluminum enclosures.
7:15 am: OLED comes to iPad for the first time. Pixels generate light and color. A single OLED panel doesn't generate enough brightness, so we developed a state of the art display that uses two OLED panels and combines the light from both to deliver "phenomenal fullscreen brightness". This is called Tandem OLED.
7:15 am: 1000 nits of full-screen brightness for both SDR and HDR brightness. 1600 nits of Peak HDR brightness.
7:15 am: Tandem OLED enables sub-millisecond control over color and luminance. XDR Precision. Brighter specular highlights. Deeper true blacks. More detail in shadows and low light, and more responsive to content in motion.
7:16 am: We're calling it the Ultra Retina XDR, and it's coming to both models. Both sizes of iPad Pro feature our most advanced display technology.
7:16 am: Option for nano-texture glass.
7:17 am: The Ultra Retina XDR display is "the world's most advanced display."
7:17 am: Current iPad Pro uses M2.
7:17 am: "You might expect we'd use the extremely powerful M3. But this required us to make the leap to the next generation of Apple Silicon. M4."
7:17 am: The new Pro jumps from M2 all the way to M4.
7:18 am: M4 represents another big step forward for Apple Silicon. Built on 2nd generation 3nm technology.
7:18 am: M4 includes new display engine, designed with pioneering technology.
7:19 am: Brings phenomenal performance to the new Pro. New CPU and builds on next-gen GPU architecture debuted on M3. Up to 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores. It delivers up to 50% faster CPU performance than the M2 in the previous iPad Pro. 10-core GPU. Hardware accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing to iPad for the first time.
7:19 am: 4x faster pro rendering performance than M2.
7:19 am: Maintains industry-leading performance per watt. Same performance as M2 using half the power.
7:20 am: Compared to the latest PC chip, M4 can deliver the same performance using a quarter of the power.
7:20 am: Neural Engine is an IP block in the chip, dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads. Chip industry is just starting to include NPUs in their processors but we've been including Neural Engines for years. Capable of 38 trillion operations per second. 60x faster than the fist Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic.
7:21 am: Accelerators in the CPU, high-performance GPU, and neural engine make M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI. Can do amazing things even faster.
7:21 am: The neural engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any PC today.
7:22 am: Improved thermal performance by incorporating graphite sheets in the main housing and copper in the Apple logo improves thermal performance by 20%, up to 4x faster than iPad Pro with M2. 10x faster than the original iPad Pro.
7:22 am: iPadOS can precisely match color requirements for color grading.
7:23 am: Uses Core ML frameworks. Powerful apps on the app store. Pro apps like Shaper 3D, and our own pro apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro.
7:23 am: Only a year later, both apps are getting huge updates. Final Cut Pro 2 and Logic Pro 2
7:24 am: Amazing updates that take creativity to the next level.
7:24 am: Final Cut Pro lets you record, edit, and share professional videos on iPad. It absolutely screams with final rendering up to 2x faster than M1.
7:24 am: new feature to speed up your shoot: Live Multicam. Transforms your iPad into a multicam production studio. Live Multicam lets you connect and preview up to 4 cameras at once, from one place.
7:25 am: Dial in exposure, white balance, focus and more from the iPad.
7:25 am: New App: Final Cut Camera
7:25 am: Connect multiple iPhones and iPads to connect different angles, or record professional videos as a free standalone app.
7:25 am: Syncs each multicam angle to move from production to editing.
7:25 am: Can edit projects directly off a drive, leveraging Thunderbolt connection of iPad Pro.
7:26 am: 4x streams of ProRes RAW than M1. Color grades and rendering even faster.
7:26 am: Final Cut Pro 2 transforms iPad Pro into an entirely new production studio.
7:26 am: Logic Pro 2 is so exciting and smarter than ever.
7:27 am: Session Player has new keyboard and string players using AI.
7:28 am: When a producer wants to sample just drums or vocals but doesn't have the original tracks or stems, new feature called stem-splitter. Extracts four parts from existing recorders. Voice, bass, drums, other instruments. Uses M4 to do this on-device.
7:29 am: Great cameras and microphones let users shoot, edit, and share on device. Capture 4K ProRes video using the 12-megapixel back camera. Four studio mics, plus LiDAR scanner. Adaptive TrueTone flash for better document scanning. Solves shadow problem of scanning. If shadows are in the way, it takes multiple photos with the adaptive flash for a better scan. Works with camera app, Files, Notes, and third-party apps.
7:29 am: 12MP moves to landscape edge, just like iPad Air, also FaceID and new charging and pairing system for Apple Pencil.
7:29 am: New Magic Keyboard.
7:30 am: Completely redesigned to be thinner and lighter, same floating design. Two colors that match the new Pro. New features including function row with screen brightness controls, aluminum palm rest, larger track pad with haptic feedback. "Feels just like using a MacBook."
7:30 am: Now, Apple Pencil.
7:31 am: An entirely new Apple Pencil.
7:31 am: Apple Pencil Pro, "it takes the pencil experience to a whole new level."
7:32 am: "We're giving users even more magical capabilities."
New sensor in the barrel to enable new interactions. Squeeze the barrel to bring up a new tool palatte. Haptic engine delivers feedback. Gyroscope lets you roll the pencil for more precise control.
7:32 am: Pencil Pro supports Find My. Pairs, charges, and stores magnetically.
7:32 am: Developers can create their own custom interactions
7:33 am: James Cuda, CEO of Procreate on now to talk about the Apple Pencil Pro.
7:33 am: With barrel roll we can create brushes that respond in entirely new ways. Roll to change size, introduce color, and more.
7:33 am: Make actions without touching the screen.
7:34 am: Select layers by squeezing. Haptic feedback lets you know when your shapes are snapped precisely into alignment.
7:34 am: Move and rotate objects at the same time.
7:35 am: New features in Apple Pencil Pro are revolutionary. Works with new iPad Air as well.
7:36 am: Up to 2TB storage, Thunderbolt/USB 4 support.
7:37 am: Starts at 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB. 11-inch starts at $999, 13-inch at $1299
Magic Keyboard 11-inch $299, 13-inch $349
Apple Pencil Pro: $129
Order today, available next week.
iPad starts at $349.
7:37 am: "We're so excited about this new iPad lineup."
7:37 am: "This is the strongest iPad lineup we've ever had."
7:38 am: "With these new iPads and the introduction of the powerful M4 chip, big upgrades to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro for iPad... it truly is the biggest day for iPad since its introduction. From consumers to pros, iPad lets people take their ideas and their work to new heights."
7:38 am: We look forward to seeing you next month at WWDC where we'll talk about the future of our platforms and share some exciting details about what's to come.
7:38 am: "Thank you for joining us, have a great day!"
7:38 am: "Shot on iPhone, edited on Mac and iPad."
