At the recently concluded "Let Loose" event, Apple announced the new iPad Pro 2024 lineup consisting of the 11-inch and 13-inch variants. The new iPad Pros are powered by the latest M4 processors and are also equipped with "Tandem OLED". In fact, they are the thinnest Apple product ever, rocking a 5.1mm aluminum chassis.
Both the iPad Pro variants come with OLED displays that support a refresh rate as low as 10Hz. However, according to the Apple technical specifications page, the devices still miss out on the always-on-display feature found on the Apple iPhone and the Apple Watch.
The Apple iPad Pro lineup has supported ProMotion since 2017, allowing the screen to refresh up to 120 times a second. While the devices were equipped with a 120Hz display, they could refresh between 24Hz and 120Hz until now. The newer iPad Pro 2024 models make use of the low-power LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) display that lets the display dial down to as low as 10hz for static content such as images, as per display expert Ross Young.
This helps the device conserve more battery. But Apple"s specifications page for the iPad Pro 2024 still claims unchanged battery life compared to the previous iPad Pro models, i.e., up to 10 hours. Apparently, iPhone 13 Pro models also support ProMotion, which ramps down the refresh rate to 10Hz but lacks the always-on-display feature.
The always-on-display feature finally arrived with the iPhone 14 Pro models, whose displays can lower the refresh rate to 1Hz. Apple Watch models with AOD can also reach 1Hz. So, unless and until the displays on the iPad Pro can ramp down the refresh rate to 1Hz, they are unlikely to get the always-on-display feature.
The new generation iPad Pro models are available to order starting today, with the launch slated for Wednesday, May 15th. If you are in doubt if you should upgrade to the latest iPad Pro 2024 models or not, then do consider checking out spec comparisons between the new M4 iPad Pro and the M2 iPad Pro 2022.