Apple announces new iPad Pro with M4, iPad Air tablets
Apple on Tuesday announced new versions of its iPad Air and iPad Pro tablets.
“This is the biggest day for iPad since its introduction,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a short video posted on the company’s website.
The new iPad models are the first Apple has released since October 2022, marking the longest stretch between updates since the device launched in 2011.
Apple’s new iPad Pro comes in two sizes, and starts at $999. It also has a new add-on case called Smart Keyboard that makes it feel like a laptop.
The iPad Pro, Apple’s most expensive and advanced tablet, will come in two sizes, an 11-inch model and a 13-inch model, Apple said. The company called the product its thinnest ever, coming in at 5.1 millimeters thick.
The smaller iPad Pro starts at $999, and the larger 13-inch model starts at $1,299 with 256GB of storage, a slight price increase from its predecessor.
The iPad Pro will snap into a new case that Apple calls Magic Keyboard, which is made out of aluminum and pairs the tablet with a keyboard and trackpad. Apple said that using the case will make using an iPad Pro feel similar to a laptop experience, i.e., “just like a MacBook.”
Apple’s new Magic Keyboard accessory.
CNBC/Todd Haselton
The Magic Keyboard will cost $249 or $299, depending on size. Apple also announced an updated stylus called the Apple Pencil Pro for $129.
The fresh iPad models use a new Apple chip called the M4, an update from the M3 chips that currently power Apple’s laptops. Apple said that the M4 chip was an “outrageously powerful chip for AI,” noting, as an example, its ability to help power software that isolates subjects from their backgrounds in videos.
“This stunning design and breakthrough display required we make the leap to the next generation of Apple silicon,” John Ternus, an Apple hardware executive, said.
Apple’s new iPad Pro from the back.
CNBC/Todd Haselton
Apple said its iPad Pro tablets will use a new kind of display called the OLED — the same technology Apple uses on its iPhones — and that the new tablets will be brighter and have more vibrant colors than older models. The company also said it developed a technology called “tandem OLED” to create the screens, which are branded as Ultra Retina XDR.
The company said the iPad Pro could be a useful tool for professional video producers, and announced a new app called Final Cut Camera that can control multiple iPhone cameras. The iPad Pro comes with a 12 megapixel rear camera that can record 4K video, according to Apple. The company also announced an update to the camera’s flash, which should make scanning documents easier.
The new tablets and accessories are up for preorder now and will go on sale next week.
Apple’s iPad Air starts at $599 and was updated with a faster M2 chip.
CNBC/Todd Haselton
Apple said the iPad Air will come in two sizes: an 11-inch option that matches older models and a larger 13-inch model. Both are equipped with Apple’s M2 chip. The smaller iPad costs $599 for 128GB of storage, and the larger iPad starts at $799.
Apple has also moved the front-facing camera to the longer side of the device — landscape mode — to be better for videoconferencing, matching the more expensive iPad Pro models.
The iPad Air will be available in stores next week and comes in a variety of colors, including blue, purple and gold.
Apple also dropped the price of its entry-level iPad to $349, down from its previous $429 price.
Technology
Figure AI sued by whistleblower who warned that startup’s robots could ‘fracture a human skull’
Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots.
Figure AI
Figure AI, an Nvidia-backed developer of humanoid robots, was sued by the startup’s former head of product safety who alleged that he was wrongfully terminated after warning top executives that the company’s robots “were powerful enough to fracture a human skull.”
Robert Gruendel, a principal robotic safety engineer, is the plaintiff in the suit filed Friday in a federal court in the Northern District of California. Gruendel’s attorneys describe their client as a whistleblower who was fired in September, days after lodging his “most direct and documented safety complaints.”
The suit lands two months after Figure was valued at $39 billion in a funding round led by Parkway Venture Capital. That’s a 15-fold increase in valuation from early 2024, when the company raised a round from investors including Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Microsoft.
In the complaint, Gruendel’s lawyers say the plaintiff warned Figure CEO Brett Adcock and Kyle Edelberg, chief engineer, about the robot’s lethal capabilities, and said one “had already carved a ¼-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door during a malfunction.”
The complaint also says Gruendel warned company leaders not to “downgrade” a “safety road map” that he had been asked to present to two prospective investors who ended up funding the company.
Gruendel worried that a “product safety plan which contributed to their decision to invest” had been “gutted” the same month Figure closed the investment round, a move that “could be interpreted as fraudulent,” the suit says.
The plaintiff’s concerns were “treated as obstacles, not obligations,” and the company cited a “vague ‘change in business direction’ as the pretext” for his termination, according to the suit.
Gruendel is seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages and demanding a jury trial.
Figure didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Nor did attorneys for Gruendel.
The humanoid robot market remains nascent today, with companies like Tesla and Boston Dynamics pursuing futuristic offerings, alongside Figure, while China’s Unitree Robotics is preparing for an IPO. Morgan Stanley said in a report in May that adoption is “likely to accelerate in the 2030s” and could top $5 trillion by 2050.
Read the filing here:
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