Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsBloom! ...on an otherwise very nice device.
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2021
Very fast, very capable, great screen.
Coming from a 3rd gen iPad Pro 12.9”, this is not as big of an improvement as I thought it would be.
Yes, this is faster but unless you’re a pro or gamer, you probably won’t notice a big difference from the chips a few years ago.
The picture, taken on my iPhone XS max, shows a comparison between the 3rd gen iPad Pro 12.9 from 2018 (right) and the new one (left). As you can see in the picture, the contrast ratio is much better on the new, 5th gen iPad Pro 12.9. It’s a little hard to capture on the iPhone but the colors and look of HDR content is excellent.
What Apple doesn’t tell you about is the bloom around text and controls on dark screens. It is not quite as bad as this picture makes it appear but it is still quite annoying. Personally, I find the lack of contrast in the older screen more annoying than the bloom in the new one, so I’ll stick with a new one.
The other thing that Apple doesn’t tell you is that this new iPad is heavier than the old one by about 50g. It’s not a dealbreaker but it is noticeable.
I would say this is definitely an improvement but had I known what I do now, I would’ve just kept my old one for another year or two.
I took off two stars because I mainly updated for the screen and Apple really wasn’t honest about light bloom levels. This is really an excellent device; I just don’t like false advertising and expected better.
