As rugged tablets go, the Lenovo Think Tab X11 is as tough as they come. The first Android-based rugged device from Lenovo, this is a chunky yet capable business buddy that can keep you connected when you're out in the field.

It's a rugged tablet for frontline workers – in the box, you get a thick tablet, an even thicker case with a port for the Tab Pen XE, and a battery that's separated from the device. The back of the tablet pops off with a bit of effort (we used a tool to pry it off as it was quite tough), and the battery simply slots in.

Lenovo Think Tab X11: Design

The Think Tab X11 is not your everyday tablet. It's a rugged model (with its own sturdy case) built to withstand life out in the real world. So frontline workers, wherever their front line is, be that a construction site, a remote wilderness location, or a busy retail environment. This is the first Android-powered rugged tablet for the Think brand, and it's got MIL-STD-810H certification, with a Snapdragon 7s chip.

You get a 10.95in display, a rather thick chassis (9.93mm), and dual USB ports. It's also quite heavy at 650g, but that's what rugged devices tend to be. As such, it is a hefty slab to hold – you definitely need two hands to take steady photos with the 13MP camera. And you might get an aching hand if you hold it for too long. What this already really means, though, is that you will not once be concerned about it breaking when you're on site.

Lenovo Think Tab X11: Display

The 10.95in display is a 2,5k IPS LCD panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. The screen is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass and, much like the rest of the device, feels very sturdy. The display also supports glove and wet-touch input, which is a great addition as there's nothing worse than having to take a glove off in the freezing cold. And also, some workspaces will make glove-wearing mandatory.

As always, an OLED panel might have been a good option, as you just get better quality – brighter colors and truly inky blacks – but the IPS panel here is fairly good. You get a nice, rounded balance of colors, and the panel itself is very bright, peaking at 538.13 cd/m2 in our test. An OLED panel might have also driven the price up.

Lenovo Think Tab X11: Specs and performance

The Think Tab X11 houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 (4nm), which is paired with 8GB of RAM. The 7s is a mid-range chip that is meant to bridge the gap between affordability and premium features, so it aims to bring generative AI and the like to a cheaper smartphone or tablet. And it largely does that on the Think Tab X11.

In Geekbench 6, for example, the Tab scored 1,163 for single-core and 3,356 for multi-threaded performance. Admittedly, there isn't a great deal between the two, but this is a capable tablet, and we didn't notice any lag in its performance or any sluggishness with apps and features.

In our looped video test, the Think Tab's 10,200mAh battery lasted 14hrs and 29mins. However, that test is intentionally intensive, and our own experience of using the Tab X11 was more impressive. Without charge, the device lasted two full working days, with just 5% left when clocking off.

So this isn't going to set the world alight or break any benchmarks. But for a rugged workplace device, it more than holds its own. You will not be caught short in the middle of nowhere – the X11 won't let you down.

Lenovo Think Tab X11: Features

The Tab X11 has a full set of very standard features – fingerprint sensor, Wi-Fi6E, Bluetooth 5.4 – but also a few more unusual features that make it so great for use out in the real world. Features such as dual USB ports, which are very unusual for a tablet. These are both USB Type-C 3.2, with one just simple for power and the other having data transfer. You also have a headphone jack and a microSD card reader on the Think Tab X11, which makes it one of the best-connected tablets ITPro has seen in a long while.

There are also management features that set this apart from your average tablet. With the Lenovo Vantage Pro, you can enrol the device remotely, add all your necessary apps and settings, and monitor it in real time – which is great for rugged tablets as they can be a risk if lost on site. IT teams can enforce security policies and wipe them, if needed, from a single dashboard.

Another unusual addition, largely due to how it looks, is the Tab Pen XE. ITPro is rather more used to an artistic stylus, and the Pen XE is very much a rugged pen. But it's easy to use, comfortable in the hand, and highly capable. You're not going to be making detailed works of art here, but you can quite easily make technical sketches, detailed notes, and simple annotations out in the field. It's also unmistakably Lenovo with a red circle at the top. You need to connect the rugged case to house the stylus with the pen.

Lenovo Think Tab X11: Is it worth it?

If you're out on site or you have teams in remote locations that need touchscreens, then the answer here is resoundingly yes. The Think Tab X11 is small but mighty, with its brick-like build and reinforced structure. The touchscreen is decent, and the Pen XE is also highly capable.

There are some good additions as well, like the 13MP camera, the optional case, and the enterprise-grade remote controls and protocols. It's as good a rugged tablet as ITPro has ever reviewed. And, although the battery is a little bit of a chore to get into the machine, the fact that you can is great for longevity and sustainability.

Lenovo Think Tab X11 specifications

The Huawei MatePad Pro Max is coming to the UK. To most of Europe, in fact. And this is great news for those of us who want alternatives to Apple and Samsung. Now, some cynics might see this as just another tech brand adding the same combination of words (Pro, Max) on their device to make it sound bigger and better. But having used the Pro Max for a week, I can honestly say this is a tablet worthy of those titles.

To begin with, it's impossibly thin at just 4.7mm – the thinnest 13in tablet in the world, according to Huawei – certainly slimmer than any recent tablet tested by ITPro. But it's also just simply great to work with. The bright display has Huawei's PaperMatte technology, and with the Huawei M-Pencil, it gives you that true-to-life pencil-on-paper feel.

Huawei aims its MatePads at both consumers and business people, and there is a solid argument that this can be a laptop replacement – particularly as Huawei's actual laptop business has stalled in the Western world. For me, however, this is a bona fide creative powerhouse. That Huawei M-Pen and the GoPaint app make it arguably one of the best around for creators.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max: Design

The MatePad Pro Max is a 13.2in tablet, encased in a very sleek-looking metal body. Our review unit is a soft satin blue with the thinnest of frames (4.7mm) and some of the smoothest corners I've seen on a tablet. It weighs just 509g, feels very comfortable in just one hand, and goes in and out of a rucksack or bag with zero effort.

The back cover has a sort of two-tone finish thanks to nano-level coating on top of its metal body. It creates a pleasing light and shadow effect that allows the features (shiny Huawei logo, camera bump) to stand out. In the top corner is a black camera ring with an 'AI Camera' logo. And at the bottom (in portrait) is a USB Type-C port flanked by two sets of speaker holes. In the same corner as the camera, there is a volume rocker and a power button.

Pogo pins connect the Huawei's NearLink Keyboard, which is connected right out of the box, and there is also a trench to house your M-Pencil. You can also connect the pen to the top of the laptop (in landscape), where there is a small, thin oblong to indicate its docking position. Whether on top or on the keyboard, the pen will charge.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max: Display

By now, we should all know about Huawei's PaperMatte technology, which again features on its premium tablet. For the uninitiated, it's a micro-layer that provides both anti-glare cover and gives that feel of pen on paper – ReMarkable, and its Paper Pro (and Pure) tablets are, in my opinion, the most paper-like, but the Huawei MatePad Pro Max is as close as you can get on a more traditional tablet. Combine that with the Huawei M-Pencil Pro, and you can really create quite striking illustrations (more on this further down).

The 13.2in display is a Flexible OLED panel, with a 3000 x 2000 resolution, and 273 ppi. It's gloriously large and vibrant, and, as I mentioned above, there is hardly any glare on this matte finish. You also get lots of brightness with the tablet peaking at 603.32cd/m2 during my tests. Huawei says it can achieve 16oo nits, which actually suggests it's capable of a lot more.

Colour reproduction is also good. In our tests, the Pro Max produced 98.2% for sRGB gamut color coverage and 100.5% for volume. That's slightly above the M5 iPad Pro for color coverage (97.3%). It just missed out on a good Adobe score, ever so slightly under 70%, which is the threshold for us to recommend it for photography professionals. Though this is perfectly suitable for illustrators and graphic designers.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max: Specs and performance

Much of this quality comes from the powerful processor in the MatePad Pro Max. It features a Kirin T93 Pro, but unfortunately, we can't get a specific benchmark for that as Geekbench isn't available on the Huawei App Gallery. You can, of course, use certain pathways to get Google Apps on Huawei devices. For more, check out our explainer video.

As for the T93 Pro, it appears to be a very smooth CPU, powering a wealth of functions and features with ease. And although we don't have a specific benchmark, the Pro Max is highly responsive, fast through tasks, and works faultlessly through its many pre-installed apps.

On that topic, there are way too many apps installed out of the box, some you will never open, not even for curiosity's sake. But it's getting better and better when it comes to adding your favorites. With each interaction of MatePad, I have found finding and installing Netflix, Spotify, and even Slack a little bit easier.

The battery is fairly decent, too. In our looped video test, the MatePad Pro Max lasted 14hrs and 11min. Which is near enough to the likes of the OnePlus Pad 3 and the Honor MagicPad 4 to be competitive. In real terms, it easily makes it through a working day.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max: Features

In my view, where this tablet has its biggest selling point is the combination of the Huawei M-Pencil Pro, the PaperMatte display, and the GoPaint app – all of which make it a formidable creative hub. With each of those elements, you can really create quite striking illustrations.

The pen feels natural in the hand, it has innovative shortcuts, and pressure-sensitive controls. It both glides across the surface for adding color, but then has slight resistance for sketching.

And the GoPaint app continues to evolve. The sheer number of brush strokes and customizations puts it up there with the likes of Procreate and Sketchbook – but there doesn't appear to be the same monetization behind it. You're not limited to certain tools through different pricing tiers.

If a tablet is going to become your work machine, something that can replicate or replace your laptop, then its keyboard and trackpad need to be pretty good. And the NearLink model on the Pro Max is excellent. The keys are nice and clicky, with decent travel (1.8mm) and fairly large icons. The trackpad is OK, maybe a little on the small side, but nothing you wouldn't expect from a tablet keyboard.

Now I know camera systems on tablets are less interesting than they are on phones, but you get quite a high-spec camera system on the Pro Max. It comes with a 50MP (f/1.8 aperture, AF) rear lens and a 12MP (f/2.4) selfie camera. The rear lens also shoots video at 4K up to 30fps. Admittedly, it was the least used feature during my review, but uploading my sketches on paper was a breeze with the detail the 50MP camera captures.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max: Is it worth it?

The MatePad Pro Max is an excellent tablet, but it isn't going to replace a standard laptop; there are too many limitations here, like the lack of Google. But also, I think you just don't buy tablets for office workers.

You do, however, buy them for creative work. And the MatePad Pro Max is right up there with the best around. The M-Pencil and the GoPaint app are great additions that get better with each new tablet. And the new tablet itself is a phenomenal slab of technology.

Huawei MatePad Pro Max specifications

ReMarkable is back with a new e-ink tablet, the ReMarkable Paper Pure. And it comes with a wealth of new upgrades and integrations that push the company closer towards businesses.

To be clear, this isn't an upgrade of the Paper Pro (or Paper Pro Move). It's a different line altogether that's more affordable. So it loses some premium features, looks less stylish than the Pro, and doesn't offer colors. But it opens the ReMarkable experience up to more customers (potentially).

What's more, the launch of the Pure will see a software upgrade pushed out to all ReMarkable devices that makes them ultimately better, which I will explain later in this review.

ReMarkable Paper Pure: Design

There's nothing else on the market quite like the ReMarkable Paper Pure, except maybe the Paper Pro. It's not like any tablet I've seen, nor does it share any resemblance to other e-ink devices. The brown casing and chassis don't sound particularly appealing, and yet it's quite distinctive. The indented reMarkable logo on the back adds a touch of class, and the 6mm thinness almost makes it feel like it isn't a piece of technology at all.

The first change I noticed was the wider bezel on the left of the tablet – like a sort of inside margin where you might hold it if you're standing. I don't particularly like it. I wasn't keen on the Paper Pro having something similar along the bottom either. However, it's a necessary inclusion as that's where the main circuitry is. Which is part of the reason it's so thin, so I can't complain too much.

Once again, the display is powered by 'canvas' technology, though without the inclusion of color. That, for me, is a real loss. But also, why this tablet is both more affordable and feels more serious. It's just 10.3in, so noticeably smaller than the 11.8in Pro. But still just as responsive and comfortable. No other tablet gives you that feel of pencil on paper quite like reMarkable.

You get a USB Type-C slot in the bottom left corner and a power button at the top left. Those corners are also subtly rounded, and the chassis has two groove lines that run right around the whole device. There are also bumps on the back cover at each corner. One thing that is missing, which was on Pro, is a night light for the display. So this is decidedly a device that needs sunshine or your big light being on.

As with the Pro, the Pure has accessories; you get an all-black marker and folio case. You need to pay a little extra for the case, which comes in red, blue, and a sort of minty green. The case is very sturdy, but it doesn't clip onto the tablet. You have to pull the reMarkable out fully to use it.

ReMarkable Paper Pure: Specs and Performance

Once again, we can't really benchmark a ReMarkable device; you can't download apps or play videos, so that rules out Geekbench and our in-house battery test. So we are going by feel, and it feels, to me, to be faster than previous models. The screen responds quicker, there's less lag to the applications, and it has only the briefest of flashes as it registers ink.

Much of this is down to the new 1.7 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A55 chip on the inside. And much more is down to an improved operating system and in-house software. What Remarkable has done to the Linux base to create and improve the ReMarkable OS is highly impressive. The simplified layouts, the new templates, the integrations, it's all an improvement on previous generations and significantly better than all e-ink tablets around.

Without a specific battery test, I was left with just regular use of the device, and in the two weeks I used the Paper Pure – which was primarily for work, taking notes, doodling, and editing documents – I didn't need to charge it once. As I write this review, there is still 14% of battery left.

ReMarkable Paper Pure: Features

An update is coming for all ReMarkable tablets, and the Pure is a kind of testbed for them. There is a delicate balance being struck here. ReMarkable sells its products as a distraction-free devices that aid productivity and clear thinking. But you need some link to the internet to get work done or even share your ideas with the rest of your team. And, in my experience, ReMarkable has found that balance in a brilliant way.

You can now link your ReMarkable tablet to Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook. Here, it can create meeting notes, share ideas with other members of the team (if they also have ReMarkable devices), and convert documents from Microsoft Word, Google Drive, or even Dropbox. ReMarkable has its own in-house formatting system, which allows you to pull documents in – I've used this for editing Google Docs, and even whole webpages, which even includes the images of said pages.

There are also minimal connections to Slack, where you can convert and share handwriting and sketches. This is largely where AI is used by ReMarkable, and thankfully, it hasn't made that the main selling point. You can also search your handwriting and typed notes, making it easier to find what you've written.

I fell in love with the ReMarkable Paper Pro last year, but if you were to ask me what I didn't like, it would be the lack of integrations and connections that have now been solved by the Paper Pure. I still have a distraction-free tablet, but I can add it into my workflow, share it with teammates, and realistically use it every day for work. And, brilliantly, this update goes to other ReMarkable devices.

What's more, the Connect for Business subscription service just adds further evidence that ReMarkable makes work devices. It gets that we still need the space and tools to think freely. But adds business-focused features like device management and enterprise single sign-on.

ReMarkable Paper Pure: Is it worth it?

ReMarkable Paper Pure is available now in two bundles, one that's for the device and the marker for £359, and another that also includes the Sleeve Folio for £399. Both options are significantly cheaper than the Paper Pro, which was around £500 at launch.

So the Pure is a more affordable version of ReMarkable's e-ink range and perhaps a more business-focused one. However, its main features will come to all reMarkable devices via an update. So I will say I do like the Pure, but I much prefer the Paper Pro; it's a much better device in terms of looks and features (I love the colors).

ReMarkable Paper Pure specifications

Honor had a rather successful MWC, capturing the imagination of the world with its AI-fused hardware. But with so many devices launched in quick succession, many may have missed an updated MagicPad 4 being released at the start of the event.

I was given a review unit ahead of the event, alongside its MagicBook 14 Pro. It features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, an improved OLED display, and 16GB of RAM. It also has one of the thinnest tablet chassis around, making it a bit of a lightweight powerhouse.

Honor MagicPad 4: Design

The design looks largely similar to the MagicPad 3 we reviewed at the end of 2025, though Honor has managed to shave off over 1mm in thickness (5.79mm to 4.8mm), which looks to be the result of a slightly smaller battery size.

Having used the MagicPad 4 at MWC, carrying it around Barcelona, I can say it's a perfect little mobile work device. It's light, with versatile accessories that are simple to connect, and the keyboard stand, though unusual in that it has to be pulled off the top half of the tablet, is very sturdy. The only gripe is that the pen connects magnetically to the top of the laptop, so it often gets lost inside a rucksack.

Without the keyboard case, the MagicPad 4 is an attractive device that comes in two nice colors (white and gray). It has shiny logos and a square camera bump in the top corner. The 12.3in OLED display has relatively minimal bezels and a very unobtrusive camera cutout. Unlike the flashy-looking MagicBook laptop, the MagicPad has a more understated and professional look.

Honor MagicPad 4: Display

One of the few downsides to the MagicPad 3 was an underwhelming screen, but that has been improved on the 4, quite considerably. The switch from LCD to OLED is noticeable, with the display now producing 99% for sRGB gamut color coverage. Painting and illustration apps are a perfect showcase for color representation and the display is capable of quite striking color and sharp detail. And it can get very bright, peaking at 697:23cd/m2.

Refresh rates tell us what we really use these devices for: endless scrolling. And the MagicPad 4, like the model before it, has up to 165Hz. I could lose whole days swiping up on Instagram, YouTube, and the various mobile news sites I visit, because they look liquid smooth with that top refresh rate. I also appreciated the many different display settings. From ambient color temps to blue light filters for reading and nighttime scrolling (we all do it).

Honor MagicPad 4: Specs and performance

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor and RAM size give the MagicPad a great platform to run on. It's highly responsive and well optimized for prolonged use or intensive workloads (that you can do on a tablet).

How fast is the MagicPad 4? I don't know because, for some reason, it wouldn't download Geekbench 6 – something we have noticed other reviewers struggling with. It feels sharp, though, powering through web searches, videos, multiple apps, and much more. It's not going to be M5 iPad Pro speed, but it is up there with other recent tablets we've reviewed, like the OnePlus Pad 3 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11.

It also scored well in our looped video test, lasting 13hrs 35mins. For a tablet in this middle price tier, that is excellent. We have to exclude the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro here, as that was freakishly good (28hrs, 12mins). But other models, like the Huawei 11.5 S and the OnePlus Pad 3, had similar scores at a higher price point.

Honor MagicPad 4: Features

Are tablets ever a suitable replacement for laptops? Each year, we seem to get a crop of models that get that little bit closer to being fully loaded work machines, like the iPad Pro (M5). The Honor MagicPad 4 is also a potential laptop replacement, but with a much more palatable price.

To start with, it has a good keyboard and trackpad; there's only one level of tilt with the keyboard stand, but it is sturdy. The keys themselves have fairly good travel, though the board is quite thin, so you will feel the bottom if you type with thunderous speed. And the trackpad is small, but highly responsive and has a smooth click action.

Another reason the MagicPad 4 is a good work device is the sheer volume of work-related features it possesses – it actually has too many, such that not all could be tested in the time I had the unit. The best three to mention are desktop mode, Honor Docs, and Honor Connect – which allows you to share content between Honor and Apple devices, seamlessly.

You can switch into Desktop mode simply by tapping an icon in the home screen toolbar. This turns the fluid tablet interface into PC-style windows, which are more familiar to keyboard use. Here, Honor Docs proves itself a worthy alternative to Microsoft Word (on a tablet, that is), and what's more, you don't have to pay as you do for 365.

Honor MagicPad 4: Is it worth it?

The Honor MagicPad 4 is a super little business tablet, with great accessories, and brilliant work-centric features. It's also very affordable, making it a top-tier alternative to the iPad. And, there are early bird discounts that add more value – it's currently available for £499.99 on the Honor website.

Honor MagicPad 4 specifications

Xiaomi's latest tablet is a statement piece. This 11.2in device is stylish, compact, and slimline, and packs plenty of punch under the hood to raise your productivity levels – or at least that's how it's being pitched.

This is a crowded market, however, with brilliant devices of all sizes, including the OnePlus Pad 3, Samsung Galaxy Tab S11, and Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 making up the competition. While the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro is on the smaller side, this £600 productivity-centric device – complete with a keyboard attachment and digital pen – might entice users seeking a deviceto use primarily while on the move – where weight and size are crucial factors.

But it also promises high-end performance thanks to a Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chipset and up to 12GB RAM, alongside up-to 512GB storage. That isn't even to mention a whopping 50MP rear camera to partner the 32GB front-facing lens. Considering the full package and an attractive price, could it be one of the tablets of the year?

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro: Design

The Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro's body is simple, elegant, and premium. The 11-inch form factor is a little smaller than plenty of options on the market, but we think it's hit something of a sweet spot between the giga-sized, laptop-lite-type tablets and the awkward phablets we see in the smartphone market.

The Pad 8 Pro's sophisticated design features rounded corners and squared-off sides, but it suffers a bit aesthetically from the awkwardly protruding camera lenses on the rear. Overall, however, it's a compact design that also marginally improves on its predecessor. It shaves fractions off the Pad 7 Pro's thickness (6.2mm vs 5.7mm) while boasting the same great 85.4% screen-to-body ratio. Size-wise, it's comparable to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 – with very little difference between the two devices. It's also roughly the same weight.

Our tablet came in the pine green version, which is a subtle but charming coating and comparable to the gorgeous Huawei MatePad 11.5 S. But you can also pick up the device in blue and gray. While it complements the darker color of the Pro Focus Keyboard, it does clash with the white Xioami Focus Pen Pro.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro: Display, keyboard, and stylus

There's so much to love about the 11.2-inch tablet screen, with plenty of vibrancy and sharpness making it fantastic for an LCD display. Sure, you aren't getting the benefits of an OLED panel, but you can't complain for the price.

A staggering 3.2K (3,200 x 1,236 pixel) resolution on this panel – equating to a huge 345 pixel-per-inch ratio – gives it a certain level of crispness you simply won't find anywhere else. The closest comes in the form of the One Plus Pad 3 (315 pixels per inch). Compounding this is a fantastic 144Hz refresh rate that combines with its resolution to make scrolling through documents, web pages, and spreadsheets an absolute delight. You can, however, also set this at 60Hz or 120Hz to preserve battery life.

The display's brightness, meanwhile, is typical of a high-end tablet. We registered 530cd/m2 using a display calibrator, although the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro can reach 800cd/m2 peak brightness with adaptive HDR activated. Its colors, too, are solid overall – with a 96% coverage of the sRGB gamut about in line with the decent results in the broader tablet market. This comes alongside a 70.2% coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut and 77% coverage of the DCI P3 gamut – both fine results, again, for photo and video-based work respectively. Meanwhile, compared with many devices out there, a 0.72cd/m2 black level and 740:1 contrast ratio are a little on the underwhelming side, but not out of line with what you expect from LCD technology.

The Pro Focus Keybaord that comes with the device is a sturdy and reliable attachment that magnetically clips onto the back of the tablet with total ease. Our review unit shipped with a non-Western version, which made typing a little tricky, given that the keys were labeled incorrectly, but that shouldn't be much of a problem with the retail unit. The travel distance of each keystroke is a little shallow, but that's not much to be expected, and typing is generally seamless. The touchpad, albeit small in size, is also useful and features mechanical interactions. You do feel to some extent that you're typing on a conventional clamshell laptop – which is everything you would need.

The new Focus Pen Pro, meanwhile, adopts a button-free design and plenty of new gestures to take advantage of. This could take some getting used to, especially if you prefer a physical click, but you can understand the thinking behind the design. New in the device is a hover preview and side-rotating brush support in creative work, as well as pressure-sensitive shortcut key support and double-tap gestures for tool switching. While, admittedly, this poses a bit of a learning curve, if and when you eventually master the gestures and navigate throughout your workflows using the pen, it does feel good.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro: Specs and performance

The Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro features the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset – the same that features in the OnePlus Pad 3 – which includes the Oryon CPU (with two 4.32GHz cores and six 3.53GHz cores) and Adreno 830 GPU. This tablet also comes with either 8GB LPDDR5X or 12GB LPDDR5T RAM, alongside 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options.

Xiaomi says this device offers flagship performance that's comparable to a conventional laptop, while characterizing it as a mobile workstation, and our testing shows this much is certainly true, for a mid-range machine at least.

In performance benchmarking with Geekbench 6, we registered 2,941 in single-core testing and 8,787 in multi-core testing. While these are very strong scores in isolation, they fall marginally short of the OnePlus Pad 3's results of 3,130 and 9,083 (which features the same hardware) as well as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11's results of 2,768 and 8,950 (which features the Mediatek Dimensity 9400+ CPU and ARM Mali-G925 Immortalis MP12 GPU).

It's also worth highlighting a solid 17,689 OpenCL graphics performance result thanks to the same GPU that features in many Qualcomm-powered laptops, albeit you get a little less juice in this tablet. For example, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 scored 19,286.

The biggest boon, however, is the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro's battery life. The machine lasted a monstrous 28hrs and 12mins in our looped video playback test. This absolutely wipes the rest of the field – with one of the closest coming in the form of the 17hrs and 21mins lifespan of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro: Features

The Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro's connectivity standards are as good as you would expect from a flagship product and include Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 compatibility, ensuring you are future-proofed from incremental upgrades over time. Physical connectivity comes solely in the form of a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port, supporting up to 5Gbps data transfer rates, power, as well as connectivity to an external display. There's sadly no 3.5mm headphone jack, however, or an SD card slot for expandable storage – meaning you should choose your device's maximum storage capacity wisely.

The device itself is powered by HyperOS 3, Xiaomi's custom Android-based operating system that's remarkably similar to Apple's iOS. Users will enjoy the familiarity – albeit with some subtle UX tweaks. Xiaomi suggests the upgraded OS includes better visuals, widget customization, and updated lock screens. You can also activate cross-device unlocking, which allows you to unlock your phone using a password or directly on Xiaomi Pad. Other hardware-based security features include a fingerprint scanner as well as a front-facing camera that can support facial recognition.

The device maker also stresses the AI-powered features in this device, including AI speech recognition, writing, illustration, interpreting, a creativity assistant, and even an AI calculator that recognizes hand-written notes and equations. Beyond that, you'll benefit from useful additions like 5:5 vertical split-screen view, allowing you to maximize your display by featuring two windows side-by-side, as well as a horizontal 1:9 split ratio. There's also a newly upgraded Workstation Mode that expands the number of apps that can be retained in the dock, so you can access more tools quicker. The cross-device features, including cross-device camera and broader interconnectivity, are also great if you have bought into the broader Xiaomi ecosystem.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro: Is it worth it?

This tablet makes for a fantastic productivity-centric travel companion – embodying the 'mobile workstation' moniker that Xiaomi has ascribed it with, for the most part at least. While it won't lack the firepower of high-end laptops, it competes well with mid-range machines while also being priced very reasonably. Its performance is just about on par with other options on the market (give or take), as well as having a color-accurate, smooth, and utterly crisp 3.2K LCD display. But the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro's mammoth battery life is its biggest selling point – meaning it can last you a good couple of days at least without failing on you. If you combine this with a useful detachable keyboard and pen, and up-to-date connectivity and security features, you have the ideal machine to work with on the move. It's also got an incredible set of camera lenses, if you ever need to snap some photos.

Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro specifications

Huawei is back with another of its flashy tablets, the MatePad 11.5 S, a sort of mid-range model that comes with a new and improved PaperMatte display. This was launched in tandem with a new MatePad X model. However, the 11.5 S will cost you around £400 with the keyboard and M-Pencil bundled in, and comes with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM and then 128GB or 256GB of storage.

Huawei MatePad 11.5 S: Design

When it comes to hardware, Huawei is at its best. Its MatePad range is always very eyecatching, clean, and memorable. For the 11.5 S, the accompanying keyboard is an improvement over the 13.2in model we tested in 2025. And the tablet itself is utterly smooth, well-rounded, and simply gorgeous.

You have a glass front with minimal bezels and a metal unibody with a minor camera bump. It's 6.1mm thick, so slightly fatter than the likes of the Galaxy Tab S11, but still easy enough to hold in one hand. Which is also helped by its 515g weight.

Our review unit is the kind of shade of green that only Huawei seems to add to its hardware. It's a very cool mint that complements the all-white M-Pencil and the very light gray keyboard case. The Huawei logo on both tablet and keyboard is beautiful and reflective as well.

Huawei MatePad 11.5 S: Display, keyboard, and stylus

The display is where Huawei wants your focus. A lot of work has gone into PaperMatte Editions of the MatePad over the last few years, and they have gone down well in reviews. For the 11.5 S, and the new MatePad X, their PaperMatte screens include high-precision nanoscale etching technology. Huawei says this reduces the sparkle of LCD PaperMatte displays, making them clearer. I can say from experience that this is true – even with the brightness low, the screen's anti-glare tech works remarkably well.

The 11.5in OLED screen has up to 144Hz for screen refresh, and a 2.8K resolution. You get options for both natural and vivid screen styles, but also a gray scale, e-ink-type of setting, which is great for reading books. Overall, regardless of the setting, the screen is pleasant. You get bright, punchy colors, which are best displayed in the Go Paint app.

The Huawei Smart Keyboard is also a delight... for a keyboard cover. I have to make that distinction, as it isn't as good as your notebook's keyboard, and you will see that there are some drawbacks. But as magnetic tablet keyboards go, it is a delight.

It comes in two sections that allow for multiple use cases. You can have it as a mini laptop or split with the tablet propped up with a stand and the keyboard detached. You can also have it in 'Studio Form', where the tablet is in portrait mode, and the keyboard is removed completely – this is where you get the most out of the Huawei M-Pencil Pro (more on that in a bit).

Typing on the keyboard is good; there is a surprising amount of travel for such a shallow board. The keys are pretty much edge-to-edge, and there is about a 6in depth from the base of the screen to the other side of the space bar. It means that some keys are difficult to tap at speed – up and down keys are basically one button sliced in half.

What is good, however, is the M-Pencil. Light, responsive, and perfectly matched or calibrated to the PaperMatte display. It's as close to physical drawing as any other tech company (Remarkable) has managed.

And the quick panel feature on the stylus is pretty impressive. Operated with just a pinch on the shaft of the pen, you get a crescent tool bar with options that differ from app to app... a button at the end of the pencil can be customised to open other applications – much like OnePlus, but more loaded

Huawei MatePad 11.5 S: Specs and performance

Under the hood of the MatePad 11.5 S, there is some secrecy. We don't know exactly what series of Kirin chipsets it has – Huawei left this vital piece of info out of the reviewer's guide, and there's no way of finding that out via the tablet itself. It doesn't even come up when you run the Geekbench test. GSMArena has it as the Kirin T82B, but we can't prove that.

However, it's paired with a generous lump of RAM (12GB) and ample storage (256GB). And in Geekbench 6, it scored reasonably well, with 1393 for single core and 3730 for multi-core. Those are not results that will trouble the Samsung Galaxy Tab 11, or the M5 iPad Pro. But the 11.5 S is much cheaper, so it does look good in its price range.

And its battery life was decent; it lasted 16hrs and 26mins in our looped video test – slightly longer than Lenovo's Idea Tab and the OnePlus Pad 3 – though the latter has far superior CPU performance.

Huawei MatePad 11.5 S: Features

The first feature to discuss is Wi-Fi 6 – so no Wi-Fi 7. It means the 11.5 S model isn't completely future-proof and behind other leading tablets. Not that we found any issues with its connectivity.

The other topic of concern is with HarmonyOS; you have more bloatware than any other platform – this is partly because it's clearly trying to prove it's a decent alternative to Android and iOS, but also because it does have some useful applications, such as Go Paint.

Despite the improvements, we all still want our Google apps, and there are more realistic ways to get them on Huawei devices – though it is largely through complex setups via emulators. This is all fairly well documented on Huawei forums, and it is a little bit of a faff. But once you've added the MicroG app and then the Aurora Store, you can start to pick up all your favourite Android apps. And from there, the MatePad becomes a top-quality tablet again.

Huawei MatePad 11.5 S: Is it worth it?

How good is the MatePad 11.5 S? I could sketch and draw with the GoPaint app and the M-Pencil all day long; for me, the price is worth that alone. But for work purposes, I depend on Google and Android apps – not having Google Docs, regardless of APKs, is problematic. But it does get better every year.

However, the PaperMatte display is gorgeous, the processor (whatever it really is) is fast enough for what you'll use it for, and the keyboard is actually quite good. All in all, at this price tag, the MatePad 11.5 S is a thoroughly good business tablet and or illustration tool.

Huawei MatePad 11.5 specifications

As with phones and TV sets, the trend in tablet design seems to be heading towards a bigger-is-better mentality. 12in and 13in screens are now commonplace, with flagship slates like the iPad Pro M5 or Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra boasting 13in or even 14.6in screens. Last year, Samsung didn't even release its usual 11in Galaxy Tab S10, focusing instead on the S10+, with a larger 12.4in panel.

Yet there's still a case to be made for a smaller tablet, particularly where low weight and mobility are paramount. You still have a device that can handle serious workloads, but that won't take up much luggage space or weigh you down while you're on the go.

In fact, no Android tablet makes this case better than the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S11. It's powerful, super portable, and has stamina to spare while weighing in at less than half a kilogram. And while it's undeniably expensive, it's also the only Android tablet fit to go up against Apple's killer combo of the 11in iPad Air M3 and iPad Pro M5.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Design

The Galaxy Tab S11 sees Samsung return to the smaller 11in form factor it last used for the Galaxy Tab S9. Indeed, it looks near-identical to the older version, in a dark grey metallic or silver metallic 'armor aluminium' frame, with a light but cleverly reinforced back and edges, slim bezels, and scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 5 upfront. At 253.8 x 165.3 it's a fraction of a millimetre smaller on both axes than the Galaxy Tab S9, not to mention 0.4mm thinner and nearly 30g lighter. Is that a difference you can feel? Maybe not, but it still makes the Tab S11 one of the slimmest, lightest Android tablets around, not to mention smaller in surface area, thinner and lighter than the 11in iPad Air.

There are downsides to the 16:10 aspect ratio compared to Apple's roughly 3:2 format, but it has to be said that the Galaxy Tab S11 feels fantastically easy to hold and well-balanced in the hand, whether you're holding it single-handed vertically or with both hands horizontally. Plus, while it's light, it's still surprisingly robust. In fact, its IP68 rating means it's completely dust-proof and could handle submersion in up to 1.5m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. That doesn't mean you can work while floating in the hot-tub or a hotel swimming pool, but a coffee spill or being shoved into a backpack shouldn't do it any harm at all.

As with any tablet, there's little in the way of physical connectivity; just a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port and a micro-SD card slot. The USB-C port can hook up to an external display via a dock or HDMI/DisplayPort adapter, while it charges at a maximum 45W wired charging speed. Otherwise, you have Bluetooth for connecting headphones, mice, and keyboards – including Samsung's £139 Book Cover Keyboard Slim – plus Wi-Fi 6E for your Internet connection. Sadly, only the Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra gets Wi-Fi 7.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Display, audio and cameras

As with its bigger brother, the Tab S11 Ultra, the AMOLED 2x display on the Galaxy Tab S11 is almost predictably superb. In our colorimeter tests it covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut, with a 127.6% gamut volume, and 88.7% of DCI-P3. The 2560 x 1600 resolution makes for pin-sharp, highly detailed image quality when watching high-resolution video or viewing and editing photos, and colors are extremely vibrant, particularly in the default Vivid color mode. Thanks to the 120Hz refresh rate, you can scroll through documents or webpages at lightning speed without a pause or flicker to be seen.

As for brightness, we measured a maximum output of 435nits in normal lighting, rising to 978nits with a torch beam shining in the light sensor, so you shouldn't have a problem seeing the screen in anything bar fierce sunlight. With HDR content, it can hit peaks of 1600 nits, and with HDR10+ support it certainly looks spectacular. In fact, I'm not sure there's a better tablet for late night movies and Netflix binges if you're travelling for work. The 16:10 format isn't always perfect for viewing single websites or working on a single document, but it's perfect for side-by-side views when multitasking and a better fit than 3:2 for streaming video.

The audio, meanwhile, is ludicrously and almost supernaturally meaty. There's a limit to how much bass a tablet can product, but there's definitely weight and presence to the tone, not to mention some impressive clarity and detail. It's great for video calls, of course, but almost begs you to pump up the volume if you are streaming after work is done – though ideally not on public transport.

Tablet cameras are widely considered to be something of a joke, but Samsung's tend to be usable and practical. The Galaxy Tab S11 is a bit too big to be used for shooting video or casual snaps, but the rear-facing camera can take detailed, well-exposed images in a wide-range of lighting, and works well for quick document scans or taking photos of invoices and receipts. The front-facing camera has a slightly lower resolution and a slower lens, but still does a fine job of capturing your face for video calls. You can look professional on screen and keep track of a meeting without lugging a laptop around.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Software and accessories

Android is often a poor cousin to iPad OS when it comes to tablet functionality, but Samsung has spent the last decade or so refining its UI to make it work effectively on bigger screens. Not only is the One UI one of the most effective and feature-packed interfaces for productivity and multitasking, but it can switch with a keyboard and a trackpad or mouse attached to the desktop-style DEX UI.

Here you have something close to a Windows interface, complete with floating windows, multiple desktop views, and a taskbar at the bottom. Hook your Galaxy Tab S11 up to an external screen, and you have a viable platform for some pretty complex productivity tasks, though you may still find file management and access to cloud resources a barrier, and you may not be able to use all your normal apps – though Microsoft 365 and Google's Workspace Apps both work pretty well in this format.

Another thing the Galaxy Tab S series has going for it is the inclusion of Samsung's S-Pen stylus with every device. It transforms the Galaxy Tab S11 into a superb tool for taking notes or marking up documents, and can also be effective if you're working in image or video editing apps.

However, Samsung's big software push this generation is – you guessed it – on AI enhancements. Some features, such as Circle to Search and the Gemini app, will be familiar from Samsung or Google smartphones, but Samsung has also integrated generative AI editing tools into its Gallery app, plus a Sketch to Image tool that enables you to add new elements to photos by sketching them in with the S-Pen. Meanwhile, there are tools to auto-format, summarize, and spell-check notes, plus Writing Assist tools that can translate, proofread, and restyle your text. Given Apple's tablets are currently running low on genuinely useful AI features, Samsung has a slight advantage here, for however long it lasts.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Specs and performance

The Tab S10 Plus and S10 Ultra set new standards for performance on Android tablets, and the S11 Ultra and S11 don't disappoint on this front. Both share the same MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ processor, with a single high-performance ARM Cortex-X925 core running at up to 3620MHz, three Cortext-X4 cores running at 3300Mhz and 4 energy-efficient Cortex A720 cores running at 2400MHz. There's an ARM Mali-G925 Immortalis MP12 GPU running at 3620MHz, and the only real difference between the two tablets is that the S11 Ultra has either 12GB or 16GB of RAM, while the S11 has 12GB across its 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB variants.

In Geekbench 6 there's not much to separate the two. In fact, the S11 scored 2768 in the single-core benchmark and 8950 in the multi-core test, beating the S11 Ultra's scores of 2699 and 8434. What's more, this puts the S11 ahead of the S10 Ultra, too, with 2159 and 7154. With its Snapdragon 8 Elite processor the OnePlus Pad 3 is even faster, scoring 3130 and 9083, but not to the extent that you'd notice much difference. With a score of 2447 in 3D Mark's Steel Nomad Lite test, the Tab S11 is also something of a 3D graphics powerhouse. In the tablet realm, only the OnePlus Pad 3, iPad Air, and iPad Pro score much higher, though the S11 Ultra has the edge here, scoring 2555.

Sadly for Samsung, neither the Galaxy Tab S11 or S11 Ultra can beat Apple's finest on performance. With its desktop-class M5 processor the iPad Pro is significantly faster, and the M3-packing iPad Air has a speed advantage, too. The iPad Pro scores 4193 and 16777 in Geekbench 6, while the M3 iPad Air scores 3117 and 11948. The Samsung can handle a wide range of demanding Android apps, but it doesn't have that kind of power. Nor can Android match iPad OS's impressive gallery of professional-grade creative and productivity apps.

On the plus side, battery life is impressive. With its 8400mAh battery the S11 keeps going for 14 hours and 11 minutes in our usual HD video rundown test, not quite matching the 17 hours and 21 minutes of the S11 Ultra or the 15 hours and 33 minutes of the OnePlus Pad 3, but still improving on the 13 hours of the S10+. It's also fairly quick to recharge, hitting 38% in half an hour of charging.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11: Is it worth it?

This is a great, relatively compact Android tablet, blessed with a fantastic screen and solid performance. It's a shame that it's outperformed and – in some respects – outclassed by the OnePlus Pad 3, meaning you have to weigh up whether you can compromise on performance and a longer battery life to get a slimmer and lighter design.

At its £799 RRP the Tab S11 also feels slightly overpriced. You can buy the equivalent iPad Air for £499 to £599, or the Pad 3 for around £500. Recent sales have seen the price fall to £649, making the Tab S11 a more attractive deal, but it's a shame that Samsung is charging so much when the competition is so good and so affordable.

For some business users, the portability and bundled S-Pen will be worth the premium, while Samsung's software and AI features remain the best on Android. Yet with rivals upping their game, you can't help feeling that Samsung either needs to match them at every level or take a look at bringing down the cost.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 specifications

In September, Lenovo came to IFA with two new tablets: the Yoga Tab Pro and, what we have for review here, the Idea Pad Plus. The latter is slightly larger (12.1in) and £200 cheaper than the Yoga model.

That's because it's mainly aimed at students and people with tight budgets. Annoyingly, we did receive a keyboard with our review unit, so we couldn't really assess its quality for all office workloads. But it went through all our usual benchmarks and did well for a low spec tablet...

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus: Design

For design, the Idea Tab Plus is not too dissimilar from the Yoga Tab we recently reviewed. All that's different is the lack of a 'Yoga' logo on the back cover, and it has one less camera lens. Otherwise, it's identical... same shiny 'Lenovo' logo, same dark grey bar across the back cover. It's pretty, but maybe not as striking as an iPad or Galaxy Tab.

It's all glass at the front and encased in an aluminum frame, with an aluminum back cover. At 6.3mm it is ever so slightly thicker than the Yoga Tab. It is also much chinkier than the S11 Ultra, but the 12.1in display makes it easier to handle.

Power button and volume rockers sit in the top corner, and the bottom edge is magnetic. Which is strange, as that's where you connect the stylus. This, we found, was far weaker than on other tablets – the pen is not really secure, and it falls off quite often.

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus: Display

The Lenovo Idea Tab Plus has a 12.1in LCD panel, with a 2.5K resolution (2560 x 1600 pixels). You get a buttery smooth 90Hz refresh rate, but also some fairly thick bezels. However, we found it to be crisp and colour-accurate.

With our colormiter, the Idea Tab Plus showcased 96.6% for sRGB gamut color coverage, which is a fairly good score, but lower than what we expected. We felt from our experience of using the device that its colors were far more vivid than its benchmarks suggested. This is a bold and vibrant screen. And, its peak brightness was 598.22 cd/m2 – and it can go even higher with HDR content – which gives you a rich display from all angles and in any lighting conditions.

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus: Specs and performance

Inside the Lenovo Idea Tab Plus is a Mediatek Dimensity 6400 chip, which has been developed with a 6nm process. So again, it differs from the Yoga Tab in that it isn't as powerful, as our benchmarks will show. However, it does have one slightly better outcome.

In our looped video test, the Idea Tab Plus lasted 14hrs 15mins, which is far beyond the mere 9hrs of the Yoga Tab. For context, this is less than most of the other tablets we've tested recently. Nowhere near Apple's iPad Pro, or the Honor MagicPad. Also slightly less than the OnePlus Pad 3 and the Galaxy S11 Ultra. So it's an OK score, but superior to the Yoga model.

But then comes the Geekbench 6 score, and we fall hard. The Idea Tab Plus managed 757 for single core and 1983 for multi-core. Those are some weak numbers compared to the rest of the field. And an awful drop in multi-threaded performance compared to the Yoga Tab, which scored 5912.

In reality, this wasn't as obvious; the Idea Pad Plus is still snappy and can handle most tasks with ease. But it isn't a big performer, don't go expecting lots of TOPS... this is a sub-£300 tablet aimed at students, after all.

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus: Features

The Idea Pad Plus ships with Android 15 and hardly any bloatware. There aren't many useless apps taking up space, and the interface is clean and neat. However, this is largely because it's a budget tablet that has limited features. It says AI on the box, but please don't expect much of that in this review.

You do, however, get a split-screen mode enabled by default. So if you're in Gmail, for example, and you open up a drive folder, you will have a view of both, which is useful. Great for watching YouTube and doodling at the same time.

The pen, however, is unusual, to say the least. For starters, you can unscrew the back end and see that it has an AAA battery. This also makes it rattle when you use it. We found that it was comfortable in the hand and responsive on screen, but it's nowhere near as intuitive or capable as other brands.

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus: Is it worth it?

Sadly, this is no tablet for a business. Or anyone with a serious aspiration to illustrate and draw. Our view might have been different if we had the keyboard, but given the low spec processor, it's hard to see this as a professional device.

But then, it is aimed at students, and for that purpose, it does just fine. Split-screen views across a surprisingly bright and colorful display will help anyone study. And the battery life is commendable at this price range. But it is worth investing in a better stylus regardless of your use case.

Lenovo Idea Tab Plus specifications

The Honor MagicPad 3 is the Chinese company's latest flagship tablet with the new model housing a larger 13.3in display and a thinner frame. Not all changes will be welcomed, though, as it has also switched to an LCD panel over an OLED one.

The issue here is that a low-quality display makes it harder for Honor to stand out in what is a very competitive market; it is up against some high-quality models from OnePlus, Apple, and Samsung. So what does the Honor MagicPad 3 have that the others don't?

Honor MagicPad 3: Design

Starting with design, it is fair to say that the MagicPad 3 is a professional-looking device. It differentiates itself from the previous model with an all-aluminum design that is both sleek and sturdy. Its 5.79mm thick frame and 595g weight is also lighter and thinner than the OnePlus Pad 3.

Our review unit is the white model, which has a subtle two-tone coating. The feel is almost like an art canvas, and you can also opt for a Gold or Grey model. In the middle of the back cover is a shimmering Honor logo, while a square camera bump decorates the top right corner. Two lenses can be found here: one 13MP and one 2MP.

The accompanying keyboard/case is elegant with a professional shade of navy. The kick stand is the top half of the back of the case, so the part that includes the camera cutout. It looks and feels unusual, but it works well, giving you a fairly flexible stand without adding more materials. And the white stylus attaches to the top of the tablet to charge. The pen and the case together do raise the design up, creating an attractive and professional-looking device.

Honor MagicPad 3: Display

The 13.3in LCD screen has a 165Hz refresh rate and a 2136 x 3200 resolution. We measured its peak brightness at 730.56 cd/m2, which is actually less than the MagicPad 2, but still somehow an excellent score. But that is the only metric it has above any of the other premium tablets.

For business use, the MagicBook 3 is fine, and it is a decent tablet for streaming. But for photo editing, it is limited. Unlike last year's MagicPad 2, the 3 uses an LCD panel, so you lose those deep black levels you had with the OLED.

You can choose from two color profiles, vivid or natural. The former is slightly more vibrant, but the latter is truer to the sRGB color space. Even so, color representation is a little below the standard of recent tablets tested at ITPro. The 92% the MagicPad 3 scored for sRGB color coverage is lower than the M5 iPad Pro, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, and the OnePlus Pad 3.

Honor MagicPad 3: Specs and performance

The Honor MagicPad 3 has a 4nm-developed Qualcomm SM8650-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Our review unit came with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, though you can have as much as 1TB for the latter.

In Geekbench 6, the MagicPad hit 2237 for single-core and 6979 multi-core workloads. For pure benchmark performance, the MagicPad is far behind the M5 iPad Pro but only slightly behind the OnePlus Pad 3 on both scores (3130-9083). If you're using a tablet for fairly intensive workloads, then the Apple and OnePlus models are better, but the MagicPad is still powerful and fast.

In our experience, the MagicPad 3 was highly responsive and rapid, no matter how many tabs or applications we used. And it's battery life is up there with the best. In our looped video test, the MagicPad lasted 22hrs 44mins – almost seven hours longer than the OnePlus Pad 3. What's more, the tablet charges in a fairly reasonable time; 0% to 100% in an hour, which is good, though the OnePlus Pad 3 and its red cable can do it much quicker.

Honor MagicPad 3: Features

Far and away, the best two features on the MagicPad 3 are the Smart-Touch Keyboard and the Magic-Pencil 3. The keyboard is elegant and understated. With decent travel and a nice muffled click sound. You need a sturdy surface to use it, as it will be too flimsy on a lap. The pencil is fluid and smooth, and easy to draw with. Though it lacks the innovative controls of the OnePlus stylus. Both keyboard and pencil are free with the tablet (at the time of writing), and you can even buy all three as part of a bundle that comes with a portable coffee machine -- sadly, we didn't get to review that.

AI features on the MagicPad 3 include tools to help edit, summarise, and create text. The summarisation features seem most useful, though the 're-writing' capability does help with small jobs like email – it's similar in quality to what Grammarly offers.

Cameras on tablets have always been an issue for ITPro. We don't see the point of them being there, and the technology is never anywhere near that of smartphones. On the MagicPad, you have two rear cameras (13MP and 2PM) and one selfie lens (9MP). There are heaps of enhancements available, and the system will try and make point and shoot as easy as possible, but we found both rear and front cameras to be slightly grainy and often blurry.

Honor MagicPad 3: Is it worth it?

There is a lot to like about the Honor MagicPad 3, particularly its keyboard, pencil, and battery life. However, in comparison to the OnePlus Pad 3 and the iPad Pro, it does fall short when it comes to CPU power and display quality.

For business use, it is an acceptable laptop replacement, provided you're not going to use it for intensive workloads or image or video editing. But it is light enough to carry around, slim enough for your average backpack, and strong enough to last well beyond the average workday.

Honor MagicPad 3 specifications

When Apple first released a Pro model of iPad 10 years ago, the main aim was to provide a laptop-like experience in a tablet form. It wasn't necessarily a success on that front, but it proved popular regardless and gave the world's most popular tablet a premium tier.

The latest model, the M5 iPad Pro, is so good and intuitive that it could feasibly be a laptop replacement (depending on your job, of course). It features a new chip, an improved interface, and long battery life – something Apple seems to have mastered of late. It's for creators, it's for tablet-lovers, and yes, it is also for business uses.

Apple M5 iPad Pro review: Design

The design, like with all the MacBooks, hasn't seen much change. So, outwardly, the M5 iPad Pro is no different from the M4 (and older) models. The question is, would you want it any other way? The look of an Apple device is part of the appeal, and they're always easily distinguishable from Android tablets. In short, it's an iconic design, and it still, after all these years, looks great.

It only comes in either Silver or Space Black, which gives it a more professional (and slightly bland) look. And you can choose either a 13in or an 11in model. ITPro has the latter, which weighs just 444g. The tablet is very thin at just 5.3mm thick, though not as thin as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra (5.1mm). And despite that, it does still feel sturdy in the hand with its robust aluminum chassis.

Around the device, it has the usual curved edges, a minimal bezel encasing the display, buttons for power, volume up and down, and a Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 port at the bottom (if you hold it in portrait mode). You also have a 12MP webcam at the top of the screen (in landscape mode), which gives it that laptop feel. But that is mainly for iPad's Measure app and scanning capabilities.

Apple M5 iPad Pro review: Display

The iPad is all about the screen, and that is certainly the case with the iPad Pro. It features an 11-inch Ultra Retina Tandem OLED panel with impressive specs: 2420 x 1668 resolution, 264 ppi, and up to 120Hz of buttery smooth screen refresh. The whole thing is bright, vivid, and silky. What's more, you can pay a little more for the Nano Texture glass and do away with unsightly glare.

With our colorimeter, the Pro produced some impressive results, perhaps not as high as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, but still of a high standard. For sRGB color gamut coverage, the Pro scored 97.3% and 100.2% for volume (99.7% for the Ultra).

The Pro is quite nice to use in low-light settings with its automatic controls for dark mode and nighttime settings. Writing up documents with the yellow-tinted 'night shift' setting certainly helps the eyes. But this, unmistakably a tablet for the more fun things in life; drawing, streaming, scrolling social media – all of which it excels at.

Apple M5 iPad Pro review: Keyboard and pen

One of the best additions to the iPad in recent years is the magnetic keyboard with its sturdy stand. We can't tell you how many tablets fall in this area – Huawei and OnePlus, we're looking at you – but Apple gets it spot on. The magnetic connection is easy to adjust and strong; you get two tilt angles, and it looks very neat and tidy. Add the all white Apple Pencil Pro on top, and it's very pretty.

The keys are also very good. Not MacBook Pro good, but also not far off. They have pretty backlighting, plenty of travel, and a nice muffled clack. Likewise, the trackpad is also very good. It's big enough and highly responsive.

The Pencil Pro is probably the overall star accessory and part of the reason the iPad has become such a stalwart in the art and illustration world. It is smooth and glides across the screen. The thickness of the pen itself is comfortable in the hand, similar to the OnePlus and Lenovo styluses. It doesn't replicate the feel of pen on paper, but instead makes digital drawing a worthy alternative.

Apple M5 iPad Pro review: Specs and Performance

Apple released a new iPad Pro alongside a new MacBook Pro and Vision Pro, but really, it was the launch of the M5 chip. For the iPad, it is either a 9-core or 10-core configuration of M5 and a 10-core GPU, and a 16-core Neural Engine. You can have up to 16GB RAM and as much as 2TB of storage (our review unit had 256GB).

Unsurprisingly, having the most powerful flagship processor in the iPad Pro results in the year's top tablet benchmark. In GeekBench 6, the M5 Pro hit 4193 for single-core and 16777 for multi-core workloads. Samsung's S11 Ultra managed 2,699 and 8,434 with its Mediatek 9400+ chip, while the OnePlus Pad 3 hit 3130 and 9083 with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor.

There's also a big upgrade for AI capabilities on the iPad Pro; the GPU now has neural accelerators built into each of its ten cores. This is about boosting on-device AI processing speeds for features like the handwriting recognition or AI voice translations in Audio Logic Pro.

However, the most impressive upgrade, particularly for business use, is the battery. Our 11in M5 iPad Pro lasted an impressive 18hrs and 12mins in our looped video test. That was slightly longer than the S11 Ultra and about 2hours more than the OnePlus Pad 3.

The M5 iPad Pro supports iPadOS26, which brings a wealth of new tools and features. And that also includes the visual refresh of Liquid Glass, Apple's 'translucent' interface design.

Users will enjoy the new menu bar, which drops with a downward flick from the top of the screen. It works in the same way as it does in the macOS app – so potentially it can replace your laptop in this regard. The bar will soon be customizable so that it will become more important for work-related tasks, like it is for a MacBook. Apple Intelligence is also getting more useful with an integration into the Shortcuts app.

Apple M5 iPad Pro review: Is it worth it?

With the new M5 chip, Apple has finally turned its flagship tablet into a bona fide laptop replacement. The keyboard also does some of the work here, but the power, the speed, and the software tweaks all make for a brilliant device to use for work.

Could it be cheaper? Prices start at $999 (£999) for the 11in model, and that is less than the S11 Ultra, but significantly more than the OnePlus Pad 3. So it could be a little more budget-friendly, but it's better, in our opinion, than both those alternatives. This is, hands down, the most powerful tablet around.

Apple M5 iPad Pro specifications

The Lenovo Yoga Tab is an affordable little wonder at just $499 (£479). It's the modest model of the latest Android-based Yoga range that was launched at IFA 2025, and also a potential contender for budget tablet of the year.

This small, 11.1in tablet arguably works best as a digital notepad or second screen. ITPro didn't receive the accompanying keyboard, so we were left to use it in those ways. And to be honest, we weren't disappointed.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in: Design

The Yoga Tab is a small slab, but it's oddly thicker at 6.2mm than the largest of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S11 models, the Ultra, 5.1mm. Our eyes were drawn to the two unusually large camera lenses on the back. They sit inside a long camera bump that also features a torch light – why you need this, we don't know. There are two separate shiny logos: a large one for 'Lenovo' and a corner one for 'Yoga'. Both add to the overall metallic look and feel of the device, which is quite striking in our opinion.

Everything else on the tablet is more unobtrusive; the volume and power buttons barely protrude, the bezels around the display are minimal, the front camera is a tiny cutout you need to look for, and even the Dolby Vision-Atmos logo is too small to pull any focus. It is a very neat little device, well-designed, with an understated look.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in: Display

Small screens have their place in the world, though tablets are generally better when they're bigger. Particularly when you intend to use it for work. The 11.1in display on the Yoga Tab has a PureSight Pro panel, with up to 144Hz refresh rate, and a 3.2K resolution – all fine specs. As we mentioned, using it as a notetaking device, the Tab is excellent. It fits snugly on a desk, next to a laptop, and the pen is amazing (more on this later). It does that job really well.

As a second screen, it is also useful. It doesn't have any capabilities to extend a laptop display, but if you want some information on the side, while watching a webinar, presentation (or giving one), it is handy. Easy to hold in one hand, highly responsive touch screen. Nice bright display – it's all good.

Unfortunately, DisplayCal is having something of a breakdown, particularly when it comes to macOS and the LocalHost function that one uses to test the display on an external device (like a phone or tablet). As such, we don't have a benchmark for the Yoga Tab screen; we are measuring its capabilities via firsthand experience and vibes only.

And, well, the vibes are generally good. It gets nice and bright. Doesn't particularly struggle in direct sunlight. The colors pop off the screen. And there isn't anything glaringly wrong with it.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in: Specs and performance

Inside the Yoga Tab is a 6-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, which is paired with 8GB LPDDR5x RAM and 256GB of storage. The 8 Gen 3 chip also includes an NPU with up to 20 TOPs AI performance.

In Geekbench 6, the Yoga Tab notched up 2,241 for single-core and 5,912 for multithreaded workloads. At face value, these benchmarks are very good, with the single-core score greater than what we recorded on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra (2,159). It doesn't quite meet the S10's multicore score, and it's miles away from the S11 and the iPad Pro, but for a small, budget machine, it is suitably powerful.

In our looped video test, the Yoga Tab's battery lasted for 9hrs and 38mins. This could be better, other tablets at this price range can get beyond ten hours. The S10 FE from a year ago managed over 13hrs. So there is something to mark the Yoga Tab down on. Though in our experience, there wasn't anything particular that drained the battery quicker, aside from prolonged use of the maximum refresh rate.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in: Features

Feature-wise, you get the usual tablet fare of a USB Type-C port (audio, charge, and data transfer), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and three camera lenses. On the front, there is a 13MP lens with a 101-degree ultra-wide view. On the back, there are two: a 13MP lens with autofocus, and a 2MP macro lens with a flashlight. Both 13MP lenses have a fixed focus capability, while the front camera has a face tracking setting – useful for those who create videos on the move.

There is a range of pre-installed software with Adobe apps, like Lightroom, and the CapCut video editing app, ready to use. The setup is very creator-illustrator-friendly with lots of apps tailored for the stylus. Lenovo's own Infinite Painter app is a decent alternative to Procreate or Sketchbook – its only real fault is that many of the tools are subscription-only.

The Tab Pen Pro, itself, does a fairly decent job of recreating pencil-like sketching; there is a faint scratchy feel, and it's comfortable in the hand, though there seems to be a very slight lag. It looks and feels better than both the OnePlus and Samsung styluses we tested, but it isn't quite as responsive.

However, there is something special about the Tab Pen Pro that you won't find with Apple, Samsung, and OnePlus. It looks like a normal pen, magnetically attaches to the top of the tablet, where it also charges. But it's what you can do with it that makes it so good. You see, it doubles as a remote control, enabling the user to change certain aspects of the tablet, such as the volume on audio, the time of a video, or scroll to the next deck of a slide show. It doesn't seem to work on all apps; you can't, for example, turn the page in Google Reads, but it is quite a clever extra function for a digital pen.

You can also use quick functions with a click of the floating pen button on the side of the screen. You need this to launch into control mode, but here you can also enable over-the-screen doodles and quick illustrations – this is what a stylus should do, total digital brilliance.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in: Is it worth it?

The real question here is whether you want or need a smaller tablet? Will your business, or your staff, find a use for a 11in display? They make great second screens; they're easy to hold in one hand. The pen is brilliant, and the remote control part is very innovative. If you want small and cheap, then the Yoga Tab is hard to beat.

Lenovo Yoga Tab 11.1in specifications

The amazing thing about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is how much more it is than last year's heavily packed S10 Ultra. It's thinner, lighter, but also more powerful and longer lasting. It is quite the feat to take something so 'ultra' and add more to it.

And it has done so with some panache, giving users more of what they want: power, endurance, and AI innovation. The does, unfortunately, come at a pretty hefty price (£1,200/$1,200), practically double the OnePlus Pad 3, but the same as the S10 Ultra from last year.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: Design

There is not a great deal of difference between the S11 Ultra from last year's S10 Ultra; it's slightly thinner, but largely the same height and width. There is a newer Mediatek chipset, but the same resolutions for both front and rear camera lenses. And the display is the same size and resolution. These are not in any way terrible specifications, but it's worth noting that it's perhaps not worth upgrading from the S10 Ultra.

It is, though, a thoroughly lovely-looking slab of technology. Our review unit is a cool, bluely-gray affair, with a white Samsung logo and grey accents on the back. The two camera lenses have a minimal look, and the corners are neatly rounded. At 326.3mm tall, it's large, almost to the point of being unwieldy, but also thin as a wisp at 5.1mm. Taking photos is a little awkward, as is holding it in one hand. However, that is the price one pays for a lovely, big-screen tablet. We would have loved to see the keyboard and or cover case, but, alas, we were not supplied with one.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: Display

When it comes to displays, Samsung sets its own lofty standard as it is the clear market leader in most form factors. The S11 Ultra has a 14.6in AMOLED panel, with HDR10+, 120Hz refresh rate, and a 1,848 x 2,960 resolution. All that is encased in some skinny bezels.

We tested the display with our colormeter and DisplayCal, with the screen in its 'Natural' mode. And we were suitably impressed with the results. The S11 Ultra reproduced 99.7% of the color gamut, which is almost the same as last year's S10 Ultra. To the naked eye, its black level is deep and dark, and it reproduces vivid colors.

You can't really avoid touching the screen, though; your thumb will encroach due to the skinniness of the bezels and the thinness of the whole thing, but it seems relatively good at determining what is a deliberate touch and an accidental one.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: Specs and performance

When it comes to the chipset, there is a considerable upgrade with Mediatek 9400+ processor with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. This is a faster, more efficient chip that's been developed with a 3nm process. And that is very apparent in Geekbench scores and our in-house battery test results.

In Geekbench 6, the S11 Ultra hit 2,699 for single-core performance and 8,434 for multi-threaded performance. Both are significant increases over the S10 Ultra (2,159 and 7,154, respectively) and most other tablets, though neither score can match the iPad or the OnePlus Pad 3.

In day-to-day use, however, the S11 Ultra is superb; great at all it does and all you don't know it does. Hours of streaming, scrolling social media, and even some light Excel work. Provided you get the keyboard accessory (which we sadly didn't), this is as good a work tablet as any around.

The new processor also aids battery life, and we found the S11 Ultra had much more endurance than its predecessor. The S11 Ultra lasted 17hrs and 21mins in our looped video test, a rather large improvement over the 13hrs and 45mins for the S10 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: Features

There is a glut of features on the S11 Ultra, with AI again front and center. So much so that there is a dedicated AI button on the keyboard – in the same style as your Copilot button on a Windows AI PC.

Bixby is still somewhere in the mix, but Gemini Live is somewhat in the way. This is a type of AI assistant that can help you with a range of tasks, along with the Galaxy AI tools. These mainly focus on writing prompts, language interpretations, and email summaries. There are plenty of other features here, but it's a little hit and miss in terms of usefulness.

The two camera lenses on the back are 13MP and 8MP, the latter is ultrawide. Both are fairly decent for tablet cameras – but it always feels unnecessary when you have such amazing cameras on your phone.

Although we didn't get a keyboard, we did receive the new redesigned S-Pen stylus. It also has a new place on the tablet for charging (top right edge). It doesn't look very nice – sort of like a white version of a pen you might fill your Lotto numbers in with. But it is highly responsive and comfortable to use.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: Is it worth it?

And so to the real question: should you get a Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra? If you're a consumer who hasn't got the S10 Ultra, then it is a worthy purchase. If you're looking for tablets for your staff, the answer is also yes, provided you get all the accessories that your staff need, and your team has reasons to use an AI-powered tablet.

We can't say that there are a lot of useful capabilities on this tablet that one can't find on, say, the OnePlus Pad 3, or last year's S10 Ultra. Our view may have been different if we had the keyboard – we could have given a fairer assessment of its business capabilities. That being said, it is a wonderful slab of technology, packed with AI features, and the battery life is fantastic. In that regard, it is very much a tablet worthy of the name.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra specifications

E-ink tablets are finally having their moment, with several businesses now competing to produce the best devices for focused work. Tech history is full of first-movers who later lost their crown, but reMarkable is not one of them.

Having snatched the e-ink tablet hype from Amazon with the launch of the reMarkable 1 in 2017, the firm has since embedded itself as the leading brand for productivity-focused tablets that minimize distractions and provide a lifelike paper experience.

First marketed at enthusiasts, e-ink tablets are now firmly seen as business devices. But they've long been relegated to folio-sized devices that take up lots of space on a desk.

The ReMarkable Paper Pro Move aims to solve these issues as efficiently as possible. Just larger than a pro smartphone, approximately the size of a journalist's notebook at 7.3 inches, this is a seriously compact offering that promises to deliver the switched-off productivity gains of reMarkable's other products without forcing owners to make room for an entire tablet in their bag.

ReMarkable told ITPro this is a device aimed at users who want to take notes when they're on the go, small enough to hold in one hand, and capable of acting as the first reMarkable device a user may have purchased. With a near spotless record to date, how does it fit into the reMarkable lineup?

ReMarkable Paper Pro Move: Display and stylus

The most noticeable aspect of the Paper Pro Move is its diminutive size, clocking in at 19.56 x 10.78 cm. It's hard to deny that this is a far more portable e-ink tablet than any other we've tested – when taking it back and forth from the office, it took up far less space in this reviewer's backpack and can even fit in a single jacket pocket.

If that's what's been holding you back from embracing e-ink, this may well be the device for you. On the other hand, if you're the type of person who loves to fill a page with sweeping scribbles and notes, it could be a tad cramped to use, and a more traditional tablet from the likes of reMarkable or others could be more your speed.

Of course, e-ink tablets succeed or fail almost entirely on their display and pen feel, rather than just size. ReMarkable has spent a lot of time and money trying to get the look and feel of the Paper Pro Move to mimic paper as closely as possible: the company told ITPro it ran over 100,000 tests before settling on its current approach of imprinting the texture of paper on the monitor's glass sheet display.

In practice, this appears to have been a success. The reMarkable Paper Pro Move has the most realistic paper feel of any e-ink device we've used, with the nib and weight of the marker only adding to this experience.

Indeed, the marker sits nicely in the hand, feeling somewhere between a tablet stylus and a real pen, clipping securely onto the side of the device through built-in magnets when not in use. For ITPro's unit of the Paper Pro Move, we were provided with the Marker Plus, which comes with an eraser on the back that can be used to remove unwanted marks just like the real deal.

The only thing missing from the pen experience on the Paper Pro Move – much like the Supernote pen options – is customizable function buttons to undo, activate tools, etc. Given the price of the Marker Plus (£119), it would be a welcome addition and certainly add to reMarkable's 'power user' branding.

An important point to note is that the marker's nib does wear out, much like the Kindle Scribe, and unlike competitors like Supernote. As replacements come in the box, this isn't a concern in the short-to-medium term, but over time users will need to factor in purchasing replacements.

The Paper Pro isn't expandable nor repairable by individual users, though the firm says it was designed with repairability in mind in instances where users send their device back to the manufacturer.

A final flashy note on design is the Paper Pro Move comes with a number of folio covers into which it can clip with very secure magnets. Those made from recycled Mosaic weave are available in either basalt, burgundy, or cobalt, while the premium leather covers can be purchased in either black or brown.

ReMarkable Paper Pro Move: Specs and performance

ReMarkable's goal with the Paper Pro Move was to cram all the dependability of the Paper Pro into a far smaller shell. This meant a redesign of the device's innards, to fit a suitably powerful processor and battery into a 7.3 inch package without compromising its portability.

In practice, the 1.7GHz dual core Cortex-A5 and 2GB of onboard LPDDR4 RAM deliver fairly snappy performance, though there is some noticeable lag in getting e-ink onto the page across its range of standard writing tools. Colors are more taxing for the device: while the actual experience of writing or highlighting in one of the available colors was smooth, the Paper Pro Move could sometimes take a moment to render the actual color by repeatedly refreshing the display.

ReMarkable says the Paper Pro Move lasts two weeks on a single charge. In conversation with reMarkable, ITPro clarified that this applies if the device is used for roughly 1-2 hours per day in a given week.

In our week of hands-on use with the Paper Pro Move, it showed a dependable battery life, dropping to 10% charge after a rigorous week of use and charging quickly when needed, with 10 minutes plugged in providing approximately an additional two hours of charge.

It's worth noting that the front-light on the device, which illuminates the screen to one of four possible brightness levels, tends to chew through the battery. We noticed significantly faster drain when using the device at night over during the day, so power users may want to plan accordingly (for example, if looking to use the Paper Pro Move on a red-eye flight).

Unfortunately, toward the end of nearly two weeks of hands-on testing ITPro experienced a repeat issue with the review device in which it would become frozen in its sleeping state. The only fix in these circumstances appeared to be a hard restart of the device, which took a minimum of five to ten minutes each time it froze.

This is a frustrating experience for users, particularly if it coincides with an important work meeting, and a software issue that will need to be resolved in the days and weeks after launch.

ReMarkable Paper Pro Move: Features

The reMarkable Paper Pro Move comes with a large range of templates for documents, encompassing most paper patterns, planners, and creative sheets including one with perspective line and others for storyboarding and music notation.

These can all be used in either portrait or landscape, which can be helpful for beating any feeling cramped with the device. Another way reMarkable gets around this is by encouraging users to scroll down with notes rather than sideways, essentially turning each page into an endlessly long canvas.

As with the Paper Pro, this is a color e-ink tablet, and users can make use of this capability by drawing in blue, red, green, yellow, cyan, and magenta with the pens, pencils, and paintbrushes. Highlighters for annotating either handwritten notes or

Users can also add typed text to a note, available in a few sizes and formats, to which annotations can be added. Once drawn on – for example if highlighted or underlined – text retains these attributes even if it is later reformatted. In practice, this means users don't have to worry about losing annotations if they add new lines between text, a handy feature absent from competing devices.

In the near future, reMarkable will allow users to send webpages to their tablets via a Chrome extension, which uses an LLM to convert web text to a custom reMarkable file type.

Of course, you can also use optical image recognition on the device itself to convert handwritten notes into text which can be shared as a PDF, PNG, or via email as inline text – a standard offering on e-ink devices.

Additional features add to the quality of life using the Paper Pro Move, such as gestures to undo, redo, and select written text, layers to separate marks from one another, and the ability to draw precise lines and shapes by holding the marker down on the screen after drawing a rough sketch.

While reMarkable's e-ink tablets are intended to mimic paper notebooks and journals as closely as possible, they also come with a range of ways to connect with the rest of the world such as when a user wants to back up notes to the cloud or share them with colleagues.

In the case of the Paper Pro Move, users can back up their notes and annotated documents to Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. Subscribers to reMarkable's cloud storage plan Connect can also send documents directly to colleagues in Slack, including a plaintext translation of handwriting where available.

Beyond these integrations, however, there's no way to load eBook apps onto the device nor access the web. It's hard to call this a downside – it's the centerpiece of reMarkable's 'distraction free' branding – but it's still something buyers will have to weigh up.

Connect subscribers can also add more note types via RM Methods, a platform for reMarkable community members to share custom templates they've made across a variety of use cases.

A final note for the travel keen: like every other e-ink tablet this comes with no water resistance, so avoid digital nomad work from a beach and make sure the jacket it's tucked into is ready for whatever the day throws at you.

ReMarkable Paper Pro Move: Is it worth it?

Overall, this is a sturdy entry into reMarkable's lineup and one that could be enough to finally convince some businesspeople to foray into the world of e-ink.

As ever with e-ink, unlocking the best of analog and digital notetaking comes with a chunky price tag. For £399 ($449), users get the device bundled with a marker – those seeking the Marker Plus we used when reviewing this device can instead pay £439 ($499) to unlock that device bundle.

Given some of its shortcomings and its rather niche target audience, this perhaps feels more like an enthusiast device than its intended crowd-pleaser. With some software updates and the promised integrations, the reMarkable Paper Pro Move could be a real game-changer.

ReMarkable Paper Pro Move specifications

Despite being a technology journalist, my heart lies in the analog. Research has shown that writing things down, rather than just typing them out, helps them stick in our memories. So I still use shorthand, I write in notebooks, I have a Leuchtturm1917 bullet journal and if you ever see me doing a presentation you will notice that I still hold cue cards. So, when presented with the opportunity to review the Amazon Kindle Scribe, I realised I'm either the best or worst person to review this digital notebook.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Design

At 196 x 230 x 5.7 mm, the Amazon Kindle Scribe is just a little smaller than an A4 piece of paper. My review unit came in a delightful shade of metallic jade with matching stylus – properly called the "Amazon Kindle Scribe Premium Pen". At 433g sans stylus, the device itself is quite hefty for its size – 10g more than my beloved Leuchtturm. The pen, meanwhile, weighs 15g. While it's noticeably heavier than a standard fineliner or bic, it's got a similar balance and feel as a high-quality metal biro.

At startup, there's the option to either login using your phone or on device. As I already had the Kindle app on my phone, I chose this option for simplicity, and it was impressively quick to do.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Display

The screen is E Ink, so it is less sharp or bright than a similar-size tablet with an LCD screen, but is nevertheless perfectly readable no matter what mode you're using it in – and there are several to choose from.

As a bullet journal devotee, I opted for a dotted grid first and attempted to use it as I would my normal Lechturm1917 notebook. Using a ruler to draw lines on the grid was fairly straightforward, although the lack of friction between the screen and the pen made my boxes less neat than they would otherwise have been. Similarly, it was impossible to write neatly, with the pen gliding smoothly over the page. While admittedly I'm the only person reading it, it's nevertheless annoying. It made my writing – both longhand and shorthand – harder to read than would normally be the case.

There are four options for what kind of 'nib' you would like to use for writing or drawing, from a fountain pen to a felt-tip or pencil, as well as a highlighter, all with different thicknesses. I ended up sticking with the default for most of the review period, though, as the finer one was too thin and scrawly for my liking, and everything else was too thick. It had the unfortunate knock-on effect, though, of making my handwriting so much larger than usual that I struggled to keep my planning within the boxes I had drawn.

Time, then, to move on to some of the other layouts.

Before I started on the pre-formatted planner pages, I decided to have a go at drawing, as the built-in screen savers all have a hand-sketched look, and a blank page is one of the settings. While I am no artist, I thought I would see how easy it would be to do at least a little bit of pencil and ink-style creativity.

This was very much a mixed bag. The Kindle Scribe really struggled to pick up some lighter strokes, with it finally recognising the input up to an inch after I started making the stroke. By contrast, my kids' drawing tablet, which costs one 57th of the price of the Kindle Scribe, picks up all strokes instantly. While there's a variety of pen and brush styles available, I can't help but feel anyone wishing to sketch or doodle with this device will come away frustrated.

A rather unexpected page format is music sheets. In addition to not being a visual artist, I am also not a musician, but years of clarinet at school means I do still know what musical notation should look like.

Once again, the Scribe just isn't accurate enough to do this.

The final bugbear of the display is screen burn – while you can undo strokes or rub elements out using the "eraser" at the end of the pen, you will still see their palimpsest for some time. The same goes for when you metaphorically turn a page, so perhaps best not to use it for anything confidential.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Specs and performance

The review unit I received arrived fully charged. Amazon provides a range of potential battery performance figures, from 12 weeks for 30 minutes of reading a day with wireless off and light setting at 13 (who is buying the Scribe to do that?) to three weeks based on a half hour of writing a day with wireless off and light setting at 13.

In my perhaps more rigorous testing, I used it several hours a day every day with Wi-Fi on for writing notes – and, of course, reading them. With that borne in mind, it's quite impressive that I didn't have to recharge it until the end of Friday, meaning it lasted well despite almost constant use.

When it comes to charging the Kindle Scribe, Amazon claims it takes 2.5 hours. As with any charging, this will depend on things like the cable you use, but I chose to use the USB Type-C that comes boxed with the device, and plugged it into a multi-port USB hub I have attached to my computer. I often use this for recharging my iPhone during the day if it needs a top-up up and a complete recharge takes about two hours.

The Kindle Scribe, by contrast, took just under four hours – three hours and fifty minutes, to be precise – which is almost twice as long as the phone.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Peripherals

The Amazon Kindle Scribe ships with a Premium Pen in a matching color to the unit itself. It clips onto the right-hand side with a fairly strong magnet – if you pull it away in line with the edge of the screen, this is clearly felt. However, it's also easily knocked forward or backward. In the best-case scenario, this will lead to it flipping through 180º and clipping back on, but I couldn't help but feel it would be easy to lose it when out and about. While notebook fans will often have a favourite pen that they would be sad to lose, it's unlikely it would cost £79.99 to replace, unlike a replacement Premium Pen. Additionally, if I had wanted to protect the screen when travelling, a folio cover would cost £69.99. Consequently, the Scribe stayed on my desk at home when I went to AMD Advancing AI.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Is it worth it?

The problem with the Scribe is that it's not quite as good as any paper planner, and while it may be thinner, it is certainly heavier than many alternatives. The lack of mix-and-match is also disappointing; having a device where I could switch between weekly, monthly, daily, and dotted sheets could even have won me over despite its other faults.

Ultimately, if you're looking for a fairly basic e-ink notepad and already have a significant Kindle library, this could be the device for you. If you just want an e-ink notepad without an e-book library attached, though, there are cheaper alternatives available that we have also reviewed.

If you're a fan of paper notebooks, planners, and diaries – or staves – and considering swapping them for a digital unit, based on my experience, I wouldn't rush out to buy this one.

OnePlus is back with its flagship tablet, the OnePlus Pad 3. This third model of its premium tablet is also its largest, with a 13.2in display encased in an aluminum frame that you'll struggle to hold in one hand.

As with all big brand tablets, there is an accompanying keyboard and stylus, sold separately, that we will include in our review. On its own, the tablet with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage will set you back £529 ($700), but is it worth it?

OnePlus Pad 3 review: Design

The design on the OnePlus Pad 3 is nothing out of the ordinary, although this is a larger tablet than most. It's beautifully constructed with a neatly rounded frame and some fairly large bezels. There is an unobtrusive camera hole at the top and a beautiful, shiny OnePlus logo dead center of the back cover.

It has a durable feel thanks to its aluminum frame, though that is also largely due to its weight (675gs), which makes it heavy for a tablet. Surprisingly, it's very thin at just 6mm, and the 290mm height and 210mm width make it super easy to slip into a rucksack (even with the keyboard case.

It comes in just the one shade of blue – "Sorm blue", as OnePlus puts it – but that doesn't do it justice. It is a suave navy that fits into business environments very well. Certain regions can opt for a silver version, but it's nothing compared to the blue.

You also get a 13MP main camera on the rear to go with the 8MP selfie camera, and a choice of stylish accessories, such as the Stylo pen and the keyboard case, all of which can be brought in a discounted bundle (more on that later).

OnePlus Pad 3 review: Display

A large 13.2in display is what awaits OnePlus Pad 3 customers, and it is as sharp and responsive as ever. Bright, too; in our tests, the display hit a peak brightness of 581.95cd/M2. You also have a buttery-smooth 144Hz refresh rate, which is perfect for scrolling and video content. A crisp 3,392 x 2,400 resolution display (3.4k).

You get three colour profiles to choose from – Vivid, Pro, and Natural. Vivid and Pro are aimed at the DCI-P3 color space with vibrant shades. Natural is exactly as it suggests, keeps your images looking normal and the colors in your creative apps more balanced.

We recorded the OnePlus Pad 3's sRGB gamut coverage as 93.2% with a volume of 104.5% – it's average Delta E color variance score came out at 1.46. By no means the best we've seen, the Galaxy Tab S10+ boasted a much better set of results. But it is an improvement on the OnePlus Pad 2, and generally a good score that was also backed up by our experience of using this for work purposes.

OnePlus Pad 3 review: Specs and performance

Inside the OnePlus Pad 3 is a 4.32GHz Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset – it's first use in a tablet – paired with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage. There's also a big 12,140mAh battery, larger than the 9,61omAh one in the Pad 2, with charging at 80Wh.

In our looped video test the Pad 3 lasted 15hrs 33mins, which is a great score; over an hour more than the Galaxy Tab S10+. In real terms, it took quite a lot to drain the Pad 3's power source – heavy use of its AI features, streaming, and gaming – as it lasted well beyond a normal work shift.

In Geekbench 6, the Pad 3 scored 3,130 for single-core and 9,083 for multi-threaded performance, which is actually much higher than the Galaxy Tab S10+. It doesn't come near the ridiculous results of the iPad's M4 chip, but the OnePlus's Snapdragon 8 Elite is a super-fast processor capable of anything we tasked it with. This includes working across multiple apps in the split screen function – Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, all at once – with no noticeable lag.

OnePlus Pad 3 review: Features

AI is ubiquitous in the tablet market – especially for the premium models – and the OnePlus Pad 3 has a few new tools that are a mixture of standard and quietly useful. You can use the one-device AI to have text read out in a dull voice; it will send you to sleep, there doesn't seem to be any options for changing the voice, but it is pretty easy to do for web content or news apps – it weirdly works on apps that want you to pay extra for voice articles, like the Independent app.

You also get pretty standard fare like AI translations, summaries, and text generation – very much the norm now for phones, tablets, and laptops. One AI feature includes the ability to remotely connect to a Mac; this is achieved by simply downloading the O+ connect app, though we couldn't, as you need administrator privileges (it's a work Mac).

As with all tablets, you get an attachable keyboard case; it's sold separately, but you get a great discount if you buy it bundled with the tablet and pen – add them both, and they even knock some money off the tablet itself. The keyboard is ok. It has decent travel, a nice muffled click, and it connects to the tablet with ease. Track pad is a little tough, though; hefty click action. You can also opt for the Filo case with the pen slot. A far better option for creatives and actually a better case in general, as it's more flexible and able to support different orientations.

OnePlus Pad 3 review: Is it worth it?

For value for money, the OnePlus Pad 3 is a stone-cold killer. It's big, it's fast, it lasts long, and it's relatively cheap. There is no other model on the market that can beat the Pad 3 across all of those metrics.

What's more, there are discounts to be had from OnePlus directly – the Pad 3, the Sylo 2, and the Folio case can be had as a bundle for just £529 – the three together make the tablet cheaper (£599). It is, pound-for-pound, the best tablet around.

OnePlus Pad 3 specifications

Huawei is back with a brand new, slightly larger MatePad Pro PaperMatte tablet. And it looks very much like another high-quality bit of Huawei hardware with the same old no-Google issues.

For 2025 the Pro comes with a 13.2in display instead of 12.2in one from the year before. There are also changes to the camera specs and a problematic new design for the keyboard accessory. All for £849.99. The question we want to answer with this review is whether this is a suitable tablet for business users...

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte: Design

In an office setting, the MatePad Pro doesn't necessarily look like it fits in – not in the way the Surface Pro does. It's a beautiful tablet designed to appeal more to consumers, and looks near enough the same as last year. If there is one thing that Huawei does almost better than most, it's hardware, and the MatePad Pro is as elegant a tablet.

It's super thin at just 5mm thick, the magnesium alloy frame is smooth and rounded at the corners. And that glass fiber back cover is a striking shimmery gold. The dual camera module is still circular but this year it is all black and has 'AI' written on it. It is, arguably, the one area of improvement on the 2024 MatePad Pro.

There are subtle and significant changes on the Pro for 2025, with minor tweaks to the tablet portion, but awful changes to the keyboard case; it doesn't have the dedicated trench for the stylus anymore so you can only magnetically attach the pen to the side of the device. This actually forces you to charge it every time, so there is a benefit, but it was far less easy to lose when slotted in the trench.

Compared to last year, the NearLink keyboard is a little bit of a letdown both for its user experience and its design. It isn't a whole unit with a flexible stand anymore, instead you have two magnetic portions that overlap slightly. It's not as sturdy, doesn't always align with the tablet part, and takes more effort to open – it's also now impossible to use on your lap.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte: Display, keyboard and stylus

The big change with the MatePad Pro for 2025 is a slightly bigger display. It now has a 13.2in 'Flexible' OLED PaperMatte Display, with a 2880 × 1920 resolution and 262 ppi. You can ignore the flexible bit, the screen doesn't bend, and we don't quite know what they mean here – our assumption is that the message has been lost in translation and they perhaps mean adaptable. There is, however, a whopping 144Hz refresh rate that makes scrolling as pleasurable as possible. It works a treat on Slack and ExCel-style documents.

Once again the quality of the MatePad Pro's display is high, though this 13.2in model scored a smidge lower than the 21.2in one we covered in 2024. The Pro showcased 98.7% for sRGB color cover and 100.8% for volume – 99.6% on the 2024 model.

The big benefit of the PaperMatte part of the screen is the anti-reflective coating; there is nothing that catches the screen or reflects back at you. Not your bright house lights, not even direct sunlight – there is absolutely no chance of screen glare. And for brightness, the screen topped out at 652.90 cd/m2 when measured with our colorimeter.

Sadly we must come to the accessories. The Bluetooth connection to the NearLink keyboard and the Huawei Pen is seamless, they work from the instant you click 'OK', but it feels like a step back from previous models. Typing is OK for an attachable keyboard. You can feel the hard bottom of the case – there isn't much depth to them – but it is well laid out with large keys that reach from side to side. However, the biggest problem is that the keyboard is in two sections. We know why it has done this; you get a more flexible setup and you don't have to attach the keyboard part to use it. But it is less stable, in our opinion. Give us last year's keyboard, that was ace.

It is a whole lot better for the Huawei M-Pen, which is as good as you can get on a tablet – nice, light, easy to grip, and simple to charge. The pen does slide over the tablet screen a little and it isn't as realistic as an e-ink tablet, such as the Huawei MatePad Paper or the Remarkable Paper Pro. But it is still a high quality stylus that can be used to create eye-catching illustrations.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte: Performance

Once again, with no Google, there is no Geekbench to download to test out the Huawei Kirin T92 processor. We are just going by feel here and to be honest, it's fast. No lag browsing the web, or using its multiscreen function.

Battery life is also great, if not slightly less than the 12.2in model ITPro tested last year. In our looped video test, the MatePad Pro PaperMatte lasted 14hrs 46mins – just an hour or so less than last year. In real world use, we were able to get through most of the working day before it needed a charge – the M-Pen needed a top-up after about an hour of use.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte: Features

You have three lenses on the MatePad Pro; a 50MP main lens, an 8MP wide lens on the rear, and a 16MP wide lens on the front. All three are crisp and clear, though it's really the AI software from the Kirin chip that brings the quality. There are times when you take selfies or shots of something specific and it will seem like a terrible Photoshop where you've added yourself or an object to a different background – overdoing it with the bokeh effects.

Its video quality is OK, though it tends to produce very noisy shots and that's really apparent in different features like slow-mo. There's also a range of filters you can use to capture images and video, though they feel heavily edited and enhanced by AI – again, overdoing it somewhat.

One of the best parts of the Huawei MatePad Pro PaperMatte, and indeed most larger tablets, is the screen space. And Huawei allows you to take full advantage of that with an easy-to-launch split-screen mode. View documents and edit them on either side of the display, or watch content while you doodle, the MatePad can do a number of things at the same time, making it a pretty handy work tool – though there is just one caveat.

So, let's talk about Google. You can use third-party emulators, such as Gspace, Gbox, and Googlefinder to add your favorite Google apps but they don't all work and you can't get all the apps. YouTube, Gmail, and Sheets are all easy to find and simple to add. Google Docs, not so much. This is one step better than last year, but still not quite good enough to make the MatePad Pro a go-to work tablet, certainly not in the UK or the US.

So you are stuck with HarmonyOS software which is full of pre-installed apps from the get-go. It also seems to get in the way whenever you type as you have to try and ignore the predictive text boxes that are there by default; you get three options that are presented to you over what you're typing – a very unnecessary distraction.

One app you will be happy with, however, is the GoPaint app (version 2) which is as good as anything else on the market. The sheer range of colors, tools, brushstrokes, and canvases makes it so simple to use and, more importantly, fun. Just open it up and start creating. What more could you ask for (aside from a more familiar way to share your creations)?

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte: Is it worth it?

So, for £849.99 you get a rather beautiful 13.2in tablet with a lot of useful features. The keyboard and stylus need to be purchased separately, which is good because not all will like the former.

As always, there is a software sacrifice to make with Huawei, it really does test how much you love your familiar US-made services. You can get some Google apps through emulators, but it's an extra faff you don't need. For creative workloads like illustration, it is up there with the best thanks to its intuitive M-Pen and feature-loaded GoPaint app.

Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 PaperMatte specifications

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ and S10 Ultra stand apart as the best Android tablets for business right now, but there's just one reason why buyers might be looking at alternatives like the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2 or OnePlus Pad 2. With prices starting at $899, they're simply too expensive for some budgets.

This is where the new Galaxy Tab S10 FE and Tab S10 FE+ come in, giving you a stripped-back version of the Tab S10+ for substantially less money. The S10 FE comes in at $499 while the S10 FE+ is a little more at $649. The cost-cutting involves some downsizing, with the S10 FE getting a 10.9in screen and the S10FE+ a 13.1in display, whereas the S10+ and S10 Ultra had 12.4in screen and 14.6in panels, respectively. But are there other areas where you lose out by going for a cheaper model? Having spent more than a week with the Galaxy Tab S10 FE, it's all a question of where your priorities lie.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE: Design

The S10 FE borrows its design language from the premium versions. It's a simple, slimline aluminum-backed slate with nicely rounded corners and 8.5mm bezels that are just big enough to grip without covering the screen. Despite the screen being 1.5in smaller than the display on the S10+, it makes for a very sleek, ultra-mobile tablet that's just 254mm wide, 166mm tall, and a mere 6mm thick. At 497g, it's also extremely lightweight. For comparison's sake, the 11in iPad Air measures 247.6 x 178.5 x 6.1mm.

The most obvious differences from the S10+ are the single 13MP camera at the rear – the S10+ has a 13MP main camera and an 8MP wide-angle camera – and the lack of an inset magnetic strip to house the bundled S-Pen stylus. The S10+ still comes with an S-Pen, but there's no clear spot where you can clamp it for charging. However, it will stick on to both of the longer edges or attach at the rear next to the cameras.

There's still no headphone socket on this model, and the speed of the single USB Type-C port has dropped from USB 3.2 Gen 1 to USB 2, which means it's now really just a charging port rather than something you might use to connect, say, external storage. You have Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6 onboard for wireless connectivity, but not the faster WiFi 6E.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE: Display

One of the glories of the S10+ was its stunning 2800 x 1752 resolution AMOLED 2X display, but the S10 FE has to make do with a 2304 x 1440 resolution IPS display. That means you miss out on the deep blacks and perfect contrast of AMOLED, and the colors aren't as vibrant and intense.

However, on its own terms, it's still a very decent screen. It can hit SDR brightness levels of 612cd/m2 or 794cd/m2 with adaptive brightness turned on and a torch shone in the front-facing camera. It covers 97.7% of the sRGB color gamut and 83.9% of DCI-P3. Color accuracy isn't perfect if you use it in its Vivid mode with an average Delta-E of 2.67, but it's pretty close if you switch to Natural at 1.18.

It's a good screen for touch-friendly applications, browsing, and everyday productivity, and even better for watching video, where the four edge-firing speakers come into play. Not only can the Tab S10 FE go surprisingly loud, but the output is crisp and beefy.

The cameras remain a big step up from those on your average tablet, with the rear camera capturing good, well-exposed, and detailed stills and video even in low light conditions, and the front camera providing video that's noticeably clearer and more balanced than you get from many laptops. In fact, the handling of detail and exposure is so good that the Tab S10 FE makes a fantastic option for video calls and meetings, particularly in places where a laptop might not always be so practical.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE: Software and accessories

It's worth getting one in any case because the Tab S10 FE still has the classic Galaxy Tab trick of working like a laptop once in DEX mode, where it switches Samsung's standard One UI interface for something closer to a Windows desktop. Samsung didn't supply the dedicated S10 FE keyboard cover for this review – it's currently free for a limited time with the tablet. However, used with a Logitech MX Keys Mini keyboard and Bluetooth mouse, the Tab S10 FE made a small but effective laptop substitute, complete with floating resizable windows, a taskbar, rapid app switching, and split-screen views. Using Google Docs and Google Sheets, or your own choice of Android productivity apps, it's possible to get some serious work done.

The Tab S10 FE's other key strength is the extensive integration of the S-Pen. Business users probably won't have much need of the digital painting and coloring book capabilities of Samsung's PenUp app, but with Samsung's Notes app or Google Keep Notes the Tab S10 FE makes a formidable note-taking tool. What's more, Samsung's AI features work here as on the premium Tab S10 models to transform handwritten scrawl or recorded voices into editable text, even translating where necessary. It's not always perfect, with attempts at handwriting in Google Docs resulting in a mess of repeated words and garbled sentences, but most of the time it just works.

What's more, you have Google's Gemini onboard for AI queries, along with a range of Samsung AI enhancements. You can circle to search by long-pressing the virtual Home button then drawing a ring around text or an image on the screen, and use Samsung's tools to remove unwanted objects from your photos, trim video automatically, or clean up noisy audio. The results with image editing aren't quite as good as with Google's Pixel-specific Magic Editor, sometimes leaving a telltale mess when you remove unwanted objects, but the Tab S10 FE's AI capabilities are genuinely useful – and growing more so all the time.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE: Specs and performance

Where the Tab S10+ and S10 Ultra paired a MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ CPU with 12GB of RAM, the S10 FE uses Samsung's own Exynos 1580 plus 8GB of RAM. This has an inevitable impact on performance. The S10FE's Geekbench 6 scores of 1358 (single-core) and 3928 (multi-core) are a long way behind the S10+ with 2154 and 7154. In Geekbench 6's GPU Compute test, it scores 3928 whereas the S10+ scores 12020. In 3DMark's 3D graphics tests, the difference is even more marked; the Tab S10 FE only scores 1262 in the Wild Life Extreme test for a miserable 7.56 frames per second. The Tab S10+ scores 12020 with 30fps.

In more demanding apps or in Chrome with a dozen browser tabs open, there's a good chance you might see the difference in performance, but in everyday use, the Tab S10 FE feels slick and snappy. You can switch between apps quickly and there's rarely any pause for cogitation. In the end, it's a bit like having the standard Apple A16 iPad instead of the M3 and M4-powered iPad Pro or iPad Air. Power users running powerhouse content creation apps are going to want the higher-end tablets, but for a wide range of workers, the lower-end model will be perfectly fine.

What's more, the Tab S10 FE has one major advantage over its premium siblings: a longer battery life. In our standard HD video rundown test with the screen brightness set to 170cd/m2, Samsung's tablet kept playing for 17 hours and 24 minutes before shutting down. Even the S10+ gave up after 13 hours and 45 minutes, and you should easily get through a working day before having to plug the S10 FE back in for a recharge. Better still, when you do, it's quick. A 30-minute charge was enough to get an exhausted tablet back to 37%.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE: Is it worth it?

Mostly yes. Buying the Tab S10 FE instead of the Tab S10+ means taking a drop in screen size, display quality, and performance, but that's fair enough given the corresponding drop in price. Samsung's One UI remains one of the most polished Android implementations, with AI features within easy reach, while the combination of DEX and the S-Pen makes the Tab S10 FE a superior option for business use.

There's some stiff competition out there from the OnePlus Pad 2, while the entry-level iPad Air has the advantage of a superior app ecosystem and the desktop-class Apple M3 CPU, and only costs £100 more. All the same, those in the market for a business-grade Android tablet will find the Tab S10 FE a strong mid-range contender.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+ specifications

E-ink tablets offer the best of both worlds when it comes to taking notes or brainstorming: the look and feel of a normal journal, with a whole library's worth of notes stored on one device.

Enter the Supernote A5 X2 Manta. This is a device intended to help leaders focus, and write their notes without the distraction of notifications, other apps, or even a web browser to speak of.

For a basic price point of $459 (£374), plus a minimum $59 (£48) for the cheapest pen, the Supernote competes with the likes of the ReMarkable Paper Pro, as a premium e-ink offering that claims to be the silver bullet for productivity.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Display and stylus

The LAMY safari vista EMR Pen included with our device is a real joy to use. It sits in the hand just like a real pen and glides across the screen with just enough friction to feel reasonably like using a rollerball pen on a crisp sheet of paper.

A major downside of the Supernote A5 X2 Manta is that it lacks a backlight. While this lends to the realistic paper look and feel of the display, it does mean that in darker environments – the cabin of a plane or the back seat of a taxi, for example – you find yourself with all the disadvantages of a normal journal.

Supernote is resolute in its decision to omit a light layer from the displays of all its devices. The company explains that it allows for thinner devices, longer battery life, and for less space between the nib on the page and the ink that appears on the screen. There's no doubt that the experience of using the pen on the Supernote feels very close to using a real pen, but users will have to decide whether this is worth the eye strain at night.

At the price point (buying this pen direct from Supernote will set you back $89), it would have been nice to see a function button linked to different tools on the pen, similar to the Kindle Scribe Premium Pen or previous LAMY x Supernote collaborations.

It's worth noting that Supernote's ceramic pens never wear out, unlike the nibs of those used for the ReMarkable Paper Pro and Kindle Scribe. If you're a power-user, who makes notes throughout each day, this might make the price of the pens more attractive over time as there's no refill cost and no waste produced.

On a similar note, the Supetnote A5 X2 Manta can be fully upgraded and repaired by users, with a backplate that can lift off to allow for its battery and motherboard to be switched out. The motherboard also contains a slot for expandable Micro SD storage, a rare but welcome sight these days.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Specs and performance

The Supernote's RK3566 Quad-Core 1.8 GHz notebook processor and custom version of Android OS work very well together to eliminate any lag while writing, and even chug away to keep intensive tools such as the lasso (which allows users to move drawn elements around on the page) feeling fluid.

It's here that the company's steadfast 'no backlights' rule comes in handy, as the device delivers one of the most seamless e-ink experiences on the market. This is both in terms of realistic pen-feel and the rendering of the ink on the page.

Throughout our time using the Supernote A5 X2 Manta, its battery drained at an impressively slow rate. It took hours of concerted note-taking, daily, to run the charge down to even 30%. To test it from 0-100% we had to actively try to drain it as much as possible, but even from 0% the device can fully charge in around 90 minutes.

The Supernote's web browser, which is only accessible via hyperlinks within PDFs and other documents, performs admirably. Bearing in mind that this is a device supposed to cut back on the distractions of laptops, phones, and tablets – and as such doesn't have a dedicated shortcut for searching the web – its relatively quick page refresh rate and low latency for scrolling and clicking on links is all you need.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Features

The Supernote A5 2X Manta can be linked to Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive accounts to easily sync documents between devices. The official Supernote app also allows users to sync files between their phone and their device.

The device comes with a dizzying array of gestures, which a user can enter using the touch-sensitive strips to either side of the display. These control everything from undoing mistakes, page scrolling, quickly enabling tools like the eraser, and opening up side-panels and menus. In our testing, we found the quick undo and redo, as well as the quick eraser gestures the most useful.

As the Supernote A5 2X is intended for work, it comes with some complex features for seriously detailed note-taking. Users can link handwritten text to other pages within a note, other files on the device, or even webpages. This allows for ideas to be brought together relatively seamlessly and could be ideal for users seeking an all-in-one organizational tool.

Another handy feature of the A5 X2 is its built-in handwriting recognition, which translates handwritten notes in more than 60 languages into text. This feature has to be manually enabled when a note is first created and uses battery quicker, though not noticeably so over the course of a week's use.

Given that this is the newest iteration of Supernote, it would have been nice to see the company deck the A5 X2 Manta with color e-ink, like some of its competitors. Those who find color-coding their highlights will walk away disappointed, though this is far from a deal breaker.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta: Is it worth it?

For power users already thinking of making the switch to e-ink, there's no doubt that the Supernote A5 X2 Manta would be a welcome device. With its variety of note-taking and organizational features, along with its premium look and feel, this is a device that really is noteworthy.

That look and feel doesn't come cheap, of course. Our model, with LAMY Safari Vista EMR pen and half folio cover, will set you back $607 (£495), making it a hard sell for companies looking to equip many of their employees with e-ink devices. This is perhaps better suited for executives and enthusiasts, those willing to fork out their own cash to get one of the best note-taking experiences possible.

Supernote A5 X2 Manta specifications

The internet is such a conspicuous mess of popup ads, notifications, and procrastination that we now make digital devices that block all that out – like the ReMarkable Paper Pro.

It's a digital notepad that promises distraction-free productivity; no apps, no web browsers, and no possible way for the outside world to send you any messages. Just you, a blank page, and a stylus, focusing on the task at hand. For that luxury (yes, quiet time is now a luxury) you'll need to pay the eyewatering sum of $579 (£559). ITPro got its hands on this e-ink color tablet to find out if it's worth all that.

ReMarkable Paper Pro: Design

Norwegian firm ReMarkable has quickly made a name for itself in the e-ink space and the Paper Pro is a sort of successor to the company's ReMarkable 2 which launched in 2020. The Pro is a more premium offer, with a color e-ink display, a front light, for work in the dark, and a more responsive stylus – plus a much higher price tag.

It is an elegant and delicate-looking slab of touchscreen technology encased in a cool metal chassis. It weighs just 525g. The corners are all subtly rounded, and there's a stylish indent around the edges. Even the off-center ReMarkable logo on the back has a certain panache to it. It makes other tablets (all of them) look fat.

This quality of design is also afforded to its many accessories. Our review unit came with a fetching faux-leather case and also a keyboard which, although not all that necessary, looks and feels divine. The stylus is noticeably heavier than your average digital pen, but again, it looks like the fanciest of digital pens.

ReMarkable Paper Pro: Display and stylus

For its 11.8in screen, ReMarkable made the bold choice to use 'gallery' display technology. What is that and why is it 'bold' we hear you say? Other e-ink devices use Kaleido displays that create color by applying black and white pigments to a filter – the results are often quite faded colors. The gallery versions (ReMarkable calls it 'Canvas Color') skip the filter and use actual color pigments, which results in a much slower refresh rate.

The colors are not vibrant, as such, they're more akin to newspaper print. And there is a slight lag compared to Kaleido displays. When you draw in color, there will also be a flash, almost like lightning in an old video game, where the screen registers the new color or erases unwanted scribbles. This is how the display refreshes and it does so to add the new input.

We mainly used the Paper Pro for note-taking and fleshing out ideas. This is largely all you can do – the interface is sparse, with limited options. You can create 'quick sheets' or open a notebook and both can be created with lines, grids, a checklist template, or just a plain blank screen. Tools are held in a sidebar, with specific pen types, line sizes, and colors available in popup boxes. We particularly like the markers that highlight text.

There are options to write in pencil and it is the closest we've seen a digital display replicate the scribble and scratch of pen to paper. Aside from a slight wobbliness when drawing straight lines, it is practically there. However, we can't recommend this to professional illustrators -- though it does have layers and tools for shading -- the colors are more for highlighting and annotating documents and lists rather than detailed drawings. It could feasibly be used as an expensive bullet journal, though.

ReMarkable Paper Pro: Specs and performance

The ReMarkable Paper Pro doesn't support apps or any form of web browsing, so there is no way for us to provide a benchmark for its processing power aside from our own opinion of its performance. And, to be fair, this isn't a device that wants to be measured on speed or power. It's for quiet contemplation, idea generation, and making colorful notes.

So there is a 1.8 GHz quad-core Cortex-A53 chip and 64GB of storage, but we have no idea what they're doing in the background. The battery was testable, in that we used it every day for over a week and charged it once. ReMarkable estimates the Pro can go from empty to full in under 90-minutes, which we found to be near enough accurate.

While there is no internet distraction, the Paper Pro connects to Wi-Fi and can be integrated with Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox. You'll have to link to the accompanying ReMarkable app (on your smartphone) or visit the ReMarkable website. Anything you want to import on your Paper Pro needs to be saved as a PDF or ePUB, which is an entirely awkward process.

ReMarkable Paper Pro: Is it worth it?

Aside from the pointless integrations, the ReMarkable Paper Pro is nearly worth the price. We have given it five stars based on using it for its intended purpose – distraction-free productivity. When you put pen to digital paper you are free from any of modern life's annoyances and work can be done, like taking notes in meetings, idea creation, and even bullet journaling with a select few colors.

The price is impossible to ignore, particularly if you are a small business with limited resources. A $500-plus Paper Pro in addition to a laptop, a monitor, and all other expenses employees require will be hard to justify to the finance guys. But, hey, if this is what it costs for a little bit of peace at work, we're sold.

ReMarkable Paper Pro specifications

With Apple dominating the tablet market, selling over 1 in 3 of all devices sold, Samsung has established itself as the only serious competition, with the Galaxy Tab S series as the flagship model. You know what you're getting with a Tab S tablet: cutting-edge specs, Samsung's most advanced features, and arguably the best screens in the business, all at price points that position them directly against Apple's high-end iPad Pro. Well, the new Tab S10+ fits that profile perfectly. It's as good as Android tablets get.

This year there is no 'standard' Tab S10, making the S10+ the most affordable option in the two-strong line-up. With prices starting at £999 and a smaller 12.4in screen, it's both physically and financially more manageable than the 14.6in/£1199 Tab S10 Ultra, and arguably a more practical choice for many users. But do you miss out on anything by plumping for the S10+, and how does the smaller slate hold up against Apple's finest?

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Design

With a few exceptions, the Galaxy Tab S10+ is basically the Tab S10 Ultra, only smaller. Its 285.4 x 185.4mm frame and 571g weight make it easier to stuff inside a bag or use one-handed, and the Tab S10+ works better in situations where space may be limited or you're trying to use your tablet on the go. It comes in the same attractive Moonstone Grey and Platinum Silver finishes, with slim bezels around the screen and the module for the front-facing cameras encroaching in at the center of the top or right-hand edge.

There's no headphone socket, just a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, which doubles up for charging (up to 45W) and data transfer (up to 5Gbits/sec). The only features on the rear worth noting are the slightly inset magnetic strip that holds the bundled S-Pen securely in place, and the 13MP and 8MP cameras which sit to one side.

Oddly, the S10+ is slightly thicker than the larger S10 Ultra, but only by an unnoticeable fraction of a millimeter. Otherwise, it feels every bit as premium and every bit as robust, with a redesigned framework that's supposed to protect the tablet from drop damage, and IP68 water and dust resistance to keep it safe out on the road.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Display

The display is smaller than the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra's and it doesn't go as bright. Where we measured the larger screen hitting 603cd/m2 with SDR content and adaptive brightness turned on, the smaller version maxed out at 497.1cdm/m2. In no other respect could you call it inferior. In fact, the 2800 x 1752 resolution image is spectacularly crisp and clear, with a 266ppi pixel density that beats the Tab S10 Ultra and the 11in iPad Air.

What's more, Samsung's AMOLED tech gives you stunning contrast, punchy colors, and beautifully subtle darker tones. It covers 100% of the sRGB color gamut and 92.8% of DCI-P3, and you could use it for editing movies, not just watching them. Having said that, it's a fantastic way to enjoy Dolby Vision and HDR material, where you can also make the most of the clear and surprisingly rich sound.

We think the 12.4in screen size puts the Tab S10+ in something of a sweet spot, giving you a bigger picture and more working space than you'll get on a standard 11in tablet, without the bulk of the larger 13in and 14in models. It's great for split-screen multitasking, but there's not too much in the way of wasted space when you're working in a single app.

The S10+ gets extra credit for having an effective set of cameras. The dual 12MP front-facing cameras are brilliant for video chats and online meetings, with the option of a wide-angle view. The image is bright, detailed, and consistently well-exposed. And while the rear-facing cameras aren't going to replace a decent smartphone's, they can still take good shots in most lighting, especially if you don't make too much use of the digital zoom. For business purposes, you have everything you need.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Software and accessories

Samsung's S-Pen has long been one of the Tab S range's killer features, not just because you get it in the box, but because Samsung's apps assume you're going to use it. It makes the Tab S10+ a note-taking, document-annotating, idea-sketching machine out of the box, while also working well for navigating complex productivity and design apps.

What's more, Samsung has designed many of its new Galaxy AI features around the S-Pen, transforming handwritten scrawl into editable text or dubious doodles into slightly less awful illustrations or cartoons. You can also rely on Galaxy AI to translate notes, transcribe recordings, and even craft responses in the messaging and chat apps. The results aren't always perfect – one sample transcription was riddled with misheard nouns and embarrassing mistakes – but there are signs here that Samsung is working out what AI can do to make a tablet more useful in and out of work.

The other strength of Samsung's One UI software is its support for multitasking. Just about every Android tablet now offers split-screen views, but Samsung's approach is more flexible and – with familiarity – more efficient. What's more, Samsung's DEX interface, available at the tap of an icon, transforms One UI into a functional desktop UI, perfect for navigating with the optional AI Book Cover Keyboard or you're a third-party Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. With resizable, floating windows and a dock, you get a laptop-like experience that's perfect for more demanding tasks, especially where you need to work across multiple apps.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Specs and performance

The Tab S10+ doesn't have the exact same spec as the S10 Ultra. It has Wi-Fi 6E for its network connection rather than the Ultra's Wi-Fi 7, and the battery capacity is smaller, with 10,090mAh instead of 11,200mAh. But when it comes to the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ CPU and 12GB of RAM, it's identical. It's the joint-fastest Android tablet that money can currently buy.

This translates to Geekbench 6 scores of 2154 in the single-threaded tests and 7154 in multi-core. To put that in perspective, the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2 we looked at recently scored 1298 and 4272 in the same tests, while the old Galaxy Tab S9 Plus scored 2115 and 5695. With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, the old model was itself no slouch. The S10+ also has some serious 3D horsepower, delivering 30fps in the 3Dmark Wildlife Extreme benchmark, and 13.15fps in the most intensive Steel Nomad Lite test. That might not sound that impressive, but the majority of Android tablets can't get much above 5 to 10fps in the latter test.

The only issue Samsung faces here is that the newest iPad Air and iPad Pro tablets are faster, thanks to their desktop class M2 and M4 processors. There's an argument that most tablet apps don't actually need that kind of power, but if you're looking for maximum performance and the best line-up of professional and creative apps, the iPad Pro is still the way to go. Just bear in mind that the cheapest 13in model will still cost you north of £1250, while the £999 model has a smaller 11in display.

Battery life isn't quite as good as on the iPad Pro or Tab S10+ Ultra. The 11in iPad Pro can last for over 16 hours in our video rundown test, while the bigger Tab S10 can do close to 14 hours. With the S10, the battery ran dry four minutes shy of 13 hours; not a bad result, but a little underwhelming from a tablet that's exceptional in almost every other way.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Is it worth it?

The Galaxy Tab S10+ is either the best or second-best Android tablet you can buy, depending on how much you value the additional size of the Ultra model. Through the S-Pen, AI features and the One UI, Samsung has done its best to make it a powerful business tool that can run the most demanding Android apps. It is expensive, but the screen, features, and overall quality do a solid job of justifying the premium price. And while Apple still has the performance advantage and the richer app and service ecosystem, a lot of business users are going to find all they need through web-based apps and the Google Play Store. That's enough to make the S10+ a viable alternative to a laptop for travel and mobile use – especially with the right accessories. It's still not going to be your primary PC, but it's a brilliant sidekick slate.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+: Specifications

How big do you need a tablet to be? Over a week of using the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, this question came up again and again. Samsung's super-sized slate is a marvel of engineering, packing a powerful spec and a massive 14.6in screen into a device that's incredibly thin. Yet, as with its predecessor, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, and the version before that, we've grown to love the enormous display and its expansive working space, while wondering exactly who it's for.

The answer is that the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is not the ideal tablet for everyone – or even everyone with more than £1200 to spend. It is, however, a fantastic option for a specific niche of users. And if you're looking for a tablet that makes a big first impression, they really don't get better than this.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: Design

In terms of the physical design, there's not much difference between the S10 Ultra and the outgoing S9 Ultra. The 208.6 x 326.4mm footprint is the same and the drop from 5.5mm to 5.4mm thick is imperceptible. A reduction in weight from 732g to 714g is hardly a game changer, while the dual front-camera setup is unchanged from last year's model, as is the dual rear camera setup at the back. The bundled S-Pen stylus still clamps magnetically to a strip next to the rear cameras, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell new from old by sight apart from a change of colors, from graphite or beige to moonstone grey and platinum silver.

Samsung has apparently redesigned its Enhanced Armor Aluminium frame to make it even more durable, and with IP68 water and dust resistance, the Tab S10 Ultra is tougher than you might expect. The styling, fit, and finish is exemplary, as you'd hope for a tablet at this price. There's a single USB Type-C port for data transfer and charging, running at a maximum 5Gbits/sec. You've also got Wi-Fi 7 networking onboard, making this the first tablet that we've tested with support for the latest standard.

Let's not beat around the bush: this is a big and heavy tablet. You can hold it one-handed and use the onscreen keyboard or use the S-Pen stylus to sketch or take notes, but it's not really comfortable over long periods. In fact, it's better if you can leave it on a desk or rest it on your lap or knee. You will also notice the size if you try to pack it in a bag or backpack. It's more like cramming in an unusually thin laptop than a conventional slate. Even while watching video, we had to wonder whether the benefits of a bigger image outweighed the effort of holding it in place, and we even found it more comfortable to hold the tablet further away than we normally would, just to see the picture as a whole. All the same, there are other scenarios where the bigger format brings real benefits. we will circle back to these once we've talked about the display itself.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: Display

Even without its sheer size, the Tab S10 Ultra's screen would be absolutely stunning. It's a top-notch AMOLED affair with a 2960 x 1848 resolution, giving you a pixel density of 266ppi. It's bright, hovering at around 380cd/m2 when used indoors with SDR content, but going up to 603cd/m2 for visibility in sunlight, and exceeding 775cd/m2 with HDR video. Couple that with the spectacular contrast levels of AMOLED, and you have an incredibly sharp and vibrant display that's easily as good as anything else out there.

Color performance is just as spectacular. The Tab S10 Ultra's display covers 99.7% of the sRGB color gamut and 99% of DCI-P3, with gamut volumes of 141% and 99.2%. With an average Delta-E of 0.22, color accuracy is superb. If you need a tablet for professional video or design, the Tab S10 Ultra will meet your screen requirements.

Audio quality is also impressive, particularly given the thinness of the device. You can't expect booming bass, but the sound is warm, detailed, and spacious, only growing harsh when the volume levels have already become uncomfortably loud.

It's also worth mentioning the Tab S10 Ultra's cameras. The 12MP front-facing cameras are unusually good, capturing crisp, well-exposed video with the option of a wide-angle view if you need to fit in more than one face for an ad-hoc virtual meeting. And if the rear 13MP camera isn't quite at the level of Samsung's better smartphone snappers, it's fine for quick snaps or document scans, with a usable 2x digital zoom – though the 8x maximum is pushing it, creating fuzzy, low-quality images.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: Software and accessories

It's become a truth universally acknowledged that Apple has the best tablet OS and the best line-up of software, but Samsung has worked hard to position its own One UI spin on Android as a business-grade alternative with its own tangible strengths. A big part of the Galaxy Tab S line's appeal is that the S-Pen stylus is included with each tablet, meaning Samsung can work stylus functionality into its pre-installed apps. As a result, the Tab S10 Ultra is a joy for taking notes, marking up documents, sketching, and drawing, both using those apps and third-party packages. Video and photo editing also feels more natural with the S-Pen than with a finger.

What's more, Samsung has gone big on AI in this year's release. AI features are built into the notes, messaging, and voice recorder apps, so that you can transcribe, summarise and translate with ease. There's even a Sketch to Image tool that, like Microsoft's Co-creator feature, transforms your hapless doodles into illustrations, faux watercolors, and 3D cartoons.

Yet Samsung's biggest strength is its support for multitasking, and it's here that the massive screen size becomes a massive plus. With One UI's flexible split-screen views you've got plenty of space to research in the browser and make notes at the same time. Where apps have complex interfaces with multiple palettes, playback views, and timelines, the larger screen also makes them far more usable. What's more, with Samsung's DEX UI you can go even further, into a full desktop UI with floating, resizable windows and a proper taskbar. Suddenly your Tab S10 Ultra feels less like an oversized slate, and more like an incredibly thin and light detachable PC.

This works best with Samsung's £339 AI Book Cover Keyboard with Trackpad, which effectively transforms the Tab S10 Ultra into an Android laptop. However, even with a third-party Bluetooth keyboard, it can transform the way you use the device. You won't have all the apps you'll find on a Windows or MacOS laptop, but you can easily find the basics to keep you working for a few days away from the office, in a setup that's still going to be noticeably lighter.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: Specs and performance

Admittedly, the Tab S10 Ultra can't quite deliver high-end laptop levels of performance. Its Geekbench 6 scores – 2159 in the single-core tests and 7154 in multi-core – are impressive by the standards of other Android tablets; The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2in we looked at recently scored 1298 and 4272. I've seen budget Windows laptops score lower. The MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ has serious multi-threaded chops, not to mention a built-in NPU for AI acceleration. Yet the M2 iPad Air typically scores over 10,000 in the multicore test, and the M4 iPad Pro scores close to 15,000, which puts them in 'proper laptop' territory.

Does this matter? Probably not. From Web-based research to image-editing, 4K video-editing, and more, we couldn't find anything that made the S10 Ultra struggle, and it's exceptionally slick and speedy in day-to-day use. It's also got more 3D graphics power than any other Android tablet that we've looked at, running 3Dmark's Wild Life Extreme test at 30fps and the challenging Steel Nomad Lite test at 13.65fps. To put that in perspective, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, manages around 22fps in Wild Life Extreme.

Big screens and high-end CPUs don't tend to tie in with epic battery life, but the Tab S10 Ultra has a reasonable amount of stamina. With the screen brightness turned down to 170cd/m2 it pushed through 13 hours and 45 minutes of HD video playback in our rundown test. In practice, a daily charge got us through a working day and well into the evening, and it's quick if you need a recharge. 30 minutes on a 65W charger took it back up to 30%, though the Tab S10 Ultra only supports charging at up to 45W.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra: Is it worth it?

With prices starting at £1199 and going upwards if you need more storage, the Tab S10 Ultra is one of the most expensive tablets you can buy. For around the same money you could have a Surface Pro or a MacBook Air with more power and a wider range of software. The 13-inch iPad Air with the M2 processor will cost you £400 less.

Yet Samsung's monster tablet still makes a compelling argument for itself, thanks to its awesome screen, multitasking capabilities, good performance, and lightweight design. The consistent S-Pen support and AI features only make that case stronger. Not all of us need a tablet this big – and not every business will have the budget – but if you've ever wanted the convenience of a tablet but felt cramped by the smaller screen, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra might be your ideal device.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra specifications

Huawei has a stellar track record when it comes to hardware designs; over the last decade, the Chinese giant has produced mobile devices of remarkable beauty and cutting-edge innovation that is almost hard to believe they're not more popular. But, of course, we know very well why that is – there are no Google Play apps on the devices.

This never-ending frustration is acutely felt when using the 12.2in MatePad Pro, where all its best features, such as the PaperMatte display, are limited by app restrictions. Sure, Huawei has some very clever alternatives, but not all of its apps can replicate what you know and love.

People who work in creative professions, those who sketch and draw, will still be able to use the MatePad Pro – its art app (GoPaint) is just as good as Apple Procreate. And you can have it with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB storage for just £799.99.

Huawei MatePad 12.2in: Design

Flamboyant is the first word that comes to mind when considering the design for the MatePad Pro – especially the gold PaperMatte version. The other option is the standard black, which is more professional looking though still very slick. For the PaperMatte model, you have a 'golden silk' design, which is a textured finish that replicates woven silk fabrics. It's unnecessarily fancy, but quite nice in the hand.

It's super light at just 508 grams (without the keyboard) and extremely slim at 5.5mm. Hardly noticeable in a rucksack and effortless to carry single-handed between meetings. And there are minimal bezels around the display with a 92% screen-to-body ratio.

Once connected to the keyboard, you'll find the NearLink keyboard is full of neat details and useful features. Such as the pen tray that can be hidden when folded, and the various ways you can dock the tablet. You can have it as an upright standard screen, a flat display with the keyboard either flipped over or next to it or as a slightly raised screen, which is perfect for when sketching.

Structurally, it is a well-built tablet with very smooth edges and corners. There is a USB-C slot on the bottom, flanked by two sets of speaker holes. There's a volume rocker on the top and a power on/fingerprint reader around the corner from that. On the rear, there is a circular bump for the dual camera lenses (13MP and an 8MP wide lens) which slightly protrudes. All very nice touches, but frankly this is a story about one thing and one thing only – a superb display.

Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2in: Display

Now, the 12.2in OLED display is not your typical OLED panel. You will instantly notice this out of the box as you get a wonderful glare-free experience. This is down to nano-level pixel stacking technology that increases the brightness across the display. This is achieved with a new layer specifically for emitting light. Huawei even claims that this nano-level pixel stacking technology (which really needs a shorter name or acronym) can triple the display's lifespan.

We can't judge that after two weeks of use, but we can confirm it is an extremely bright tablet. It is a true-to-life HDR with a whopping 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. And, with Huwei's Natural Light Sensing tech, nothing will be faint, or obscured by the other really bright thing in our lives – the sun.

With our colormiter the MatePad also came up trumps; it scored 99.6% for sRGB gamut color coverage and 112% DCI P3 gamut volume. Similar to the latest iPad Pro and well ahead of rivals like the Lenovo P11 Pro.

In our two weeks with the MatePad Pro, we were impressed with its color representation and its ability to handle seemingly any lighting conditions, inside and out. Much of our time was spent in the GoPaint app where its display technology shines – more on that later on.

Huawei MatePad Pro: Keyboard and pen

You'll be pleased to know that the MatePad's Bluetooth keyboard accessory and stylus come bundled in, for now. The stylus is listed on the website as a 'gift'? But both are a joy to use.

Admittedly, there was a little confusion and difficulty when connecting the NearLink keyboard to the tablet. This could be due to it being previously connected and only the tablet portion being reset (another reviewer got it before we did) – but there was a little frustrating period before we got to use the keyboard.

Once you do get it connected, the keys are very pleasant – all cream-colored, large, easy to hit at speed, and very responsive. It offers 1.3mm travel and the sound is a delightful muffled clack, maybe not quite as satisfying as you would get on a good laptop but still gentle on the ears.

The Huawei M-Pencil is particularly amazing as it does indeed give you the 'rustle' of pen on paper. When you sketch, it is almost like the real thing. What stops it from being exactly like a real pen on paper is the slight slippiness of the display that sometimes leads to a mistake or wobbly attempts at free-hand straight lines, but to our knowledge, no tablet has solved this.

Huawei's art app, 'GoPaint', is a fully stocked tool kit for the illustrator. You have everything here that you would find on Apple's Procreate, just in a different order – it does seem unfamiliar at first, but after a few sketches you get the hang of it. We review from the perspective of a business, and this app is a joy regardless of your work needs or even your artistic ability – it's simple yet brilliant.

Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2in: Specs and performance

Inside the MatePad Pro is the Kirin T91 octa-core processor – unfortunately this is all the details we have, Huawei hasn't revealed much about it. What we do know is that is a good performer, not quite at the Apple Bionic level, and a smidge below Samsung's latest Galaxy Tab, but a decent chip nonetheless. In Geekbench 6, the Kirin T91 hit 1,298 for single-core workloads and 4,272 for multithreaded performance.

Having used it rigorously for two weeks, we haven't seen any lag switching from apps, no sluggishness when we open yet more tabs, and no signs of strain when we put it through any heavy processing. There is a smoothness to its software and a snappy feel to its operation.

However, when it comes to downloading apps you'll find a whole world of frustration – not entirely Huawei's fault, we might add. It can't use Android, so you have the latest version of HarmonyOS (4.2) which is very smart-looking and easy to use until you come to download your favorite apps. For our tests, we use Geekbench 6 and to get it on the MatePad Pro you need to download an emulator (APKPure) that basically adds extra steps – lots of them. Because it isn't getting the Android or iOS version of the app, it needs to find an open source one that is then checked for security. So it isn't one click and you have a download, it's a relentless process of shutting down popup boxes and ads – you also need to install APKPure via Petal Search. From a business perspective, this isn't a smooth user experience and is probably a bit of a security nightmare for the IT department.

What's most annoying, however, is that the MatePad Pro has so much bloatware out of the box – it is riddled with games and entertainment apps – countless apps that have no real interest for adults. There are two different kinds of note-taking apps, but nothing for writing and editing documents. You can't get Google Docs and you need to go through that awfully long process to get Microsoft Word. There isn't anything seamless about this process.

On the plus side, it lasts for ages; in our battery life tests, where we ran a looped video test, the MatePad Pro lasted for 16hrs, 18 mins. That's far more than reported scores for the Galaxy Tab and the latest iPad Pro.

Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2in: Is it worth it?

The Huawei MatePad Pro should be a five-star device that all creative businesses should consider, but the lack of Google and Android is a problem. Huawei has a superb track record with hardware but the software lets it down.

In the MatePad Pro, we have innovative hardware riddled with duff apps and overly complicated ways of getting the ones you actually need and that is too frustrating a process. This is the kind of hardware you'll want to use at work but there is still no decent substitute for Android and iOS. As such, this is a wonderful tablet that we struggle to recommend.

Huawei MatePad Pro 12.2in specifications

After wowing phone lovers over the past decade with flagship mobile devices at mid-range prices, OnePlus, now firmly under the auspices of parent company Oppo, has taken its first plunge into the murky world of Android tablets. Originally shipping with Android 13, the OnePlus Pad has already surpassed many of its rivals with a speedy upgrade to Android 14 and a commitment to a regular upgrade schedule. It's for this reason that it clocks in at a more premium price compared to cheap unbranded equivalents that stay rigidly where they are. 

But is that extra money justified, and is it enough to justify eschewing Samsung and Lenovo, both of whom have made a name for themselves in the premium tablet space?

Our review package consists of the 128GB model, with 8GB of RAM (a 256GB/12GB version is also available in some territories, with the matching magnetic keyboard folio and stylus. All the accessories are sold separately, so the £449 RRP quickly becomes £707 when looking at the complete suite. In common with many manufacturers, a wall charger is also an add-on, and though you'll want the speed of OnePlus's proprietary Warp 67W charger (another £28), as you'll see, the battery life means you could manage without.

OnePlus Pad: Design

In terms of looks, the OnePlus Pad is slim and gorgeous, with an 11.6in screen, crammed into a frame measuring 258 x 189.4 x 6.5 mm. That slimline spec and 552g weight make it incredibly comfortable to hold without a case, and exceedingly practical when packed inside the keyboard folio case. The rounded edges add to the ergonomic comfort, but mean that the modest bezels belie the 84.6 screen ratio, brought down by bulges rather than black bars. 

Round the back is the bold choice of a "Halo Green" metallic finish – rather more of a "forest" or "sage" color to non-advertising executives, but an odd choice for the only colorway currently available. The rear camera sits in a neat circular array with minimal bulge. With the tablet in its native horizontal form, the top edge holds the volume keys and microphone, with power to the left and a USB-C socket to the right. There are two speakers on each side too, which are muffled when covered with a hand, which can be a bit frustrating, and a reminder that this is a device that is happiest in its folio. This rationale is backed up by the fact that, despite those bezels, it is very easy to make accidental inputs with a rogue finger holding the tablet. The top edge is also magnetized to grip the optional stylus which charges it on contact, while the bottom edge has contacts for attaching to the folio. The 2,000 x 2,800 display is clear, crisp, and bright, with the 144Hz refresh rate tameable thanks to the addition of app-specific refresh rate selection in Android 14, meaning you can squeeze even more out of the battery for low-lift apps. 

OnePlus Pad: Specs and performance 

Under the hood, there's a Mediatek Dimensity 9000 4nm chipset, consisting of 1x3.05 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.85 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510 and a Mali G710 MC10 GPU, all of which meant that no matter what we threw at it, there was a lag-free experience, even with our "lesser" 8GB RAM review unit. The 128GB RAM is enough for most use cases, but we'd have liked to have seen a memory slot, which would make it more appealing as a laptop replacement. 

Connectivity is impressive – with WiFI 6, Bluetooth 5.3, and GPS all present and correct, and the USB port includes OTG for any wired accessories you may be craving. There's none of the more phone-specific nice-to-haves – no fingerprint sensor is fair enough, but we did miss the option of NFC a few times as it finally carves out a niche for itself in our daily lives. 

The cameras are ample for day-to-day use, with an 8MP selfie camera hidden in the bezel, capable of 1080p 30fps video, which is more than enough to look good on Zoom. Round the back, the main camera clocks in at 13MP with LED flash, though again, the frame rate is maxed out at 30fps. 

Docking the tablet in its folio keyboard creates a genuinely practical laptop alternative that is refreshingly sturdy enough to actually be used on your lap (which is how we're writing this review). The docking position is fixed, however, and although we didn't have any major issues with using it this way, your experience may differ – but we'd rather have sturdy and fixed, not flexible and wobbly anyway. The keyboard itself is a joy to type on, with a comfortable action and elegant key spacing, while the touchpad is responsive without being intrusive for those rogue palms. 

The stylus is very much a nice-to-have and is certainly accurate enough to capture handwriting and fine brush strokes that exceed expectations but fall below what we'd class as graphic design level. That said, the touch display is so responsive, that we barely missed the stylus for the vast majority of functionality. 

When we were preparing this review, we were using Oxygen 13.1, based on Android 13. Still, to our delight, Android 14 became available in December 2023, making it one of the first devices to get the update, and forcing a hasty rewrite of our performance benchmarking. Having said that, most of the Android 14 enhancements are under the hood, so don't expect too much change to the user experience. This isn't a problem though as the OxygenOS implementation of Android has always been a joy to use. 

Those benchmarks are fairly pleasing for a first effort. In terms of our GeekBench 6 testing, the OnePlus Pad clocked a single-core score of 1113 and multi-core of 2974. This compares favorably with the Lenovo P11 Pro that mustered 824/2893.

Where the OnePlus Pad really shines, however, is in its battery life. Once upgraded to Android 14, in our continuous video test, the 9125mAH-clad device clocked up a very hefty 14hr 53min, which compares favorably to almost every device in its class, with over an hour more stamina than the current iPad Pro and current Lenovo Tab P11 Pro – though the latter's first iteration was capable of over 17hrs. 

As we've mentioned already, Oxygen 14 is the operating system of choice here, which augments stock Android without smothering it, offering buttery smooth transitions and an extremely usable multi-task experience, made all the more pleasing with an effectively executed split window or even floating window capability. 

The slogan of Oxygen 14 is "Evolved to Succeed" which feels appropriate given that the visual and feature changes are fairly minimal compared to the out-of-the-box Oxygen 13.1 experience, to the point that we actually had to double-check if the update had worked. However, it's fairly clear after a few minutes of use that a lot of work has gone into making the animations even smoother, the RAM use more efficient, and the battery life even longer, so we can't really complain that it's evolution, rather than revolution. 

OnePlus Pad Is it worth it? 

Is the OnePlus Pad perfect? No. For the price, we'd hope that some of the niggles in this review would have been straightened out, particularly surrounding accidental touches to the screen, and the auto-rotate, which appears to have a life of its own, which could be down to a software bug or a false accelerometer. 

Nevertheless, notwithstanding it's a first stab, it's an excellent tablet, and with the accessories bundle, it's a more than passable laptop replacement for those on-the-go days and working on the sofa. It's not powerful enough to be your only machine, and regardless of the version, Android simply isn't a replacement for a desktop operating system, though each iteration has brought it closer to being a passable rival for PadOS. The lack of LTE support reduces its holy grail status somewhat, but it's also a fraction of the price of a Samsung Galaxy S9, yet offers the ongoing support that off-brand tablets simply don't give, making it a good long-term purchase. We like. We don't adore. But we very much like. 

OnePlus Pad specifications 

Although Lenovo might be better known for being number one when it comes to PC sales, the brand has plenty of monitors, desktops, and tablets to offer too. One of these is the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen), the pro version of the Tab P11 and the updated version of the Tab P11 Pro, and currently the most expensive Lenovo tablet. This is the company's higher-end offering, where it's really hoping to show off its technology.

Compared to the first generation of the device, it has a different processor, 2GB more RAM, a slightly smaller screen, double the memory, and is 15g heavier. As you can see, Lenovo has given it a firm boost, hoping to attract new buyers with its revamped offering. At £439.99 it's less than half the price of other premium tablets out there, but can this glowing rectangle compete with its rivals?

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Design

The P11 Pro offers a smooth, thin, tablet design, which feels secure in your grasp. It's comfortable enough to hold with one hand, with its rectangle edges providing just the right amount of grip but not enough to make it feel bulky at all. It's incredibly light, weighing just 480g, and only 6.8mm thick, so be careful if you're setting it down on a table.

The back is divided up into thirds: two-thirds comprises of its glossy case, while the remaining third acts as a magnetic strip should you wish to purchase the pen that comes with the device which can be attached here. One thing to bear in mind is that its back will quickly fill up with your fingerprint marks so it might be a good idea to buy the case along with the tablet, which neatly snaps onto the back magnetically and even includes a hollow space for the pen to sit, helping to prevent you from misplacing it. The case also has a flap at the back which will help the tablet stand up by itself, and makes it almost look like a laptop once the optional 2-in-1 keyboard is attached.

Similarly, the screen will fill up with fingerprints very fast too and it might be worth getting a screen protector to keep it clean. There's a short black bezel around the edge of the screen, which is the right size and not big enough to put you off using the device. Since the device's case snaps onto the back, it doesn't take any space from the front which is a positive. Additionally, if you connect the keyboard to the base of the device, it folds into the screen when you're not using it which helps to protect it.

As for the buttons on the side of the device, it has two for raising or lowering the volume, and a lock/power off button. It also has a microSD card slot if you want to add more memory as well as a USB-C 3.0 connection which is used for charging the device. Be aware that there's no headphone socket on this tablet, so if you want to connect your headphones they need to have a USB-C 3.0 connection or connect via Bluetooth.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Display

The Tab P11 Pro has a stunning screen, with a 2560 x 1536 OLED display. The colours on the screen are very accurate and it produces smooth and natural movements. If you're worried about it being a little too powerful, the Android 12 operating system also comes equipped with an eye protection mode if you need to change the colour temperature. This could be useful to set at specific times of the day, such as the evening if you need to rest your eyes. This will be extremely useful for getting the most out of the tablet, whether it's day-to-day work, watching films or TV series, or even mobile gaming if you fancy it.

When it comes to our display benchmarking, the Tab P11 Pro scored a 100% sRGB gamut colour coverage, confirming our suspicions that it's a powerhouse of a display. For comparison, this is better than the 2021 iPad, which scored a coverage of 91.4%, the Nokia T20, which scored ​​74%, and the first-generation Tab P11 Pro, which scored 99.6%.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Specs and performance

Below the surface, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro makes use of a MediaTek Kompanio 1300T octa-core processor with an Arm G77, as well as up to 8GB of memory and up to 256GB of storage. This enabled the device to score 824 in GeekBench 5's single-core test and 2,893 for the multi-core performance. This is more than the P11 Pro first generation managed, netting a 533 in the single-core and 1,698 in the multi-core tests. For comparison, the regular Tab P11 scored 309 and 1,325 in the same tests while the Apple iPad (2021) scored 1,330 and 3,336.

This should mean the tablet should be able to handle most things you throw at it fairly easily. It was great for watching films and carrying out day-to-day work, as well as some mobile gaming.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Battery life

One thing that is absolutely key for tablets is to ensure they have a decent battery life since usually people tend to use them on the go and need them to be reliable. Fortunately, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro does not disappoint in this area. Lenovo claims that its battery can last for 14 hours, and in our video playback battery tests it lasted for 14 hours and 21 minutes. This means you can get through a working day without needing to charge the device.

However, its predecessor, the P11 Pro, managed to last for a little bit longer, scoring 17hrs 6 minutes in the battery tests. Meanwhile, the Nokia T20 managed to last for ​​15hrs while the 2021 iPad lasted for 13hrs 11mins.

With its 8000mAh battery cell, we didn't find an issue with the battery life and could work comfortably. The only perplexing issue is that the device tells users it can last longer than it has battery life left. For example, the battery icon displayed it had low battery, but it said it had 16 hours left of life on the device. After entering a video call, the device shut down mid-way through, clearly having less battery life than it claimed to. Obviously, this isn't a huge error and should hopefully be patched in the future, but is something to be aware of.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Features

The P11 Pro runs on the Android 12 operating system, bringing a range of features to the hardware that works great for the tablet. You've got all the usual stuff you can expect to find on an Android smartphone, like Bluetooth 5.1, smart rotate, and eye protection mode, as well as notification mode, productivity mode, and sound from Dolby Atmos.

As soon as you connect the additional keyboard to the tablet, which snaps onto the base very easily, the tablet can be set to automatically enter productivity mode. This will bring up a productivity bar on the base of your screen, like a PC's taskbar, where you can see the apps you have open. It will also move the battery information normally displayed in the top right to the bottom right of the screen, mimicking a Windows laptop. This helps to help you swap between apps easily when using the keyboard, and is extremely useful. It basically means you can be writing a document in Google Docs, switch to Chrome to look something up, and then switch back to your work, all navigating from the bottom of your screen.

The keyboard itself also makes working on-the-go even easier. It has a dedicated back button, which makes navigating easier. It has volume controls, a mute button, brightness, a button for screenshots, and a button for resizing the window you're working on. It also had a button you can hit to immediately lock the device, which is great if someone is snooping around and looking at your screen. Lastly, there's a dedicated button for split screen mode, which is extremely useful when working between two tabs or apps at once. You can see all the information you need, side by side, without having navigate to other apps or flip between them through the taskbar.

Just bear in mind that if you tend to have numerous tabs open at the same time, or want to flick between Google Docs, Sheets, Gmail, and Chrome constantly, it can get a little bit frustrating and interfere with your work rhythm. Obviously, this is a downside when it comes to all tablets and the split screen function helps ease this frustration. This is why the tablet is useful if you're on the go or need it for a short period of time, and we wouldn't recommend it as a full-time working device.

The keyboard itself is great for a snap-on tablet keyboard and even comes with a trackpad. It feels firm and there's a fair bit of space available to stretch out your fingers and type comfortably. The trackpad is decent too and responds well.

The Lenovo Precision Pen 3 that you can purchase to come with the device also works well and is very responsive. If you want to get in touch with your arty side, it's also good to download a Paint-like app and try your hand at digital drawing.

However, we found it tricky when navigating with the pen and using the keyboard. At times, if you navigate with the pen and then go to type with the keyboard it wouldn't respond to the keyboard input. Instead, a little pop-up box appears every time you type after navigating with the pen and you have to touch the keyboard icon for it to work. This was annoying and essentially means that you will end up not using the pen when the keyboard is attached. Instead, you either use the trackpad or get the screen grubby with your fingerprints.

Also, sometimes standard keyboard shortcuts don't tend to work. If you highlight a word and then Shift+Click to another word lower down in a paragraph, usually the device will highlight the section for you. However, this doesn't occur on the tablet. Moreover, if you want to highlight words, you have to click on a little blue label that appears at either end of a highlight and drag it to the words you need highlighting. Additionally, we tried to paste without formatting (Ctrl+Shift+V) in Google Docs which brought up a microphone search input. It turns out that pasting into Chrome automatically removes the formatting on the tablet. Overall, this isn't especially frustrating, but once you get used to the device it's probably fine.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Camera

The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has two cameras, an 8MP one on the front with fixed focus and a 13MP one on the back with autofocus. As you can probably guess, the quality of the cameras is fine, but nothing to write home about. Essentially, the front camera is just what you need to spend the whole day on video calls, while the back one might be used for taking a quick snap if you happen to be out and about. From a functionality point of view, they're fine, but don't expect to be taking any extremely vivid pictures.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) review: Verdict

If you're looking for a quick, seamless, reliable tablet that doesn't break the bank, then the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro might be the one for you. That's as long as you're happy getting comfortable with the Android operating system since it might be a little frustrating at the start.

Since the only thing holding back this device is the operating system, you'll soon forget about these annoyances once you stare into its rich, beautiful screen and flawless operations. It's easy to work from but make sure you get the additional keyboard to do so since it will help you type faster. Although it won't be able to fully replace your laptop, the device is sure to be a loyal, dedicated, travelling companion.

This device is a steal, especially when you compare it to the price tag of other higher-end models like the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 Pro for Business (£1,316 exc VAT) or Apple iPad Pro 12.9in (£1,107 exc VAT). If you need something cheaper that will work extremely well, then make sure you consider the Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen).

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro (2nd Gen) specifications

The iPad has long been framed by Apple as a genuine option for professionals looking to take mobile computing seriously. Now, iPads have a bespoke operating system and some seriously powerful hardware propelling their capabilities far beyond tablets of the past, and recent iterations have made the office use case increasingly compelling.

With the most recent iPad Pro 11in, what Apple achieved was the most passable excuse for an office tablet ever created, but its cheaper counterpart, the iPad Air, is now also a genuine contender to take the office tablet throne. Prospective businesses looking into tablets for office use will doubtless be comparing Apple’s models across the two budget ranges, but can the iPad Air finally overthrow its pricier sibling in its ambition to reach the top of businesses’ wish lists?

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Design

While it inherits the edge-to-edge screen and squared sides of the iPad Pro’s recent overhaul, the overall dimensions of the Air are marginally different to those of the iPad Pro 11in. The display has tightened slightly to 10.86in, a difference so small not even a well-trained eye would notice in a hurry.

As you’d expect with a near-identical chassis, the design screams ‘Pro’ from all angles. The metal housing is the same as the Pro’s and the trademark thin, barely-big-enough-to-hold bezels from the iPad Pro also feature. It’s also available in an assortment of colours should you wish to match it to your business’ branding.

For us, the dimensions are spot-on for average hands - it lacks the unwieldiness of the 12.9in iPad Pro, though the bezels may still be a little too narrow for some. Its 458g weight (on the Wi-Fi-only model, but add 2g for cellular) is also comfortable enough for prolonged use.

Like with many Apple products, it’s a joy to hold - especially for the maverick users who forgo a protective case. The squared-off edges taken from the iPad Pro in the recent design overhaul are also a massive improvement over the almost slippery rounded edges of yesteryear.

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Display

Its design wasn’t the only area influenced by the iPad Pro; the iPad Air sports a similar 2,360 x 1,640 LED-backlit Multi-Touch IPS panel to the 11in iPad Pro, but lacks Apple’s ProMotion technology - the high refresh rate that takes an ordinary display to looking and feeling like one that’s priced much, much higher. Those accustomed to high refresh rate panels on other devices may be left wanting with this standard 60Hz display.

The peak brightness on the iPad Air also falls shorter than the iPad Pro’s score of 600 cd/m2 with a peak brightness of 394cd/m2. While that looks like quite a sizable difference on paper, the real-world performance of the iPad Air is still strong. We found ourselves sliding the brightness down far more often than upwards, and it’s still comfortably brighter than the similarly priced and newer Lenovo Tab P11 Pro.

Colour accuracy is also strong with the iPad Air which, in our tests, registered 93.6% overall coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. For reference, any score greater than 90% is considered a good standard. It also registered a near-perfect average Delta-E rating of 1.06, an excellent score for the display which means it’s more than suitable for professional image work such as graphic design.

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Specs and performance

Apple has opted not to kit out the iPad Pro with the most premium hardware at its disposal, or offer as many configurations as some professional users may want, but the level of performance offered in relation to the price point is remarkable.

Apple’s flagship M1 processor, which catapulted the iPad Pro miles ahead of the competition, hasn’t yet made its way down to the iPad Air. Instead, this model uses the 64-bit A14 Bionic chip, coupled with a fixed 4GB of RAM with no upgrade options. That said, though, it’s a more-than-capable replacement that yielded no noticeable performance issues even when running compute-intensive apps like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Rush. There are two options for storage, too: 64GB and 256GB.

During testing, the A14 Bionic held its own and wiped the floor with other devices in its budget range. A single-core score of 1,586 in the Geekbench 5 benchmark tests puts it comfortably ahead of the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro but still behind the 1,718 score of the iPad Pro 11in, which was equipped with an M1 chip after the iPad Air’s launch. The iPad Air lagged further behind its more expensive sibling in the multi-core testing with a score of 4,295 against the Pro’s 7,293 but still beat the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro with ease.

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Battery life

The iPad Air comes with a 28.6 Wh lithium-polymer battery and is rated for up to 10 hours of web surfing over Wi-Fi or watching video, according to Apple’s tech specs. During our testing, however, which involves playing a low-resolution film on a long loop with airplane mode enabled, the iPad Air ran for a respectable 14hrs 27mins before depleting fully. It’s an impressive score but wasn’t quite enough to beat the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro’s result of 17 hours.

Anecdotally, we can confirm that the battery is indeed impressive, and found it difficult to completely drain the device during the course of a single day of moderate use.

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Features

As you would expect, this mid-tier iPad doesn’t come with the same bells and whistles as Apple’s higher-end tablets. That means no Thunderbolt support, no face ID authentication, no 5G capability, and no LiDAR-enabled multi-lens camera - but you do get capabilities where it counts.

The iPad Air comes ready to work alongside the best of Apple’s iPad peripherals, including the brilliant 2nd-generation Apple Pencil for creative applications and two keyboards: the Apple Magic Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio for a more office-like feel to the user experience. Apple’s Touch ID is used for biometric authentication in unlocking the device and Apple Pay transactions, while it also ditches Apple’s Lightning connector in favour of USB-C which, in addition to charging, can be used for loading files onto the device, and connecting to external displays (although it’s limited to screen mirroring only).

With iPadOS 15, users can enjoy an elevated iOS experience that affords as many laptop-like capabilities as Apple is willing to allow before bleeding too far into Mac territory. Features like one-touch screen splitting and the Finder-like Files app, which can be used in conjunction with USB-C dongles, are useful for a decent experience that rivals a true laptop in the most basic of tasks.

Apple iPad Air (2020) review: Verdict

The iPad Air comes so close to being a genuine laptop replacement. However, it falls short in just enough areas - the inability to use it as a primary device across multiple external displays being a particularly frustrating example - to convince most that a MacBook is the better choice.

That said, for basic ultra-mobile work tasks, the iPad Air is a real joy to use - perfect for word processing, light video editing, multi-tasking, and corresponding with colleagues. It strips out the unnecessary features the iPad Pro brings like a LiDAR camera and delivers a supremely capable device along with a sublime user experience. Any tablet-using business would be hard pressed to find a better alternative at the price point.

Apple iPad Air (2020) specifications

Sitting between the notebook and smartphone is the tablet, a trusty device that’s as versatile as it can be stylish. Manufacturers, during the pandemic, benefitted from a surge in popularity for these devices, with tablet shipments rising from 40.5 million units in the second quarter of 2021 to 42.3 million in the third quarter, according to Statista.

Ever since a slump in early 2020, an astonishing rise in popularity is being attributed to the mass shift to remote working, in part. Home-workers are particularly attracted to the versatility of tablets, as well as the portability. Choosing the right tablet, however, can be a challenge and there are so many factors you need to consider when picking the best device for you and your needs.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Which platform?

The first question is whether you want an iPad, or something else. The iPad is a natural choice if you already have other Apple hardware; most iOS apps can be shared across an iPhone and an iPad, and when the tablet’s connected to your phone it can even receive calls and send text messages. For Mac users, the iPad can serve as a second display, or work with a stylus to draw in Mac apps.

Even if you’re not an Apple fan, there are good reasons to pick the iPad. It has the widest range of software and accessories, and it comes with two superb creative apps that Android can’t match, namely GarageBand and iMovie. It also has a more mature multitasking system, so it may be better suited as a laptop replacement.

Android, though, has benefits of its own. There’s a far wider range of tablets to choose from, starting at much lower prices – and Android tablets often have slots for microSD cards, so you can cheaply expand your storage. This isn’t the case with an iPad.

While iPadOS wins out for high-end apps, the Google Play store still offers half a million games and can handle more or less any productivity task. You can write documents, consult spreadsheets, mark up PDFs, edit photos and videos, sync files to the cloud, fire off emails and join Zoom meetings – everything most people will need is here.

Remember, though, that not all Android-based tablets will give you the same software experience. Most manufacturers like to tailor the interface to give it their own flavour, while Amazon goes so far as to use a customised fork of Android for its Fire tablets. If you need a specific app or feature, check before you invest.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Displaying around

Tablet screens can range from from 7in, to a huge 13in, and obviously this has an impact on the size and weight of the device. Just as important, though, is image quality.

Thankfully, the days of dim, blocky screens are mostly behind us. A high resolution, too, ensures that text is clean and sharp, while if you want images to look colourful and lifelike then it’s worth checking sRGB coverage and Delta E measurements. The former quantifies a tablet’s ability to reproduce the full range of colours used online, while the latter measures tonal accuracy; an average of less than 1 means any deviations are too small to be perceived with the human eye.

Also relevant is a tablet’s coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, which includes a richer, wider range of colours than sRGB. You don’t need this for everyday tasks, but it’s used in digital cinema, so it can lend some extra depth to online media – and it’s a plus point if you want to use a tablet for your own photo or video editing.

How to pick the perfect tablet: How fast?

If your priority is performance, then Apple is the way to go. Even the cheapest iPad beats any Android tablet for CPU-based computations, and gaming performance is just as impressive.

Not all tablet applications need this sort of power, though. If you’re into photo and video processing then it can make sense to opt for a high-end chip, but browsing the web, watching videos and communicating with colleagues are relatively lightweight tasks. Most 3D titles let you dial down the detail settings so they’ll play smoothly on any almost current hardware.

Don’t go too low, though. The slowest processors can make Android feel annoyingly sluggish, and things get worse if the system’s starved of RAM. We’d say 2GB is a viable minimum, while 4GB gives you a comfortable degree of headroom for multitasking.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Battery matters

A longer-lasting battery is always a good thing, but longevity isn’t the whole story. Most devices with USB-C connectors support fast charging, which lets you fully recharge a depleted battery in a matter of hours – or grab a quick top-up in a few minutes before you head out the door. You may, however, need to replace the bundled charger with a high-wattage model to get the fastest recharge times.

Some tablets also support wireless charging. This can be more convenient than fiddling about with cables, but you’ll need to buy a separate charging pad as it’s never included. And bear in mind that a big-screen tablet won’t sit nicely on a phone-sized charging pad.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Skype calls and snapshots

A tablet makes a wonderfully convenient platform for video calls, and, with front-facing cameras and integrated microphones, are primed to fire up Zoom, Teams or whatever app you prefer and instantly join and host calls.

Picture quality varies from one model to the next, however. Manufacturers often fit their tablets with fairly mediocre cameras, compared to the hardware found in high-end smartphones. The megapixel ratings provide a clue to the camera quality but if you want to be sure you’ll look natural and detailed on calls – or if you hope to capture good-looking landscapes and portraits – we suggest you try out the camera before investing.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Sockets and sensors

While we’re on the subject of video calls, headset users should note that traditional 3.5mm audio sockets are harder to find these days. It’s a frustrating trend. We can see that omitting the headphone jack might make a phone slightly lighter and more compact, but that doesn’t wash for a tablet. With these devices, you’ll have to use Bluetooth, or an adapter that plugs into the charging port.

The charging port itself could be a minor point of contention too. Almost all tablets now use a standard USB-C socket, but Amazon’s Fire 7 tablet sports an old-school microUSB port, while the base iPad still uses Apple’s own Lightning connector.

As for wireless, you’ll note that not all tablets have yet moved up to Wi-Fi 6 technology. This isn’t a disaster, but Wi-Fi 5 tends to be slower. For mobile internet access you can choose an LTE model that connects to the 4G or 5G mobile network, but your tablet will need its own SIM and data plan. It might well be more cost-efficient to simply tether it to your phone.

A final feature to look for is a fingerprint reader, which lets you unlock the tablet and confirm your identity without having to enter a PIN or pattern. Several Android tablets also feature Face Unlock, so you can get into your tablet simply by smiling at it; you won’t find this on an iPad, outside of the super-expensive iPad Pro models.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Accessories

You can use your tablet perfectly happily on its own, but a few accessories can sweeten the experience. The obvious one is a folding case, which not only protects the screen in transit but can prop up the tablet upright on a flat surface – useful for video calls, and for watching videos.

Many tablets support an optional stylus. You can use this as a more precise alternative to prodding buttons with your finger, or employ it more productively to jot plans or make notes on virtual documents. You can even handwrite instead of typing on the virtual keyboard: both Android and iPadOS and Android have remarkably good handwriting recognition.

The most transformative accessory is a keyboard, which turns your tablet into a mini-laptop. Some models have official snap-on keyboards; otherwise, you can always buy a standalone Bluetooth keyboard and pair it with your tablet. If the keyboard has a trackpad, you can choose to open and use apps with a traditional mouse pointer, rather than prodding the screen. Keyboard pricing can vary considerably, though: Lenovo includes one in the price of its £480 Tab P11 Pro, while Apple’s Magic Keyboard costs £279 on its own.

How to pick the perfect tablet: Updates and support

Apple has an excellent track record when it comes to long-term software support, typically providing OS updates for many years after you’ve bought your tablet. For example, the latest iPadOS 15 release works on iPads dating back to 2017, and on iPad Air models going all the way back to 2014 – so while the company doesn’t make any promises about future upgrades, you can expect to keep up with the curve for at least a few years.

On the Android side, Google releases a new edition of Android roughly every twelve months, but whether you’ll get it depends on the manufacturer’s own update policy. The Lenovo Yoga Tab 13, for example, is sold with the promise of an update to Android 12 when it becomes available, while Nokia states merely that its T20 will receive updates for a period of two years after launch. You can normally expect one or two OS upgrades during the life of a product – and most manufacturers will continue to offer security updates even after they’ve stopped rolling out major platform updates.

Since Amazon’s Fire OS is officially a separate platform to Android, it follows its own upgrade cycle, which happens to be rather slower. The current Fire OS 7 dates back to 2019, and is still underpinned by Android 9 – although it’s so heavily customised by Amazon that you’d never know.

Global tablet shipments fell by 11.9% year-over-year, according to preliminary data from IDC's worldwide quarterly personal computing device tracker.

The number of tablets shipped worldwide dropped to 46 million units in Q4 2021, marking the second fall since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.

Even so, IDC reported that overall tablet shipments in 2021 grew 3.2% on a year-over-year basis, reaching 168.8 million units, the most since 2016. Apple claimed the majority share of the tablet market in Q4 2021 (38.0%), followed by Samsung (15.9%) and Lenovo (10.0%).

Despite 63.6% year-over-year decrease in Chromebooks shipments in the fourth quarter, full-year sales increased by 13.5%. Acer, Dell and Lenovo were among the top players.

"Much of the initial demand for Chromebooks has been satiated in primary markets like the US and Europe and this has led to a slowdown in overall shipments. However, Chromebook demand in emerging markets has seen continued growth in the past year," said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager of IDC's mobility and consumer device trackers.

"Supply has also been unusually tight for Chromebooks as component shortages have led vendors to prioritize Windows machines due to their higher price tags, further suppressing Chromebook shipments on a global scale," added Ubrani.

HP took the fifth spot in Chromebooks shipments in Q4, but the led the 2021 market share with 27.7%.

"Though 2021 was a great year for the tablet market, shipments have begun to decelerate as the market has moved past peak demand across many geographies," said Anuroopa Nataraj, senior research analyst with IDC's mobility and consumer device trackers.

"However, shipments in the near future will remain above pre-pandemic levels as virtual learning, remote work, and media consumption remain priorities for users."

We’ve all encountered laggards. “One of those fancy new smartphones, is it?” they smirked a decade ago, nodding towards the black slab you just pulled out of your pocket. “My old Nokia 3210 does everything I need. Fancy a game of Snake?”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this attitude. They swore by their device’s long battery life and robust nature, just as you swore when your phone fell to the floor with a sickening thud. But few companies target the laggard market.

I thought of the laggards when I heard, in mid-July, that Valve had announced a new portable handheld console designed to play PC games. Built on Linux and resembling a Nintendo Switch in many respects, the Steam Deck aims to prise PC gamers away from their computers and into the fresh air – and it sold out in minutes.

The people buying it are on the other side of the spectrum to the laggards. They’re the innovators and early adopters – folk, I suspect, who are just like you – and, as drivers of the tech industry, they are very important indeed.

Taking a risk

Imagine, if you will, that hundreds of thousands of people hadn’t laid out 99 notes on Windows 1.0 in 1985; that instead they’d listened to the critics who, two years after first catching wind of the operating system, had written it off as “vapourware”.

Or, imagine that 200 people hadn’t snapped up an Apple I assembled circuit board at a cost of $666.66 shortly after it went on sale in July 1976. Where would Jobs and Wozniak have gone next? Would they have gone on to develop the Apple II the following year, or would computer enthusiasts have been forced to look elsewhere?

In fact, the early adopters kept Apple ticking along until VisiCalc launched in mid-1979, and helped the computer leap into the professional market – to the next group along, the so-called “early majority”. Similarly, early adopters embraced Motorola’s cellphones in the US in 1983 even though some considered them to be rich people’s toys.

So we owe a debt of gratitude to these digital drivers, and the vast sums of cash they splash out. The first console to use ROM cartridges and a microprocessor, the Fairchild Channel F, cost $170 on its 1976 debut, which is the equivalent of $772 today. The first commercially successful portable computer, the Osborne 1, cost $1,795 in 1981 – that’s $5,000 adjusted for inflation.

Sometimes it pays off; often it doesn’t. More than 50,000 people bought the first Macintosh within eight weeks of its going on sale in February 1984, perhaps thanks to the lavish $1.5 million television advert directed by Ridley Scott. But by January 1986 the Macintosh Plus had appeared with double the memory and a price tag some $700 cheaper.

Later, in August 1998, Apple released the iMac G3. It had its first revision just a month later, upping the amount of video RAM from 2MB to 6MB. Further tweaks came in January and April of the following year, introducing new colours and faster processors.

It sounds like the early adopters get a raw deal – yet a good number of Apple fans still like to get in first, even today. The secret is the product has to be one that will quickly assimilate into the buyer’s lives. Otherwise, that the prestige of getting in early soon wears off.

Spreading the word

There can be a backlash from time to time. Apple caused an outcry when it reduced the price of the original iPhone by $200 two months after it went on sale; Steve Jobs responded by issuing a $100 credit to those who’d paid the higher price. Amazon upset early adopters when it released the Kindle 2 in 2009 without mentioning that the Kindle DX was on its way – and then lopping a good chunk off the former’s price once it arrived. The Nintendo 3DS also had its price slashed from £270 to £170 within five months of launch, though that was to kickstart sluggish sales.

In the main though companies work hard to keep early adopters onside, and not just for goodwill. “Early adopters of a technology are often evangelists and influencers for later adopters,” said JP Eggers, associate professor of management at New York University. “They’re more valuable than a comparable number of later adopters.”

Academic researchers James C Brancheau and James C Wetherbe have long agreed. In their 1990 paper “The Adoption of Spreadsheet Software”, they noted that early adopters were not only highly educated, but “more attuned to mass media, more involved in interpersonal communication and more likely to be opinion leaders”. Without them, the tech landscape would be very different.

Indeed, good early adopters don’t just advertise to others: they play around, tweak settings and push their new devices to the limits, providing feedback that helps new products grow into the mainstream.

“As customers, early adopters are vital, otherwise many products simply wouldn’t get to version 2.0,” said Amstrad’s former group technology consultant Roland Perry. “I’m a strong believer that the best way to create a product with a hope of a future is to employ early adopters, with experience in similar technologies, on the team.”

Perry is well aware of what happens to products that don’t benefit from early adopter investment. In 1990, Amstrad upgraded its personal computer range with new 464 and 6128 Plus computers, focusing on affordability rather than trying to compete with the new generation 16-bit Commodore Amiga and Atari ST systems. “The end user doesn’t know whether it’s 16-bit, 8-bit, or if it’s working with gas or steam or with elastic bands,” declared boss Alan Sugar at the time.

Unfortunately, the end user did know – or at least the early adopters did. There were few early sales and little excited chatter from anyone who did buy. Instead, customers moaned that there were too few games, and that the benefit of the enhanced hardware wasn’t immediately visible. “There’s was nothing ‘early adopter-ish’ about it,” reflected Perry, who also worked on the hugely successful PCW range. “If anything it was at the other end of the spectrum.”

Kickstarting new tech

It’s fair to say that a lack of early adoption points towards a flop. But there are also cases of tech failing to catch on despite being snapped up in the initial weeks – or even before it’s been made. The game console Ouya is a prime example: it was financed by 63,416 backers to the tune of £8.6 million on Kickstarter in 2013, yet discontinued two years later.

In this case, the problem was partly due to the console being technically flawed, but also came down to a lack of emotional investment. “Kickstarter is a bit odd, because people make adoption decisions without knowing what the product is,” explained Professor Eggers. “So there often are products that sound really cool, but then when people get them they actually suck. Kickstarter is also rife with the fear of missing out, so adoption decisions aren’t always very rational.”

This makes attracting the “early majority” even harder. “Early adopters are really different from later adopters in terms of demographics and their preferences,” said Eggers. “This is why we get phenomena like the challenge of ‘crossing the chasm’, where early successful firms struggle to gain traction with the mainstream market.”

Pointing the way

Failure doesn’t have to be a dirty word. While it’s desirable to cross over into the mainstream and make a huge impact, there are still benefits to manufacturers having a bash if things don’t work out. Just look at Apple’s Newton MessagePad – a product that was, with hindsight, years ahead of its time – as proof of that.

Launched in 1993, it sold 50,000 units to early adopters and became one of the firm’s fastest-selling products. Unfortunately, despite its promise to make computing truly portable, its signature handwriting recognition feature was woeful – making it the butt of jokes to such an extent that it was even lampooned in an episode of The Simpsons.

Apple stuck with it through various iterations before giving up on the Newton in 1998. But when the company came back 12 years later with the iPad, it was able to draw on the experience and feedback from early adopters to finally perfect the product.

There are other examples where early adopters have helped manufacturers recognise the potential of an idea. The 68,929 backers who stumped up a total of £10.2 million for the Pebble smartwatch on Kickstarter in 2012 showed the likes of Apple and Samsung that there was an appetite for wearables – particularly given how engaged developers were in creating apps and watch faces.

Similarly, when Sega launched the Dreamcast in 1998, early adopters bought more than 200,000 units in 24 hours and 500,000 within two weeks. Though the console subsequently faltered, its built-in modem ushered the dawn of online console games. Within a month of the launch of SegaNet, 1.55 million Dreamcasts were registered online. Such popularity didn’t go unnoticed.

Being an early adopter comes with hazards. Buying tech within days or weeks of its introduction can feel like a voyage of discovery, particularly if features are poorly documented or not yet entirely stable. You may find that a new device isn’t compatible with the old, forcing you into more tech upgrades, and of course you’ll almost always be buying at the highest price.

But that’s part of the excitement of being ahead of the curve. It’s what allows innovation to continue, monopolies to be broken and tech to move on. That Nokia 3210 was once exciting, and lots of retro tech continues to be. Early adopters have made a big impact in the past, and they’ll no doubt continue to do so for as long as companies keep coming up with new technologies.

Amazon announced an overhaul of its Fire tablet lineup Monday, introducing upgraded Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus models, a next-gen Fire HD 10 Kids, and a brand-new lineup of Fire Kids Pro tablets.

The devices are available for pre-order and are to start shipping on May 26.

Compared to previous versions, the new Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus models are slimmer, lighter, and have thinner bezels. Their 10in 1080p screen displays are also 10% brighter than before.

The Amazon Fire HD 10 has 3GB of RAM, a 50% increase over the previous version, which comes paired with 2.0 GHz octa-core processor, a 12-hour battery, and 32GB of storage. It sells for $149.99 for the ad-supported model or $164.99 without ads. Buyers can upgrade to 64GB of storage for an extra $40.

The Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus has 4GB of RAM, twice as much as the previous version, alongside wireless charging and a soft-touch finish. The tablet $179.99 for the ad-supported 32GB model or $194.99 without ads. An extra $40 upgrades it to 64GB of storage.

Amazon also offers a $219.99 bundle for these devices that includes a magnetic keyboard case and a one-year subscription to Microsoft 365. The keyboard case by itself costs $50.

The other highlight of Monday’s announcement was Amazon’s new line of “Kids Pro” tablets, which are aimed at those aged 3-7 and join the existing Fire 7 Kids and Fire 8 HD Kids tablets. It comes with a 10.1in HD screen, USB-C charging port, 12-hour battery, “kid-proof case,” a built-in kickstand/holder, a two-year warranty, and a year of Amazon Kids+, which offers unlimited access to tons of kid-friendly content.

The new Fire 10 Kids tablet goes for $199.99. The 7- and 8-inch models, which are available now, run $99.99 and $139.99, respectively.

The Fire Kids Pro models are aimed at ages 6-12 and include a restricted-access web browser with restricted access so parents can block certain websites. Other Fire Kids Pro-exclusve features include an app store to download select with parental approval, Wi-Fi voice and video calling to parent-approved contacts, kid-friendly online music channels, screen time management app, and multiple color options for its slim protective case.

The Fire Kids Pro comes in three models: Fire Kids 7 Pro ($99.99), Fire Kids HD 8 Pro ($139.99), Fire Kids HD 10 Pro ($199.99).

Apple has unveiled a number of new products at its April 2021 'Spring Loaded' event, including a new purple iPhone 12 and an upgraded Apple TV. However, the biggest announcements of the event came in the form of an all-new M1-powered iPad Pro and iMac, as Apple shifts more of its products to its custom Arm-based silicon.

M1-powered iMac with 4.5K Retina display

Apple's all-new iMac is the first to pack an M1 chip, which not only makes it faster but also allows the consolidation of the logic board and thermals, reducing it to just 11.5mm (0.45in) thick. With its smaller footprint, the new iMac takes up 50% less volume than the last generation.

The all-new iMac also gains a 24in 4.5K Retina display that boasts 11.3 million pixels, a stated 500cd/m2 of brightness, over a billion colors, and an anti-reflective coating. The screen also automatically changes the color temperature with the environment to ensure viewer comfort.

Apple has also equipped the 2021 iMac with a 1080p webcam and an upgraded audio system. The input now comes from studio quality mics - the “best ever in a Mac,” according to Apple - and it also includes a six-speaker sound system that helps bring videos and music to life.

The iMac will be available in a range of colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver. It includes a two-meter magnetic cable in the same color as the machine.

In addition to its M1 chip, the new iMac will feature an 8-core GPU (a 7-core GPU comes as standard), which Apple claims is the fastest integrated graphics on a PC with up to 200% faster graphics performance. Under the hood you'll also find 8GB of unified memory architecture and a 16-core Apple Neural Engine that promises 300% faster machine learning performance.

The new iMac also gets Touch ID for the first time. Integrated on its wireless keyboard, Touch ID communicates directly with the Secure Enclave in M1 to create an encrypted channel to send the fingerprint through. With Touch ID, users can log in and even pay using just their fingers.

As for connectivity, the new iMac features two Thunderbolt 4 ports that support up to 6K displays and a pair of USB-C ports. On the power adaptor, you’ll find an optional 1Gb/sec Ethernet port to allow a hardwired internet connection without running a cable up to your desk.

The all-new iMac lineup will be available from April 30 via Apple's online store, and it’ll ship to customers and Apple Stores in the second half of May.

The 7-core iMac will start from $1,299/£1,249 for consumers and $1,249/£1,124 for education customers. It’ll come with an 8-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse. Available colors will include green, pink, blue, and silver.

The 8-core GPU iMac will start from $1,499/£1,499 for consumers and $1,399/£1,304 for education. It’ll feature an 8-core CPU, 8GB of unified memory, 256GB SSD, two Thunderbolt ports, two extra USB 3 ports, Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Magic Mouse, and Ethernet. This model will be available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.

iPad Pro with M1 and Liquid Retina XDR display

Apple also revealed the “most powerful and advanced iPad Pro ever", which is again thanks to the M1 chip inside.

This custom 8-core processor delivers enhanced performance and helps the iPad Pro deliver a promised all-day battery life while keeping it thin and lightweight. Apple claims the CPU boasts the “world’s fastest” cores in low-power silicon, which deliver 50% faster CPU performance than the A12Z Bionic. Handling graphics is an 8-core GPU that’s supposedly 40% faster than its predecessor.

Rounding out the internals is a 16-core Apple Neural Engine, up to 16GB of memory, and up to 2TB of storage.

The new iPad Pro comes in 11in and 12.9in sizes. The larger size features a Liquid Retina XDR panel that uses a mini-LED design with 10,000 LEDs across the back of the display. The screen has a claimed 1,000cd/m2 of full-screen brightness, 1,600cd/m2 of peak brightness, and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. This screen will also share other technology with the smaller 11in iPad Pro, including ProMotion, True Tone, and DCI-P3 wide color support.

The new 12.9in iPad Pro will also be the first iPad to gain 5G support, that promises speeds of up to 4Gb/sec. Another first is the arrival of Thunderbolt and USB 4 ports for up to 40Gb/sec of wired bandwidth. Thanks to the Thunderbolt connection’s 10Gb/sec Ethernet, it can connect to a wide range of peripherals, including Apple's Pro Display XDR and 6K external displays.

The new iPad Pro will be available from Apple.com on April 30, and shipments will start in the second half of May. The 11in will start from $799/£749 for the Wi-Fi model and $999/£899 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, and the 12.9in iPad Pro starts at $1,099/£999 for the Wi-Fi model and $1,299/£1,149 for the Wi-Fi + Cellular model. Educational pricing in the US starts from $749 for the 11in model and $999 for the 12.9in model. UK education pricing has yet to be announced.

New purple iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini

Apple also unveiled the latest color option in the iPhone 12 lineup: purple. This new hue will be available on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini starting April 23, 2021. Other than the new color, the purple iPhone 12 is the same as the current model.

New chip and remote for Apple TV 4K

Apple 's 4K TV also received an upgrade at the April 2021 Event. It gains a new A12 Bionic chip that delivers improved graphics, including high-frame-rate HDR and Dolby Vision video, enabling smooth playback of 60fps video.

Rounding out the Apple TV 4K changes is a new remote that adds a clickpad with five-way navigation for improved accuracy. It’s also touch-enabled for fast directional swipes and a circular touch-enabled ring that controls a slick jog feature.

Apple Air Tag

Apple also launched the long-rumored Air Tag, which you can attach to your keys, purse, backpack, and other items. If you lose the item it’s attached to, you can use your iPhone to find it via the Find My Network. If the Air Tag is out of the Bluetooth range, you can still use it thanks to Apple’s network of nearly a billion devices that can detect your Air Tag and anonymously send you its location.

Folding screens have been around for a while now. Samsung recently announced the second generation of its Galaxy Z Fold smartphone and it’s not the only company at this stage of its development and product cycle. There are some interesting innovations out there, but will folding screens ever take off in the mass market and if they do, what will we use them for?

A solution looking for a problem?

It’s often the case with new technologies that people wonder if they have a place in the scheme of things.

The Boston Post newspaper in America famously included this about the newly invented telephone in 1865: "Well informed people know it is impossible to transmit the voice over wires and that were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value." H M Warner, of Warner Brothers, has this 1927 quote to his name about the introduction of talking pictures: "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"

When it comes to folding screens, you don’t have to use your search engine of choice for long to find opinions saying they are a solution looking for a problem.

Get yours today – at a price

Despite a healthy dose of scepticism there are plenty of companies producing folding screens right now. For example Samsung’s newly launched Android based Galaxy Z Fold 2 is both a phone with a 6.2-inch screen and a device with a 7.6in foldout display. It costs £1,799.

To give another example is Royole, a relative unknown in the UK, which was the first company to launch a foldable smartphone, is a flexible screen specialist and has just launched the second generation of its Flexpai phone with a 7.8in single folding screen. There’s no word on if this will become available outside China, but its dollar retail price would be around $1,500.

The high unit costs are to be expected. Early stage production of new technologies always carries a premium because of high development costs. Who remembers what flat screen TVs used to cost, and the huge price drops that have followed mass adoption? If the mass market decides it likes folding screens, prices will fall.

What are folding screens for?

It isn’t just handset makers that are toying with folding screens, nor is it just producers of colour screens. E Ink, best known as a maker of screens for eReaders, has announced its own flexible display, called Mobius. Arguably this is where it gets interesting.

Mobius isn’t made of glass and is flexible throughout rather than ‘bendable’ at a particular hinge-point, it doesn’t support colour, but it can accept hand-written input, it is thin and light, and can be made in a wide range of sizes. Glass can be added to the front of the display if a more sturdy or robust design is needed.

These characteristics make Mobius appropriate for a wide range of uses. At its website, E Ink suggests these for starters : eReaders, eTextbooks, eNewspapers & eMagazines, business devices, smartphones, shatterproof luggage tags, and logistic tags. The company has also shown off a folding e reader that can accept hand written notes – a sector where folding screens could really take off.

A place in the new normal?

With the UK government once again advising that people in England should work from home where possible (and other UK nations following suit), and with movement restrictions set to continue for at least six months, if not longer, working from home is becoming increasingly normalised. Another feature of the first half of the year – home education – may also make a return in a worst case scenario over the winter.

In both situations, flexible screens could find a place. In early September, analyst house IDC said that the tablet market in the EMEA region showed 23.8% year on year growth, putting on its strongest performance since 2013 and its first positive growth in the region for six years. The Western European market growth beats the region average, growing 28.3%. IDC puts this down in part to a shortage of laptops and the rise in both schooling and working from home.

Could it be that, if foldables were more affordable, they too would have benefited from this uplift? A device that can provide both a larger and a smaller screen seems compelling for a range of work/education scenarios, especially where space at home for multiple devices might be tight.

Perhaps in years to come, if folding screen technology reaches the level of market acceptance that will allow it to be produced at mass market cost, the industry might look back at this period with its ‘what if’ hat on, while the rest of us read folding enewspapers, make notes on folding tablets, and use our four way foldable phones as A4 sized screens when the whim takes us. And perhaps an article looking back on the history of folding screens will quote the naysayers, just as we’ve quoted the Boston Post and H M Warner.

Apple has announced the all-new iPad Air, calling it “the most powerful, versatile and colorful iPad Air ever.”

Available in five finishes, the all-new iPad Air boasts a bezel-free design and houses a larger 10.9in Liquid Retina display that includes full lamination, P3 wide color support, True Tone, and an anti-reflective coating.

The new iPad Air also gets serious camera upgrades, including a 7MP front-facing FaceTime HD camera and a 12MP rear camera for higher-resolution photos and 4K video capture. It also includes a magnetic side for attaching and charging the optional Apple Pencil, and the next-generation Touch ID sensor built into the top button.

Of all the news, perhaps the most exciting is that the new iPad Air comes with Apple’s most advanced chip, the A14 Bionic.

“Today we’re excited to introduce a completely redesigned and far more powerful iPad Air, debuting Apple’s most powerful chip ever made, the A14 Bionic,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

“With its gorgeous new all-screen design, larger 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display, next-generation Touch ID, and a massive boost in performance with A14 Bionic, the new iPad Air brings customers powerful pro features at an even more affordable price,” Joswiak added.

The A14 Bionic chip is packed with 11.8 billion transistors for increased performance and efficiency. Its new six-core design boosts CPU performance by 40% while a fresh four-core graphics architecture delivers a 30% improvement in graphics.

The A14 Bionic also includes a new 16-core neural engine that can perform up to 11 trillion operations per second. Plus, second-generation machine learning accelerators in the CPU deliver 10 times faster machine learning calculations.

The new iPad Air comes outfitted with a USB-C port for up to 5Gbps data transfers too, which Apple says is 10 times faster for connecting to cameras, hard drives and external monitors.

The new iPad Air will also come with the newest iPadOS 14, which better integrates the Apple Pencil by automatically detecting handwriting, shapes, phone numbers and more. It also includes Scribble, which lets the user handwrite into any text field and converts it to typed text.

The iPad Air is currently available for purchase and will begin shipping in October. The base model starts from $599, and the Wi-Fi and cellular iPad Air starts from $729.

Worldwide tablet PC shipments increased by more than a quarter (26%) during the second quarter of 2020, from 29,7 million to 37.5 million, according to Canalys.

The 26% increase marks rare growth for the tablet market, which had been faltering in recent years. The surge, Canalystclaims, is due to a rise in demand for low-budget remote working equipment, as offices remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All top five tablet vendors experienced double-digit growth, reaching shipment levels usually only reserved to the holiday season in Q4.

iPad shipments grew by a fifth (20%), with Apple shipping more than 14 million units and further cementing its leader status in the market. Samsung followed Apple with growth of 39% on seven million second-quarter shipments.

Huawei placed third, with shipments increasing by 45% in comparison to Q2 2019, with the company's success attributed to the company’s strong performance in Western Europe. Even the UK government’s recent ban on Huawei products in the country’s 5G infrastructure did not manage to falter Huawei’s impressive performance in other areas.

Amazon placed fourth with an increase of 37%, followed by PC market leader Lenovo, which is the fastest-growing tablet vendor; its shipments increased by a staggering 53%.

According to Canalys analyst Ishan Dutt, “tablets enjoyed a renaissance in Q2 2020 because the devices tick so many boxes for remote work and education use”.

“The ability to collaborate virtually as well as view and interact with digital content has become paramount, especially in the education space," he said.

"The coronavirus pandemic has increased competition for communal screen access between household members forced to stay indoors. Tablets help overcome this problem by allowing each family member to have their own device. And they are more budget-friendly than desktops and notebooks.

"For users with greater productivity needs, the proliferation of detachable tablets has been a boon. These devices have gained traction as primary devices for work and it is vital to include them when evaluating the PC market as a whole. Apple and Lenovo’s recent success shows that having a tablet offering as a mainstream PC vendor is invaluable,” he said.

The total PC market, including tablets, grew 14% to 110.5 million in Q2 2020.

Lots of us have more time for reading ebooks at the moment, and you don’t need an e-reader to do so. These are some of the best free options for organising and reading books on a PC.

Calibre

What we liked:

Calibre’s main function is as a book-management tool for ebook readers, giving you somewhere to store books you own and letting you choose which titles you want to send to your e-reader. However, because it’s not affiliated to any particular brand of ebook reader, you can use it to manage books on any device, including Amazon’s Kindles. This is a huge benefit if you own a Kindle device, because you can easily transfer books you didn’t buy from Amazon, including free books from sources such as Project Gutenberg.

Whether you have an ebook reader or not, Calibre is a handy place to organise your library of digital books. At it’s default settings, however, it’s not the best option for reading ebooks (see How it can be improved, right). Thankfully, if you tinker with font sizes and screen arrangements, you should be able to wrangle a book into a format you can comfortably read on your PC.

The software’s particular strength lies in its willingness to import any kind of file, so whatever format your files are saved in, Calibre can decipher them and turn them into a readable document on your screen. The only format we found it couldn’t handle was the humble PDF, which was rather strange. Although you can add PDF files to your library and organise them, Calibre launches your PC’s default PDF viewer when you actually want to view the files. If you don’t already have a satisfactory PDF tool for reading books, Sumatra PDF Reader (see review, right) is a useful portable companion.

How it can be improved:

When you double-click a book, it opens in a new window that’s about the size and shape of an ebook reader screen, but without the intuitive touch interface. To browse through the book, you have to press the Page Up and Page Down buttons on the keyboard, while to access the menu – where you can tweak the program’s unfortunate default settings – you press the Escape key.

Our verdict:

Calibre isn’t the easiest software to use for reading a book on your PC or laptop, but it’s very good at storing and managing your library, no matter where your books come from. We think you’ll need to reconfigure its default settings to read books comfortably on your PC, but it’s worth the effort.

Polar

What we liked:

Polar is an open-source book-management tool. It’s designed to help university-level students manage text books, which is probably why it has such a functional look and feel, but if you can live with lists of books rather than attractive libraries of thumbnail covers, you’ll find it has a lot of useful extra tools. Every book you open appears in a new window, which is helpful if you’re working on a research project and want to cross-reference multiple titles.

One of the best things about Polar is the tree-like structure it uses for grouping files and projects together. There are two types of tree. The first is a folder-like system that’s perfect for grouping projects together, for example. The other is very similar but uses tags, so you can group publications by type, author or any other attribute you can think of. Both features are easy to access from the window on the left.

How it can be improved:

We found Polar a little temperamental when opening some file formats, particularly free books in the EPUB format that we downloaded from Project Gutenberg. It’s more suitable for organising large quantities of non-fiction resources than libraries of novels.

Our verdict:

If your digital library is huge and varied, Polar is a great way to catalogue and organise it. However, it’s probably overkill if you’re the kind of reader who keeps books in a pile and steadily works through them one at a time.

Kindle

What we liked:

If you’re one of the millions of people who read books on an Amazon Kindle, it makes sense to install the company’s Windows software on your PC so your collection of synced books is available on all your devices.

The Kindle software isn’t resplendent with features but it’s good enough, emulating the experience of using a Kindle device, which makes it familiar and relatively user-friendly. If you use tools such as Notes and Flashcards, you’ll find they sync seamlessly between this software and your device.

The Kindle is linked to Amazon’s store, which means a huge library of commercial books is available. You can also add PDF files, but that’s the only format of document you can import directly.

The software’s interface for reading books is simple but effective, and is one of the main reasons we like it. However, you really need to buy into the whole concept and sell your book-buying soul to Amazon to get the most out of it.

How it can be improved:

The biggest problem with the Kindle app is that it only accepts ebooks bought from Amazon. This is extraordinarily limiting. There are ways of getting books from other sources into your Kindle account, but Amazon doesn’t make it easy.

Our verdict:

The beauty of the Kindle software is that it links to your Amazon account, and if you own a Kindle device, your books sync between them. However, the software doesn’t welcome books from other sources, as Calibre does, so you have to buy into Amazon’s world.

Whereas the ‘Pro’ suffix in the iPhone 11 Pro might seem more of a branding exercise, rather than the phone containing features specifically for business users, with 2018’s redesigned iPad Pro, Apple really seemed to be aiming its tablet at professionals.

The 11in and 12.9in iPad Pro models prompted conversations as to whether they could replace a traditional laptop for various professional workers. Most of these experiments concluded in a resounding ‘not quite’.

Previously, a lack of proper trackpad support and iOS not being particularly suitable for professional-grade productivity meant that the professional’s choice for hybrid tablet-come-laptop-alternative often landed squarely with Microsoft Surface Pro.

However, that might change with the 2020 iPad Pro models.

Aside from the new rear camera module, the overall look and dimensions of the 2020 iPad Pro are pretty much indistinguishable from its 2019 predecessor.

But it comes with updated internals - notably the A12Z Bionic chipset, an evolution of the A12 Bionic SOC which proved to be a bit of a world-beater as far as mobile chips go. It also now has a LIDAR scanner to deliver improved augmented reality experiences, which could be a boon for iOS app developers looking to embrace AR.

But for the potential business user, the most significant update is the addition of the new Magic Keyboard cover. Keyboards for iPad are nothing new, but one with official trackpad support is, and the new accessory is reminiscent of the Surface Pro’s Type Cover, albeit costing a wallet-stretching £299.

Between this and the more professional and macOS-like features added by iPadOS, the 2020 iPad Pro is shaping up to be a hybrid device that can handle both work and play with aplomb.

That’s not to say it will prompt workers to abandon their laptops en-masse, but it might end up being a go-to secondary device for people who do a lot of remote and field working and want something lightweight yet flexible to carry around.

Laptops might be getting ever slimmer and lighter, but when it comes to easily presenting visual data or quickly jotting down digital notes when wandering across a showroom floor, for example, laptops drop a baton that tablets can easily pick up. So when looking for a device that spans the two form-factors, the new iPad Pro models look promising.

Admittedly, with prices starting at £769 for the tablet alone, the iPad Pros are far from cheap secondary devices to buy on a whim. But they do suggest that the iPad has finally cleared the last hurdles to being a truly enterprise-grade device.

All that being said, there’s also an argument that Apple hasn’t done enough with the new iPad Pro. Compared to Microsoft’s upcoming Surface Neo - a dual-screened device with a slick keyboard accessory and the ability to bounce between various forms - the iPad Pro looks a little bit behind the curve.

Of course, some professionals are likely to turn their noses up at hybrid devices full stop. In that case, Apple has just upgraded the MacBook Air, offering quad-core processors and the new Magic Keyboard mechanism, which looks set to address the shortcomings flagged in the previous model.

Whatever the future of computing might look like, for the time being traditional computers and hybrid devices will keep sharing the same professional pool.

After nearly a decade of joint development alongside the iPhone, Apple has finally given the iPad its own operating system.

The predictably-named iPadOS builds on the strategy of making the iPad a true flagship product in its own right that sits at the midpoint between smartphone and laptop.

On the more mobile-flavour side, this means a new Home screen layout with Today View option and more apps displayed per page. It also means more functionality for the Apple Pencil, with users able to mark up and send webpages, documents and emails by swiping the stylus from the corner of the screen. The latency of the Apple Pencil has also been cut down from 20ms to just 9ms.

On the more desktop-feel side, there are features like an enhanced Files app with support for iCloud Drive and external drives, such as USB-C drives, memory cards and SMB file servers, to facilitate document sharing and collaboration. It also brings better Safari performance - includingthe ability to autom-optimise web pages for iPad - and improved text editing thanks to increased gesture support, with new shortcuts for common tasks like cut, copy and paste.

Other features include the popular Dark Mode, which is also being introduced with iOS 13, custom fonts, a floating keyboard with support for QuickPath, and Sign In with Apple.

"iPad transforms how people work and express their creativity, and with iPadOS, we're taking it even further by delivering exciting capabilities that take advantage of its large canvas and versatility," said Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of software engineering.

iPadOS is compatible with iPad Air 2 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad 5th generation and later and iPad mini 4 and later. It's available to developers immediately in beta and there will be a public beta starting at the end of June. Those who wish to wait and receive the fully formed OS will be able to get it as a free update in autumn.

All images: Apple

The market for the best business tablets has exploded over the last 12 months, with great options available from the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Microsoft. But, looking beyond the mainstream players, there is a world of wonderful alternatives and innovative new variations, such as E-ink tablets, which offer the feel of pencil and paper in a digital format.

Mixing the best bits of a laptop with the capabilities of a smartphone, the tablet is a fantastic option for your workers, particularly in this age of hybrid work, where more flexible and portable devices are in demand. Over the last 12 months, ITPro has tested and reviewed some of the best business tablets around to help you make an informed choice ahead of your next hardware refresh.

What to look for

When choosing a business tablet, it’s important to consider what specific roles or functions it’s going to be used for, as this will influence what features you will need to look for and the level of performance you’ll require.

Apple, Samsung and Huawei often use their own first-party silicon to power their devices, but you’ll also find tablets with third-party processors. Qualcomm Snapdragon chips are almost always the most reliable of these, while the MediaTek processors often found in cheaper devices are usually best avoided if you need top performance. For organisations that want a device they can give to front-line workers to host specific business apps, however, these cheaper devices may be a cost-effective solution.

Due to their mobile nature, it’s also worth thinking about the connectivity of your device. Opting for a tablet with support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 or 6E standard will future-proof your device and allow it to make the most of business-grade wireless infrastructure. If you’re offering devices to mobile workers who need access to mobile broadband when out on the road, then it’s advisable to pick a 5G-enabled model over a device that’s limited to 4G for similar reasons.

Best business tablets 2026

The Pro model of iPad has been around for a decade, and its initial aim was to provide a laptop-like experience in tablet form. However, it's only now with the M5 model that we get close to that. From the CPU to the keyboard quality, the iPad Pro is a bona fide business machine that we felt comfortable using as a full work device.

One of its best features is the magnetic keyboard, which includes a sturdy stand. Many tablets let themselves down when it comes to cases and keyboards, but the iPad excels with an easy-to-adjust case and a neat set of keys. It may not be 'MacBook Pro quality,' but we found the tablet keyboard to have plenty of travel, a nice muffled clack, and a very responsive trackpad.

Add the stylus, and you have arguably the best tablet around. In fact, the stylus is probably the star of the show – particularly if you are into illustration. It's smooth and glides across the screen. And the thickness of the pen itself is comfortable in the hand. It doesn't replicate the feel of pen on paper, but instead makes digital drawing a worthy alternative.

However, for business use, arguably the most interesting feature of the M5 iPad is its ridiculously long battery life. In our looped video test, the Pro lasted 18hrs and 12mins, longer than both the Samsung Galaxy S11 Ultra and the OnePlus Pad 3.

Read our full Apple iPad Pro review for more information.

Value for money, a large screen, super accessories... the OnePlus Pad 3 is, in our view, the pound-for-pound champion of the tablet world – and certainly the best Android tablet available. It's big, it's fast, it lasts long, and it's relatively cheap. There is no other model on the market that can beat the Pad 3 across all those metrics. It is a stone-cold killer.

It's superbly designed, with a neatly rounded frame and a cool navy blue finish. The in-display camera is unobtrusive, the shiny OnePlus logo is understated, and the overall look is professional. Add the Folio case and the all-black stylus, and you have a strikingly beautiful work machine.

The stylus, too, is one of the best; smooth on screen, highly responsive, and easy to connect to the main tablet (magnetically connects and charges at the top). While it can't replicate the feeling of pencil on paper like the Remarkable or the Huawei MatePad, it is already a great stylus to draw and doodle with.

And, the OnePlus Pad 3 has a decent mixture of standard and quietly useful AI tools. You can use the one-device AI to have text read out in a dull voice; it will send you to sleep, there doesn't seem to be any options for changing the voice, but it is pretty easy to do for web content or news apps. All in all, a solid business tablet.

Read our full OnePlus Pad 3 review here

Arguably the most business-focused device on the list, the Surface Pro is a surefire hit for those who want Windows on a tablet. The latest Surface Pro (number 11) is faster than most mainstream laptops, and has a longer battery life than previous Surface models (16hrs, 28mins). It even went through a whole workday without needing a charge.

The Surface's signature keyboard has also been upgraded for the 11, with a new party trick; it can operate wirelessly from a distance, enabling more flexible options for your workspace. It also charges while attached to the tablet portion of the Surface Pro. And, despite some limited travel, the keyboard has a lovely, fast, and clicky feel.

Read our full Microsoft Surface Pro 11 review here

A lot of work has gone into Huawei's Harmony operating system, and that is very apparent in its MatePad range of tablets – we reviewed the MatePad 11.5 S model and were very impressed with the quality of its interface and app store.

Admittedly, there are plenty of things you will ignore, and it isn't an exact replacement for your beloved Google apps, but there are lots of new apps to really love. Plenty of which are great business-centric tools.

One of these apps is GoPaint, Huawei's alternative to Procreate or Android's Sketchbook app. Matched with its PaperMatte display and innovative M-Pen, GoPaint is a brilliant, fully stocked illustration tool that we couldn't fault.

It is worth thinking about the stylus when it comes to tablets, and the M-Pen is a cut above the rest. You get that pencil-on-paper feel, it's very responsive, connects easily to the tablet, and feels great in the hand. What's more, it has extra controls, such as a pop-up to change functions and a button on the top to open different apps – brilliant extra functions just a click away.

Read our full Huawei MatePad 11.5 S review here

E-Ink tablets exploded onto the scene in 2023, promising the feel of real pencil on paper in a digital form. ITPro has been testing devices from Kindle to the Supernote, but it's the Remarkable Paper Pro, and its gorgeous color-ink screen, that has made it onto the best list.

It isn't a tablet in the traditional sense; you can browse the web, there are no apps, there are no ways to buy anything, and that means there are no distractions, which is one of Remarkable's main selling points. You can shut yourself off from the world and focus on your work.

The 11.8in screen uses 'gallery' display technology that uses color pigments to mimic ink being moved around. The colors are not vibrant, as such, they're more akin to newspaper print. And there is a slight lag compared to Kaleido displays. When you draw in color, there will also be a flash, almost like lightning in an old video game, where the screen registers the new color or erases unwanted scribbles. This is how the display refreshes, and it does so to add the new input. It is a joy to use; a perfect digital tablet for distraction-free thinking/doodling.

Read our full Remarkable Paper Pro 2 review here

You pay a hefty price for the latest Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 tablet and its wondrous AI features. But there is a cheaper option -- the Galaxy Tab S10 FE (fan edition). You pay a lot less, and only really compromise on size and a small drop in performance.

Samsung's One UI is arguably the most polished version of Android tablet OS, and that is highlighted well in the smaller version of its Galaxy Tab S10 -- the FE is a perfect example of downsizing your premium hardware into a budget offering. Here, AI features are in easy reach, and the S-Pen performance is just as good as it is on the original models.

There are plenty of options for affordable tablets for business, particularly from Lenovo and OnePlus, but the Galaxy Tab S10 FE is a winner in our eyes – a superior option for business users.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE review here

FAQs

What is a business tablet?

Tablets are traditionally consumer-focused devices that offer users a smartphone-like experience on a larger screen. But with a few accessories and some clever apps, they can be used as main drivers for work. Whether that's as a lightweight laptop alternative with a keyboard or a digital drawing pad for creatives.

Business tablets mostly provide flexibility with mobile data and easy Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing workers to do their jobs on the go. They can be used in data centers to monitor systems or as part of a presentation. In essence, the business tablet is a standard tablet – just with extra tools and software to make it compatible for you and your organization.

Should I consider an E-ink tablet?

'E-ink' is short for 'electronic ink', and it is used in several new tablets that offer more paper-like drawing capabilities. These tablets, such as the Amazon Kindle Scribe and the Supernote, are essentially e-readers that can be used for note-taking with mostly gray screens.

Some newer models, such as the Remarkable Paper Pro (see above) offer color options, though these are far more limited than what one would find on a traditional tablet. But the technology is evolving fast, and they are a great option for note-takers and journalers.

Can a tablet replace a laptop?

The answer to this is very much dependent on what your business does. If you need lots of processing power, RAM, and storage space, then the answer is a resounding no. But if you need something more flexible, with the ability to connect to the internet from seemingly anywhere, then a tablet can replace your laptop.

After the success of the iPhone, rumours quickly started circulating that Apple could have a tablet up its sleeve. Marketed as a rival to netbooks, which were still things people bought at the time, the iPad took the iPhone's multi-touch display and took it to the big screen - of mobile devices.

In 2010, the iPad hit shelves, but it didn't stay there for long. Over 19 million of the devices were sold in the first year of its release because people loved the familiar user interface and enjoyed it as a fresh new take on a laptop.

For the casual user, it was an exciting new way to browse the web, take pictures, send email, read e-books, play games, watch films and so much more. It made the experience far more interactive and intimate and was a revelation for commuters and travellers looking for fun on the move.

It wasn't just the entertainment market they were targeting, Apple knew it would be picked up and loved by businesses around the world which is why they designed it with that in mind too. They created a bespoke productivity suite of apps, Pages, Keynote and Numbers, specifically designed for iPad functionality. But, it doesn't end there. There are a wealth of amazing apps from which businesses can benefit for myriad purposes and we've collated the best ones here.

When it first launched in 2010, there were over 140,000 apps available for the iPad, now there are 2 million. To save you sifting through them all, below are the best ones. Whether you're managing money, delivering a presentation to your company's directors or just want to edit some photos, we've chosen the right app for you.

Communication

Microsoft Outlook

Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Price: Free

Outlook is Microsoft's own mail app that combines contacts, email and calendars in one app place. It determines which of your messages are most important and places other emails into a separate folder to be viewed later. You can schedule meetings, set reminders, attach files and more.

Main Idea: If you find yourself missing things because of a cluttered inbox, this app can help thin the herd and surface what's most important.

Design

Enlight

Developer: Enlight

Price: 3.99

Lightricks' Enlight is a formidable photo editing suite that's about as close to a full-fat desktop package as you're likely to get for under a fiver. Touch-up images with intuitive and precise controls, overlay photos, swap filters and gradients to generate artistic effects recreating the style of classic photography and more.

Main Idea: Enlight offers a comprehensive toolset aimed at Instagramers, amateur photographers and photo enthusiasts after greater power from a mobile image editor.

Paper Notes, Photo Annotation, and Sketches

Developer: FiftyThree

Price: Free (in-app purchases, all free)

Artists will know that they should never be without their pencil or sketchbook. Paper, by New York app developer FiftyThree, is a drawing and productivity app aimed at those who like to express their ideas visually. You can sketch images and notes onto the app, and combine them with written text, photos, or checklists. It also comes with features for sharing your drafts with colleagues as PDF, Keynote or Powerpoint files.

Main Idea: Paper wants to be the most effective app for you to capture and connect your notes, photos and sketches.

uMake

Developer: uMake

Price: Free (in-app purchases, subscriptions)

uMake featured during Apple's reveal of the iPad Pro last October, and the app has already proved to be a big hit with users of Apple's enterprise-focused tablet. The app couples the accuracy of a graphics tablet with the clarity of a 3D visualizer. Using an Apple Pencil, users can sketch 2D planes in a 3D space, controlling the weight and colour of their stokes, to create anything from rapid sketches to complex, layered 3D objects.

Main Idea: uMake is targeted at discerning professionals with experience of using 3D design software. A free subscription is available, with pro tiers starting from 14.99 per month.

Money

Invoice 2go Invoice & Estimate

Developer: Chris Strode

Price: Free

An app designed to create invoices, estimates, credit memos, and purchase orders straight from your device, as well as keeping track of money owed, taxes, and totals. With templates to choose from and the option to include PayPal buttons for convenience, Invoice2go Plus allows users to track and manage invoices before sending them directly to customers and clients.

Main Idea: Although many features must be purchased in the app, this is the perfect tool for freelancers and businesses that have trouble keeping track of money owed, money paid, and money received.

Mint: Personal Finance & Money

Developer: Intuit

Price: Free

Mint is a free personal finance app that allows you to track spending across multiple accounts and investments using nifty graphs and charts. You can create budgets and customised bill reminders to help manage your income, and get the most out of what you spend.

It can be especially useful for when you're planning on saving money for a big buy, building up funds to launch a business. The app works by syncing with your accounts to provide a real-time transaction feed. Intuit, the makers of the app, has taken great steps to ensure user details are kept safe, offering the same security provided by banks to prevent fraud or theft.

Main Idea: An effective money management app with a gorgeous UI.

PayPal

Developer: PayPal Inc

Price: Free

PayPal is an affordable app for accepting payments that's especially useful for small and medium businesses. Service users can accept credit and debit cards, send invoices, track cash, and check payments. It also supports Apple Pay. Charges for the service are 3.4%, plus 20p for swipe card payments.

PayPal's big selling point for using its payment service and app is that there's no long-term contracts, commitments or monthly fees. User reviews, many of whom describe themselves as small business owners, have very good things to say about it.

Main Idea: A payments app with no long-term contracts, commitments or monthly fees.

Productivity

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Developer: Adobe

Price: Free

Reading and interacting with PDF files is so much easier with this app on your iPad, and you can also use it to manage, convert, and share files at your leisure. Open up documents in Adobe Reader directly from emails, the web or an app, search the file for words and phrases, convert them to a variety of different file types and access password-protected forms.

Main Idea: The most popular app for reading, editing, and converting PDF files on your tablet, Adobe Acrobat Reader allows professionals to use all of the tools and functions they need to deal with PDFs from wherever they are.

Dropbox

Developer: Dropbox

Price: Free

Dropbox has quickly become the most popular cloud storage app for storing videos, photos, and documents, and the app's iteration for iPad is just another tool for keeping your files together in one easy-to-access location. With 2GB of free space given to you just for signing up, it couldn't be easier to create an account for an entire team to use, making collaboration much easier, as well as allowing you to work remotely.

Main Idea: There are a lot of cloud storage options out there. If you're not sure which is best for you, check out our more in-depth look at the most popular services.

Fantastical 2

Developer: Flexibits

Price: 2.99

Microsoft has sadly taken the decision to axe the much-loved Sunrise calendar app, but thankfully its spirit lives on in Fantastical 2. Support is included for iCloud, Exchange and Google Calendar, and the interface has the same clean, uncluttered appeal as Sunrise.

The downside is that it's not free Fantastical 2 costs 3.99. However, that's a price well worth paying if you're feeling Sunrise's absence. It's got integrations with iOS reminders and the notification center, and there's also a natural language engine to make adding events an absolute breeze.

Main Idea: If you need a calendar app to replace Sunrise, Fantastical's the one for you. Simple and well laid out, it's got heaps of productivity-boosting features.

FileMaster-Privacy Protection

Developer: Shenzhen Youmi Information Technology Co. Ltd

Price: Free

If you use your tablet for business, it's easy to end up with a mass of jumbled files on your device. Easily organize and view files using this manager that allows you to transfer files from your computer, create new folders, move and copy documents, rename files, and more. In addition to having all of the features of a useful file manager, the app also serves as a media player, music player, and document viewer. Everything is secure with passwords, hidden folders, wifi authentication, and remote access.

Main Idea: If you're in the habit of downloading and storing files on your device, you need some way to sort through them all. This app offers all of the features you need while keeping your information secure.

LiquidText

Developer: LiquidText

Price: Free

Note-taking apps, such as Microsoft OneNote and Evernote, have put many document viewing apps into the shade. The feature-rich LiquidText, however, allows you to mark and annotate documents with speed, sort and retrieve those annotations, and export them by type. All of which means it should be easier to find the note you need, whether you're using this app for meeting minutes, coursework notes, and more besides.

Main Idea: LiquidText offers gesture-based reading and annotation for documents including PDF, DOC, PPT and web pages.

Microsoft Word

Developer: Microsoft Corporation

Price: Free

Create and edit Microsoft Word documents on your tablet in exactly the way you're used to with the same layout and functionality that you'd find on your Mac or PC. That means images, charts, footnotes, tables, and everything else you might need are at your fingertips with the option to view email attachments and access documents from the cloud via OneDrive, Dropbox, and more.

Main Idea: Most people are already well-versed in how to use Microsoft Word, making it the perfect app to keep you working across multiple devices.

MindNode

Developer: IdeasOnCanvas GmbH

Price: 7.99

MindNode uses mind mapsvisual representations of ideas branching off of a central ideato help your brainstorm better. The intuitive approach to organisation helps you focus on your content rather than the layout, and your ideas will never be limited, with an infinite canvas that grows with your map. Be more creative with less effort and access your mind map from any of your Apple devices thanks to iCloud Drive.

Main Idea: If conventional note-taking apps aren't suited to your creative process, mind mapping may help flesh out ideas and make you more productive. MindNode makes it easy to export your maps to PDF, text outline, PNG, and a number other formats.

OfficeTime Time Keeper Pro

Developer: Productive Monkey Ltd.

Price: 7.99

Where does all of the time in your day go? OfficeTime is here to help you answer that question, equipped to track and categorize the minutes and hours spent working and log expenses to make sure you're still on budget. Improve your productivity and increase your billables by recording and reviewing the exact time dedicated to individual projects. Perfect for freelancers and small teams, the app syncs across platforms, works offline, and makes invoicing easier.

Main Idea: This app is designed with freelancers, small businesses, and groups in mind. Not only does the app track your time in the background, it allows you to run multiple timers and easily switch tasks, conscious of the way that many people work on multiple projects.

SAP Analytics Cloud Raombi

Developer: SAP SE

Price: Free

Spreadsheets are useful and essential for business, but they don't always display information in the most presentable way. Roambi Analytics allows you to take data from Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheets, Box, databases, and a number of other sources and convert them into colourful charts and diagrams. This app is a useful companion for anyone who needs to show visualisations as part of presentations or discussions.

Main Idea: A simple and speedy way to turn spreadsheets into attractive visualisations.

Security

NordVPN

Developer: NordVPN

Price: From 2.34 per month

While iOS is widely known for being one of the most secure operating systems around, sometimes you need the added assurance that your internet connection is safe from unwanted snooping.

NordVPN bills itself as one of the most advanced virtual private networks on the market. You're able to connect to 1,000 different servers across 61 different countries, which offer some of the most robust VPN protections available. For those who take security particularly seriously, you're also able to connect to the Tor network without the need for additional software.

It's also incredibly easy to install and use, as it's a simple case of running the .exe and selecting what services you'd like to turn on, including anti-virus shield with malware protection built in.

There's also a variety of pricing options available, the cheapest of which is 2.50 per month on a two-year plan. True to its ideal of anonymity, you can even pay in Bitcoin if you prefer.

Main Idea: An added layer of security for when you're connecting to a dodgy public WiFi

1Password

Developer: AgileBits Inc.

Price: Free

1Password's encryption means you can keep all your credentials and financial data in the password manager. Furthermore, it's able to generate hard-to-break passwords for your accounts, to stop you having to remember various passwords you have for all your accounts - or from re-using the same one everywhere. It doesn't just work on your tablet, either: you can sync it across all your Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices. If the free version doesn't quite provide what you need, consider upgrading to Pro for additional features.

Main Idea: Let's be honest, it's a pain trying to keep track of all of your passwordsyour log-in information is safe but accessible with 1Password.

Tools

Intelligent Hub

Developer: AirWatch, LLC

Price: Free

A device tool for mobility management, this app can be used with the Intelligent Hub console to monitor and manage all devices in your company. For organisations that rely on communication and collaborate with teams and employees, having a single app keeping track of everything can be very useful, and it couldn't be easier to set up and use.

Main Idea: With the rise of BYOD in business, it's already true that pretty much everyone works with a mobile device. This app helps to control and manage this, improving security at the same time.

Coda

Developer: Panic

Price: 23.99

Coda is a combination of text editor and FTP client for iPad and iPhone. The main display shows all sites that a user has configured to use with the app. These display a thumbnail of the homepage. Sites can be sorted into folders. It supports syntax highlighting for a wide range of code languages.

The file manager supports FTP, SFTP, FTP with Implicit SSL, FTP with TLS/SSL, as well as with WebDAV & WebDAV via HTTPS. It also connects to services such as Amazon's S3.

Main Idea: A portable text editor and file manager.

Notability

Developer: Ginger Labs

Price: 9.99

The iPhone is the perfect device for note-taking, but you need a good app to really take advantage of that. Notability allows users to add images, illustrations and more to notes, making random thoughts more visual and dynamic or just making it easier to brainstorm ideas. The app is also great for working across teams, as you can sync notes through cloud services or share over social media.

Main Idea: Since you can easily sync your notes across devices, it's incredibly simple to go back to your thoughts at another time, editing it from wherever you happen to be.

Printer Pro

Developer: Readdle

Price: 6.99

The fastest and easiest way to print documents directly from your device without worrying about transferring files or email attachments. With Printer Pro you can print straight from within an email or other application with the Open In' function. Wirelessly print attachments, documents, web pages, photos, and more, for real mobile printing.

Main Idea: Whether you're in another office for a meeting or you're using your device for work, printing from your iPad means that you have the convenience even when away from your PC.

Scanner Pro

Developer: Readdle

Category: Business

Price: 3.99

Scanning paper documents to be used on our PCs used to be relatively arduous and time-consuming task, but Scanner Pro allows you to reach the same end with your phone. After scanning, PDF files can be emailed, printed, shared, or uploaded to tools like Dropbox. The app also has automatic edge detection to ensure high-quality scans, and you can also manually crop pages afterwards.

Main Idea: As well as providing high-quality scanning to send electronically, a good portable scanner allows you to back up and store important information to access at your convenience.

Alternatives: Tiny Scanner, CamScanner, ScanBot

Splashtop Enterprise

Developer: Splashtop Inc.

Price: Free

As mobile as smartphones and tablets have made us, sometimes we need our computers and are miles away from our desks. This would be a problem if not for remote desktop apps, which allow users to access their PC or Mac straight from their phones, allowing them to stream video, browse the web and more. For professionals, remote access to PowerPoint, Excel, and other applications can be a lifesaver.

Main Idea: Access to your desktop from anywhere gives you more options, and instantly increases the value of your devices for on-the-move work.

Travel

TripIt: Travel Planner

Developer: Tripit

Price: Free (in-app purchases)

TripIt organises the lion's share of your travel plans and involves minimal effort on your part. Forget copying long customer IDs and boarding pass details, TripIt automatically creates an itinerary for you from forwarded hotel, airline, car rental and restaurant confirmation emails. Travel plans can be accessed at any time including offline. It also provides directions and maps, syncs with your Apple, Outlook or Google calendars, and allows you to share your travel plans with friends and colleagues. Owned by business travel and expense management company, Concur, TripIt also offers a premium service for frequent flyers.

Main Idea: Get your travel plans organised in one place using TripIt's automation technology.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 hybrid was one of the standout laptops of last year, proving once and for all the 2-in-1 form-factor is a viable option for business-class devices. Now, the company is following it up with the new Surface Pro, twinning all-around improvements with Intel's newest Kaby Lake processors.

Latest news

26/07/2018: New Surface Go offers lower-cost alternative to the Surface Pro

Microsoft has announced details of the Surface Go: a new 2-in-1 detachable that offers a lower-cost, lower-spec alternative to its Surface Pro device.

Announcing details of the hybrid in a blog post, Microsoft said the Surface Go is its "smallest, lightest, and most affordable Surface yet", weighing in at just 1.15 pounds and measuring just 8.3mm thin.

The Surface Go sports a 10in high-resolution PixelSense display and includes support for the Surface Pen with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. The device also boasts its own custom-made Signature Type Cover (although this is sold separately), as well as a Windows Precision Trackpad.

Under the hood, the hybrid is powered by Intel's seventh-generation Pentium Gold processor, which Microsoft says provides a balance of power, performance and battery life (up to nine hours from a single charge). The Surface Go also comes with either 4GB RAM/64GM storage or 6GB RAM/128GB storage.

In terms of connectivity, the 2-in-1 includes Surface Connect for charging and docking, USB-C 3.1, a microSD slot for expandable storage, as well as the traditional headphone jack.

The new Surface Go costs £379 (or £509 for the higher spec version) and will hit stores on 2 August. Pre-orders are also now open from the Microsoft Store.

13/07/2018: Surface Pro 6 may be ‘heavily redesigned’

Microsoft could be about to shake up its Surface Pro design with the Surface Pro 6, according to the latest rumours, with the new device reportedly set to arrive sometime next year.

Citing previously-unseen internal documents, Brad Sams of Thurrott.com reports that the next- generation 2-in-1 device has been codenamed “Carmel”. A shipping date has not yet been listed – but the website reasons that, due to the recent release of the Surface Pro LTE model, the Pro 6 may not be arriving as soon as some were hoping for.

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley also reports that the hybrid will be “heavily redesigned”, adding that separate contacts have revealed that the device “isn’t coming until mid-2019”.

Similarly, the Surface Hub 2 also looks set for a mid-2019 release, the website reports, whilst Intel 8th generation Surface Pro and Surface Laptop refreshes could be on their way this autumn.

There is currently no solid information surrounding the updated machines, but ZDNet speculates that they could include the Surface Connect port. Currently, there is no confirmation as to whether the Surface Pro or Surface Laptop will include USB Type C connectivity.

It’s also reported that Microsoft will also release additional Surface-branded accessories, including a new headphone-microphone office headset.

26/04/2018:USB-C dongle for Surface devices will arrive later this year

Microsoft's long-awaited USB-C dongle for Surface devices will hit the shelves later this year, the company has told The Verge, with a release confirmed to be "on the roadmap" for 2018.

The adapter will allow USB-C connectivity for Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices via the Surface Connector port, opening up a host of possibilities for users in terms of accessories.

The USB-C dongle was first announced back in 2017 following initial disappointment that Microsoft continued to snub the technology on its Surface line of devices. The accessory was then set for a release the same year - but was subsequently delayed for unknown reasons.

Explaining the USB-C snub on its devices at the time, Surface chief Panos Panay said that he didn't want to replace ports that are valuable to users in favour of Type-C - but added that he believes a dongle to be the best solution.

"If you want to charge a device with a Type-C charger, you can," Panay told The Verge at the time. "If you want to put data back and forth with a Type-C peripheral, you can."

Microsoft has not yet revealed exactly when the USB-C dongle will hit the market or how much it will cost, but the accessory will be available in late 2018.

21/12/2017

The Surface Pro is outselling the Surface Books and Surface Laptop

The Surface Pro (2017) is currently the most popular of Microsoft's new Surface devices, according to AdDuplex's November statistics.

In terms of sales, the Redmond giant's 2017 refresh of the hybrid remains ahead of its other Surface-branded machines - such as the Surface Laptop and both Surface Book models.

AdDuplex's sales breakdown reveals that the 2017 model of the Surface Pro accounted for 9.2% of overall Surface sales as of the month of November, whilst the original Surface Book stood at 7.1% and the Surface Laptop trailed behind on 2%. The more recent Surface Book 2 clocked up 0.4%.

It's clear that the Surface Pro line remains the form-factor of choice when it comes to the Surface range - with older iterations also still making up a large percentage of users.

The Surface Pro 4 accumulated 39.7% whilst the older Pro 3 totalled 21.7%. Combined, the Surface Pro line made up 79.9% of all Surface device sales.

As noted by Mspoweruser, the Surface Books and Surface Studio are more expensive than the Surface Pro which contributes to the lower sales figures. However, the Surface Laptop represents a "cheaper value proposition" than the Pro range, the website says, which suggests users favour the 2-in-1 setup.

08/09/2017

Panos Panay to unveil new Surface devices at Future Decoded

Head of Microsoft's Surface division Panos Panay will hold a Surface keynote at the company's Future Decoded event in London next month, The Verge reports.

Sources familiar with the company's plans also told the website that guests can expect at least one new device at the event, which runs from 31 October to 1 November.

What this device will be is currently unclear - but The Verge says it expects the upcoming Surface Pro LTE hybrid to be unveiled, as well as a new Surface Book or Surface Hub device.

Microsoft is also planning to release ARM-powered Windows laptops in the near future and, although it's currently unclear whether it will produce its own Surface model, the Redmond firm could reveal more at Future Decoded.

"We are on track to see Windows 10 on Snapdragon devices become available this year as previously shared," a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to The Verge.

"Microsoft and Qualcomm continue to work closely with our OEM partners ASUS, HP and Lenovo in bringing Always Connected devices featuring always-on LTE connectivity and great battery life to market."

Microsoft's Future Decoded event will take place at the Excel convention centre in London.

10/08/2017

Microsoft unveils pay-monthly Surface Plus plans

Microsoft has revealed its Surface Plus and Surface Plus for Business plans, which allow US consumers to pay monthly for Surface devices and upgrade to the latest machine every 18 months.

"We're excited to announce the availability of Surface Plus and Surface Plus for Business; flexible financing options designed to help more people and businesses take advantage of the power of Surface," Microsoft announced in a blog post.

The Redmond giant said customers can spread the "low" monthly payments over a period of 24 months (at 0% APR) and upgrade to the latest Surface device after 18.

Surface Plus users will also receive "best in class" service and support, with the option to add the Microsoft Complete extended service plan - plus additional Microsoft Store benefits such as a 30-day "hassle-free" return policy and free in-store technical assistance.

Businesses also receive a host of benefits as part of Surface Plus for Business, Microsoft said, with companies able to "add as many devices as they want" to a single agreement -- including the option to mix and match different Surface devices.

Options are flexible, with businesses able to choose between 18, 24 or 30 month plans - and can also choose to increase or reduce their "device fleet" mid-term.

US customers can visit their nearest Microsoft store or sign up to Surface Plus online - currently there's no details about a possible similar UK plan.

18/07/2017

Images of canned Surface Mini emerge online

A number of images depicting an unreleased Surface Mini have emerged for the first time, following Microsoft's decision to scrap its release back in 2014.

The tablet was supposed to hit the shelves alongside the Surface Pro 3 - but the Redmond giant pulled its plans just weeks before its launch date.

The images show the device as resembling a smaller Surface Pro 3, with a portrait orientation and "felt-like" casing, as reported by Windows Central.

The tablet also featured a built-in kickstand (in landscape orientation) as well as "slightly angled" edges for comfortable handling and grip - although this did result in a large bezel, the website reports.

Powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, the Surface Mini included 1GB RAM, 32GB of storage, dual-band Wi-Fi and packed a screen resolution of 1440 x 1080.

The tablet also featured microSD expandable storage compatibility, Micro-USB port for charging, a headphone jack and USB-OTG.

Windows Central added that the scrapped Surface Mini also sported the same Surface Pen technology that arrived with the Surface Pro 3 - but did not include a Type Cover.

Design

The Surface Pro's design has remained largely unchanged for the past few generations, but that's no bad thing. The Surface Pro's slim, angular design is one of the best hybrid models to come out in recent years and the newest version is more attractive than ever.

Display

Like previous models, Microsoft's latest Surface Pro uses 12.3in PixelSense display, boasting an impressive 2736 x 1824 resolution with a pixel density of 267ppi. For reference, that's very slightly better than the iPad Pro's excellent screen.

The panel itself is high-quality, with a good contrast ratio and strong colour accuracy, covering almost 95% of the sRGB colour gamut. This means it's well-suited to graphic design work, particularly when paired with the excellent Surface Pen.

Keyboard

Microsoft's TypeCover keyboards have been a notable highlight of previous Surface Pro models, offering a crisp and satisfying typing experience without increasing the device's profile with a thick and bulky keyboard.

The same is true here. The only changes are a minor increase in the keys' travel depth and the addition of the waterproof Alcantara fabric covering (previously seen on the Surface Pro 4's Signature TypeCover) as standard. It's one of the best laptop keyboards we've seen to date, only being narrowly beaten by the newest MacBook Pro.

Specs and hardware

Performance is always a key component of the Surface Pro's appeal, and the latest generation is no exception. Packing Intel's latest Kaby Lake chips – available in Core m3, i5 and i7 variants – and with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of RAM, this hybrid is every bit the business-class machine.

This was borne out in our benchmark tests, where the 16GB Core i7 model's blazing score of 60 placed it comfortably ahead of the Dell XPS 13, the Toshiba Portege X30 and the HP Elitebook X360. It's one of the most powerful laptops around and should easily chew through even demanding workloads.

Battery life

Another similarly crucial aspect of any laptop is battery life, which goes double for ultraportable devices like the Surface Pro – the last thing you want is a device that dies on you halfway through the workday.

Luckily, the Surface Pro's amazing score of 11.5 hours in our battery tests proves that Microsoft has done its homework when it comes to making sure the Surface Pro has sufficient juice in the tank to see you through everything you need to do.

Verdict

Microsoft's Surface Pro devices are regularly best-in-class, and looking at the latest model, it's easy to see why. An eye-catching and attractive chassis houses a gorgeous display and seriously impressive internal hardware, resulting in a machine that can handle just about any enterprise environment you'd care to throw it into.

It may be a little on the pricey side, but if you've got the cash to spare, the Surface Pro definitely will not disappoint.

The Surface Book 2 is Microsoft’s latest attempt to make the ultimate hybrid laptop. We give you the low-down on the new device and what you can expect from it.

Surface Book 2: release date

The 13.5-inch version of the Surface Book 2 was released back in November 2017, earning widespread praise for both its design and performance. Since then, Microsoft has also released a larger, 15-inch model for those looking for that little extra from their laptop.

Following its initial US-exclusive debut, pre-orders for the latest Surface Book opened back in January in select European markets - with a full release following just a month later.

The next few months then saw both iterations of the Surface Book 2 roll out to additional markets around the world - including Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

"Surface Book 2 is the most powerful Surface we've ever built, and customers love that they can run their most demanding applications from anywhere. For those of you who have been waiting for Surface Book 2 to come to your market, the wait is over," Microsoft announced in a blog post at the time.

Surface Book 2: price

Prices for the Surface Book 2 vary depending on the specifications and screen size that you opt for.

The 13.5-inch base model configuration starts at £1,499 (including VAT), powered by an Intel Core i5 CPU, as well as featuring 256GB storage and 8GB RAM. There's also a more powerful i7 option which can be ordered for £1,999 from the Microsoft Store.

Should you require a larger storage capacity, you can get your hands on a 512GB version for £2,499, complete with Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM - or the 1TB option for £2,999.

Prices for the larger 15-inch Surface Book 2 begin at £2,349 for the base model, which ships with 256GB storage, Intel Core i7 CPU and 16GB RAM. Again, if you're looking to scale up your storage space, you can purchase a 512GB version for £2,749 or the 1TB equivalent for £3,149.

Surface Book 2: specs and features

With the Surface Book 2, Microsoft has opted for two sizes: a 13.5in model and a larger 15in version. As expected, the 15in device boasts higher specs ad a steeper price – but both retain the stylish, premium feel that proved so popular the first time around. Both versions also boast an outstanding keyboard and impressive trackpad that makes the laptop a delight to work with.

Since its release, the Redmond giant has been shouting its merits the rooftops, describing the Surface Book 2 as “the most powerful Surface device ever” thanks to the inclusion of Intel’s 8th-gen Coffee Lake CPUs. Graphics performance is also “five times more powerful” than that of the original Surface Book, Microsoft says.

Our sister website IT Pro agrees, too, describing the top-end model as “one of the most powerful devices of its form factor on the market”, thanks to its Intel 8th-gen quad-core i7-8650U processor chip. If you’re looking at purchasing the 13.5in Surface Book 2, you’ll both Core i5 and Core i7 versions – whereas the larger 15in model is only available with a Core i7 processor. However, the laptop is also available equipped with Intel’s 7th-gen CPUs if you’re not looking at the top of the range or you’re on a tighter budget.

This added power doesn’t hinder batter performance, either, making the Surface Book 2 excellent for working on the move. With the keyboard attached, you’ll get around 17 hours of battery life, Microsoft says, thanks to the keyboard itself containing much of the battery. Using the device in tablet mode will also give you around five hours of video playback – which is double the amount that the first generation Surface Book offered.

In terms of connectivity, Microsoft has finally moved away from the mini DisplayPort and opted for USB-C instead. There is a slight downside, however, with this being the USB 3.1 connection standard rather than the Thunderbolt 3 found on other machines (restricting data transfer to 5GBps).

The Surface Book 2 also sports a 5.0MP, 1080p HD Video front-facing camera, as well as an 8MP autofocus rear-facing snapper with 1080p Full HD video capture capability.

Boasting a sleeker frame, a redesigned stylus and a vastly improved keyboard, does the Surface Pro 4 have what it takes to usher in the hybrid revolution?

Surface Pro 4 latest news

Microsoft offers free replacements for Surface Pro 4 models with screen flickering

Microsoft has committed to replacing Surface Pro 4 models with flickering screens for free as problems mounted since the hybrid device made its debut in 2015.

Redmond started monitoring reports of an irritating and distracting flicker in the Surface Pro 4's PixelSense display in February 2018 and came to the conclusion that devices suffering from the problem could not be easily fixed.

As such it officially launched a replacement program which will allow Surface Pro 4 users to get their model replaced up to three years after the date they purchased it. Under the program, Microsoft will provide people with refurbished replacement Surface Pro 4 models as opposed to brand-new devices or the latest Surface Pro, now in its fifth iteration.

The flickering displays saw some people opt for unusual temporary fixes, notably putting the Surface Pro 4 tablet into a freezer to stop the flickering, though this was hardly a practical quick fix.

People who have paid for the screen to be replaced on their Surface Pro 4 when the device was out of warranty will have the option to get a refund from Microsoft.

However, it is worth noting the replacement program only covers display problems, so does not address any other reliability issues that have cropped up in Surface devices over the past few years.

27/10/2017

Microsoft says Surface Pro LTE remains on course for 2017 release

The new Surface Pro LTE model is still on track for a 2017 release, Microsoft has confirmed, after the Redmond firm mistakenly detailed a "spring 2018" debut for the cellular device.

As reported by Neowin, Microsoft had updated the Surface Pro LTE's product page to state: "The new Surface Pro with LTE will be made available for purchase at retail spring 2018. We're excited to bring you a Surface Pro that is now faster, lighter, quieter, and more connected than ever."

However, a spokesperson for Microsoft has now informed the website that the listing was made in error and the device remains on course to be released before the end of 2017.

"Surface Pro LTE will be available later this year," they told Neowin. "We will have more to share regarding specific timing and market availability in the coming months."

However, the statement still places doubt on the Surface Pro LTE's initial release date, which had been previously confirmed to be 1st December.

Microsoft is expected to provide further details regarding the new Surface Pro at its Future Decoded event in London, at which Surface chief Panos Panay is scheduled to give a keynote.

05/10/2017

Could Microsoft ditch its Surface line by 2019?

Microsoft could be set to scrap its “choppy” Service business by 2019, Steve Brazier, CEO of market research company Canalys, has claimed.

Speaking at the opening keynote of the EMEA Canalys Channels Forum in Venice, Brazier explained that the move will come as a result of CEO Satya Nadella’s software-orientated approach – as well as the line’s patchy performance (via Channelnomics).

“Microsoft will exit the Surface business by 2019,” Brazier claimed. “Two reasons: Satya Nadella is a software guy, he's a cloud guy. He’s already allowed [Microsoft’s] mobile phone business to decline.

“Secondly, the Surface’s performance is choppy. It has good quarters and bad quarters - but overall it is not making money.”

He added: “It doesn’t make sense for them to be in this business. And when the capital expenditure challenge that Satya Nadella is taking Microsoft down becomes visible to Wall Street… he will have a lot of cost cutting to do, and Surface will be the first target.”

It’s a view shared by other industry figures, too, according to MSpoweruser. Speaking at the same event, Lenovo COO Gianfranco Lanci even suggested “it might be earlier” than 2019.

“Microsoft is making a lot of money on cloud, making a lot of money on Windows and Office, but losing a lot of money on devices,” he said.

Similarly, Dell chief commercial officer Marius Haas feels that the Surface line has “served its purpose” and will “probably slow down a bit”, MSpoweruser reports.

02/10/2017

Surface Pro LTE reportedly set to launch on 1st December

The upcoming Surface Pro LTE 2-in-1 is set to release on 1st December, Microsoft has reportedly confirmed.

According to Neowin, a spokesperson confirmed the launch date at the firm's Ignite 2017 event, during a session titled 'Surface product engineering behind the scenes, and deep dive on the new Surface Pro'.

The supposed release date does appear to tie in with speculation that the device will be announced at next month's Future Decoded event in London, at which Panos Panay is scheduled to give a keynote.

A cellular configuration of the hybrid was first mentioned back in May when Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro refresh in Shanghai. There's been little information since, however, but UK retailer Misco recently listed the device as available to pre-order, Neowin also reports.

Although the website now shows the device as unavailable, it still shows two variants of the Surface Pro LTE, with both sporting Core i5 processor chips.

According to the store, the high-end model will ship with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD, while the lower end version will sport 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD storage.

29/08/2017

Surface Pro 4 users report problems with Windows Hello after update

A number of Surface Pro 4 owners have found that they can no longer use their camera to log in

with Windows Hello following a recent bout of driver updates.

As reported by Computerworld, update numbered ‘1.0.65.1’ has caused many users to complain of

the issue on various online forums.

“I've been using my SP4 from past 11 months and have never had an issue with Face recognition

windows hello,” user Syed Mohammed Ali Muddassir Quadri explained on Microsoft Answers.

“I restarted my device today and ever since then whenever I turn it on, it says ‘Couldn't turn on the

camera. Please sign in with your PIN.’

"When I went into the settings to see what’s going on, it says ‘Windows Hello isn't available on this

device.’”

The issue stems from a bad driver included in the download, Computerworld reports, and users have

managed to work around the issue by manually uninstalling it.

One Microsoft engineer addressed the problem on a Reddit forum, stating that if it’s an extension of

an existing issue, the Redmond firm is “working on a fix”.

“If it's a different issue, the good news is that it's super important for us that Windows Hello works

flawlessly, so we'll get right on that,” he added.

21/07/2017

New Surface Pro owners complain of backlight bleed

A rising number of Surface Pro owners are complaining of backlight bleeding issues on Microsoft's latest flagship, according to reports.

As reported by On MSFT, although bleeding can be a common occurrence with LCD panels, many owners of the hybrid have stated the problem is more noticeable than usual.

One even compared the hybrid's display with that of the older Surface Pro 4, with a photo comparison highlighting the severity of the former's bleed issue. The 2017 model can be seen with a bright blue bleed emanating from the lower edge of the screen, On MSFT said.

The issue is largely disguised by the taskbar, the website adds but is clearly visible when placing the 2-in-1 in portrait mode or using applications.

Users have posted on Microsoft's support forums and other websites with complaints about the alleged problem.

"Bought a new i5 8GB Surface Pro this Saturday and am very disappointed," one user wrote on Reddit. "Immediately on bootup, I noticed a considerable backlight bleed along the bottom of the screen. There also seems to be a dark band just above the bright band but I'm not sure."

The owner exchanged the hybrid thinking the problem was just a defect - but the new device was displaying the bleed in "almost the same way".

"I checked the ones at the MS store and at Best Buy, and of 7 units on display, 6 had this defect," they added. "The two Surface Pro 4 models on display were not affected at all."

The issue follows a recent hibernation problem for the new Surface Pro, which caused devices to shut down unexpectedly. Microsoft has issued a temporary solution to that problem but is yet to comment on the backlight bleed reports.

Channel Pro has approached Microsoft for comment.

21/06/2017

New Surface Pro replaces Surface Pro 4

Microsoft has now released the new Surface Pro, with the device replacing the Surface Pro 4 as the Redmond giant's flagship 2-in-1.

Although not called the 'Surface Pro 5' as many industry observers had expected, the Surface Pro (2017) does improve upon many of its predecessor's features.

The device sports Intel's latest Kaby Lake processors and is available in Core i7, Core i5 and Core m models - offering up a 20% boost in performance over the Pro 4.

Similarly, battery life has also been extended by 50% thanks to increased capacity – from 9 hours on the Surface Pro 4 to 13.5 hours on the new Surface Pro.

Although the new hybrid is largely the same as its predecessor in appearance, it does now sport a redesigned hinge, allowing the screen to recline at a 165-degree angle in the same way as the all-in-one Surface Studio.

The device is also compatible with the Surface Dial, whilst the Surface Pen (sold separately) has also been given a redesign. The stylus now features a new tilt mode and 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity in order to improve functionality and response.

However, users hoping for the inclusion of USB-C connectivity will be disappointed, with Microsoft opting to continue with USB 3.0 ports on their latest 2-in-1.

The new Surface Pro (2017) is available now from £799 at the Microsoft store.

25/11/2016

Surface Pro 4 gets discount

Microsoft has given its Windows 10-powered Surface Pro 4 line its biggest discount to date in time for the annual Black Friday sales event.

Customers in the UK can currently purchase the entry-level model for a knock-down price of £599 - £150 less than its usual price. The offer also includes a Type Cover at no extra cost, adding a further £109.99 to the total savings.

That's a combined reduction of £259.99 - or 30 percent - for the Windows 10-powered hybrid device.

It's not just the entry-level model that receives a discount, either. The Intel Core i5 variant also receives the same £150 discount along with free Type Cover. Usually priced at £849, the i5 model is now available for £699.

Type Covers are also available in the colour of the customer's choice.

The sale marks Microsoft's biggest ever Surface Pro 4 price drop for customers in the UK - and the deals will be available until 1st December from Microsoft's online store.

03/11/2016

Sales of the Surface Pro 4 helped Microsoft rack up $4.7 billion (£3.8 billion) in profits in the last quarter, according to reports.

The company's surface devices saw a rise in sales of 38 percent compared to the same quarter of 2015. According to Wired, sales of the Surface range totalled $926m (£757m) - a massive contrast to the $672 (£549m) from the same period last year.

Chief executive Satya Nadella said that the company's focus on mobile and cloud computing was helping drive performance. He said: "It's not just the Silicon Valley startups anymore; it is the core enterprise that is becoming a digital company. And we are well-poised to serve them.

"We continue to innovate, grow engagement, and build our total addressable market."

Profit from Microsoft's Office 365 cloud service also rose by eight percent for the quarter, with BBC News stating that the company has regained the confidence of investors with its shift of focus.

"We are helping to lead a profound digital transformation for customers, infusing intelligence across all of our platforms and experiences," said Nadella in a statement. "We continue to innovate, grow engagement, and build our total addressable market."

05/10/2016

Prospective Surface Pro 4 buyers can now save $100 when purchasing the laptop-tablet hybrid with specific Type Covers.

The offer is available through both Microsoft's online and physical stores until 9th October - and includes the NFL Type Cover range, Signature Type Cover and Type Cover with fingerprint ID.

The range of NFL Type Covers available includes designs for each of the 32 NFL teams, while the Signature Type Cover is made of two-tone grey Alcantara.

The fingerprint ID-equipped Type Cover allows the user to make use of a biometric reader - which Microsoft says enables a more secure login "with a simple touch". The reader also allows for quick switching between users and the option of using Windows Hello.

The discount applies to all versions of the hybrid device and comes less than two weeks after Microsoft offered a $150 discount on its Core M3 Pro 4.

The one-day-only discount meant shoppers could buy the entry-level hybrid for just $749 from the company's online store - and triggered further speculation that the Surface Pro 5 is on its way.

However, as iDigitalTimes' Chris Groux notes, a recent TV advertisement campaign for the Surface Pro 4 could suggest that a release for its follow-up may still be a while off.

"The fact this commercial even exists is telling enough," Groux reasons. "It means Microsoft actually budgeted significant promotional costs for its current-gen tablet.

"If a new one were coming, we'd find it especially hard to believe that new ads would be aired."

15/09/2016

Surface Pro 4 may get a minor refresh

The Surface Pro 4 may be getting a refresh, according to avid Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley.

She has revealed that Microsoft is planning an event in October where it will unveil a number of hardware devices. However, rather than launching a Surface Pro 5 (which looks set to be released next spring), Microsoft could well be planning to refresh its Surface Pro 4 range with updated processors and some other small changes.

The main focus of this event would be a Surface-branded device, codenamed “Cardinal”. This device is said to be positioned as a product that can turn a desk into a “studio”. This in itself looks to be an all-in-one modular PC that Microsoft applied for a patent for last year.

Foley added that Microsoft hasn’t officially acknowledged that there will be such an event taking place.

09/08/16

Anniversary update causing issues for some Pro 4 users

The Windows 10 Anniversary update has been causing issues for some Surface Pro 4 owners, according to recent reports.

Users have reported installation issues when attempting to upgrade their device’s Windows 10 operating system.

According to Windows Report, many users complained that their Surface Pro 4 hybrid devices became caught in a reboot loop – with attempts at using workarounds and fixing corrupt files proving fruitless. The Windows Troubleshooting tool also failed to solve the issue.

According to the website, one user said: “So, I’ve tried to install the update on my SP 4 today, and, after one or two reboots, I’ve ended up in a reboot loop.

“The installation isn’t complete by this point, and something like ‘Setting updates up…’ or so shows for a fraction of a second, and the system reboots. The only way out of this is to boot into recovery, and roll back to previous build.”

Other users said that disabling the Secure Boot option in BIOS also failed to solve the problem.

Dispatch Tribunal adds that there have also been “sporadic” reports of a type cover issue in which the Surface Pro 4’s type cover stops working after the update.

The website also says that other resolved issues include the Surface Pen’s settings being reset after the update as well as a “partially missing Window background.”

Other Surface Pro owners have also since reported that their devices keep crashing since installing the Anniversary Update - whilst various apps repeatedly freeze and system performance is considerably slower than it was previously.

Microsoft has not yet responded to the issues.

27/07/16

Surface Pro 4 receives new update

New drivers are coming to Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices.

The drivers will bring some notable improvements to the Pro 4 – including better camera performance and enhancements to the Windows Hello login system.

The release follows firmware updates earlier this month that rectified lingering touchscreen and Surface Pen issues.

According to Trusted Reviews, Windows Insiders that are part of Release Preview and Fast Ring have already started getting to grips with the update – with everyone else set to receive it soon.

Surface Pro 4 owners can check to see if the update is available to download by accessing Settings from the Start Menu and clicking Update & Security. Selecting Windows Update and then Check for Updates will discover whether it is available to download.

More information on the download – including other improvements - will become available when Microsoft updates its Surface Book update page.

Trusted Reviews also notes that the update appears to be primarily focused on improving Windows Hello in time for the release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update.

Devices running the operating system are set to receive several upgrades with the Anniversary Update – including improvements to the aforementioned Windows Hello, the Edge browser, Start Menu, and Cortana.

The Action Centre will also receive a redesign – incorporating a new, easier-to- use interface with widgets, notification tiles and more space to add quick actions.

Microsoft recently confirmed at its Build 2016 conference that the Anniversary Update will land on 2nd August, a few days after its free upgrade to Windows 10 offer expires on 29 th July.

21/07/16

Surface Pro 3 batteries failing rapidly

Batteries inside certain Surface Pro 3 devices are deteriorating quickly – and Microsoft does not appear to be acknowledging the problem, according to reports.

The ongoing issue specifically concerns Simplo batteries that were included in some Pro 3 devices; numerous reports have stated that the level of charge in the batteries has been declining quickly.

Many customers have even resorted to paying large sums of money to fix the problem themselves.

According to WinSupersite.com, some users even believe the issue may not be a hardware issue and say a firmware update could resolve the problem.

Updates for the Surface Pro 3 are becoming less frequent, however, as Microsoft focuses on issues with newer devices such as the Surface Pro 4.

The website also notes that some users believe Microsoft does not seem to be acknowledging the problem as providing a new battery would essentially mean replacing the hybrid tablet completely – in turn ensuring the company failing to live up to promises made two years ago.

In 2014, vice president for Surface Computing Panos Panay and his team stated in a Reddit AmA session: “We’ve built a great battery into the product (the batteries on our Surface products are designed with some of the highest charge cycles for consumer electronic devices. This means that the battery can get charged daily (5 days a week) for over 4.5 years and still maintain 80% capacity.)

“If the battery fails during the warranty period, we’ll replace the battery. If the battery fails after the warranty period, you’ll call Microsoft support and arrange for the battery to be replaced. The cost will be $200 USD.”

Surface Pro 3 devices that shipped with LGC batteries do not appear to suffer the same problem, reports say.

29/06/16

Surface Pro 4 outsells Surface Book, new firmware updates

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 has sold nine times more units than the Surface Book, new research has shown.

Tech Radar reports that AdDuplex – an ad network that analyses Windows hardware data – has released figures and market share percentages for the Surface devices.

Both devices were released in October 2015 - but the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book have fared very differently.

It is revealed that the Pro 4 accounts for 30.9 percent of the Surface market – dwarfing the Surface Book’s 3.6 percent slice in comparison.

The largest share possessed by a Surface device goes to the Surface Pro 3 – which accounts for 33.3 percent of the market. This is perhaps less surprising, however, due to its earlier release and subsequent price drops. The vanilla Surface 3 holds 21.5 percent.

The Surface Book even trails the first Surface Pro hybrid device (6.9 percent) and the Pro 2 (3.9 percent).

Meanwhile, Microsoft has now rolled out new firmware updates for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book – addressing the power-management problems experienced by many users.

The latest update, which is also available for the Surface Pro 3, follows a number of previous efforts to improve battery life on the devices.

Following an apology from Microsoft in December, the company has released a series of updates since February to increase battery performance.

Now it appears the issue may finally be resolved – with the Pro 4 receiving two driver updates and the Surface Book receiving three.

A new Surface UEFI driver (for the Surface Pro and Surface Book) aims to improve system stability when switching back from sleep or hibernation mode whilst optimizing standby battery performance.

Updates are available from Microsoft’s website.

25/05/16

Surface Pro outsells iPad Pro in Q1

Microsoft’s Surface Pro series outsold Apple’s iPad Pro in the first quarter of 2016, according to The Register.

The latest data from research firm Canalys shows Microsoft’s hybrid devices shifted approximately 275,000 units in the UK compared with 107,000 for the iPad Pro series.

Surface Pro figures have also increased considerably since the corresponding quarter of last year – in which only 83, 000 units were sold.

Tim Coulling, senior analyst at Canalys, explained: “One of the problems facing Apple is the price, the other is familiarity and applications.”

He adds that it is a “difficult market” for Apple due to the Surface Pro’s compatibility with businesses and corporate infrastructure.

An Apple reseller also told The Register: “People don’t necessarily want to pay the price and aren’t that impressed with the pen. Business customers want the iPad Air and education customers want the Mini.”

The report does acknowledge, however, that these figures come at a time when Microsoft has so far released four Surface Pro iterations compared to the late introduction of the iPad Pro - which was not available until autumn 2015.

Last month Jitesh Ubrani, a senior analyst at research firm IDC, noted the opportunity for Microsoft to gain ground on its rival.

He said: “Apple’s recent foray into this [detachable tablets] segment has garnered them an impressive lead in the short term, although continued long-term success may prove challenging as a higher entry price point staves off consumers and iOS has yet to prove its enterprise-readiness, leaving plenty of room for Microsoft and their hardware partners to reestablish themselves.”

24/05/16

Surface Pro 5 release date rumours

Microsoft’s much-anticipated Surface Pro 5 could be released as early as this June, new rumours have suggested.

With the Surface Pro 4 now over six months old, talk has turned to the release date of its follow up – with various outlets making cases for a June or October 2016 release date.

The Bit Bag speculates that Microsoft could be looking to debut the new tablet-laptop hybrid early in order to “get ahead” of the rumoured upcoming MacBook Pro unveiling at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in June.

The website also goes on to mention “other indications” of an early release – citing discounts on existing Surface Pro models and linking the rumours to Intel’s Kaby Lake processor unveiling.

The Surface Pro 5 is widely expected to feature the new processor and its launch will reportedly be held at the Computex in Taipei – beginning on May 31.

Tech Radar also note that, despite this early release seeming unlikely, Microsoft did previously announce the Surface Pro 3 in May 2014 – with the devices then available in June of the same year.

A similar case is made for an October release, however, as the Surface Pro 4 was announced in October of last year. Reports have also suggested that Microsoft may not want to stray from a yearly life-cycle for its tablets.

Tech Radar’s Joe Osborne reasons: “If Microsoft were to pick a time to release its fifth Surface Pro device, chances are that it would go with one of those windows – with October being even more likely. “

Earlier rumours had suggested the Surface Pro 5 could be delayed until as late as Spring 2017.

21/04/16

Microsoft releases Surface Pro 4 update

Microsoft has rolled out new updates for its Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices.

The firmware predominantly aims to rectify a common bug that prevents the device from waking up from sleep mode properly.

Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book owners have reported power management issues since their release – including battery exhaustion when the device is in sleep mode.

Panos Panay, Corporate Vice President for Surface Computing at Microsoft, had announced that an update back in February would fix the problem. This, however, only seemed to succeed in compounding the sleep mode issue for many users.

Microsoft is confident these latest updates now resolve the issue.

In addition to the sleep mode fix, the Intel HD Graphics520 driver and Surface UEFI updates also correct a screen flickering problem that many users have experienced with applications (such as Microsoft Edge) on the Surface Pro 4.

A set of Surface Camera drivers are also included – enabling improved stability for Windows Hello (Microsoft’s personalised recognition system) – as is a Surface Embedded Controller firmware update which tackles thermal tuning issues.

The older Surface Pro 3 also receives some updates that have been designed to improve Surface Dock stability.

Microsoft promised the updates will be available to all users, advising: “When Surface updates are provided via the Windows Update service, they are delivered in stages to Surface customers.

“As a result, not every Surface will receive the update at the same time, but the update will be delivered to all devices. If you have not received the update then please manually check Windows Update later.”

01/04/16

Surface Pro 5: Spring 2017 Release?

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 5 looks set to be launched in spring 2017.

The release date for the upcoming laptop-tablet hybrid is said to have been delayed in order to prevent a clash with the upcoming Surface Phone – due later this year.

In addition, Microsoft’s Windows 10 update - dubbed Redstone 2 - has been rescheduled for release in early 2017 and is expected to be found on the 5th generation of hybrid devices.

Surface Pro 5 is, however, likely to be announced in tandem with Surface Book 2 and, despite still being a year away, spec rumours are already doing the rounds.

Early suggestions point to it featuring an impressive 4K resolution and a screen size of 13.3 inches – enabling enhanced video streaming and an upgrade on the Surface Pro 4’s capabilities.

It has also been rumoured that the hybrid will be powered by Intel’s Skylake processors and will provide improved battery life when compared to the current Surface Pro 4.

With Microsoft yet to release any concrete information on the devices, prospective users will certainly be hoping the tech giants can close the gap with rivals Apple in terms of battery longevity.

08/03/16

Windows 10 causing Surface Pro and Surface Book to freeze

It appears that Microsoft did a lot of testing for its latest Windows 10 update except on its own Surface Pro devices. The latest build borks the Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro 3 and Surface Book.

Redmond released its new “Windows 10 build 14279” for Surface Book, Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 to its Windows Insider Fast Ring users. The Fast Ring is a group of normal users that get updates sooner than the general public.

While these updates are prone to bugs, this particular update rendered the Type Cover keyboard, trackpad and touchscreen out of action.

Microsoft has been made aware of the bug and is currently investigating a fix.

In an official Windows blog post, Microsoft says: “We’re investigating an issue in which some Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, and Surface Book devices experience a freeze or hang and all input such as keyboard/trackpad and touch do not work. The workaround is to hold down the power button to force the device to hard-reboot.”

25/02/16

Surface Pro 4 wins Best Tablet award

The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 has won the Best Mobile Tablet award during the Global Mobile Awards (GMA) at this week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016.

The device beat rivals Apple iPad Pro, iPad Mini 4, Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 and Sony Xperia Z4 to win the Best Mobile Tablet Award. The Lumia 532 smartphone from Microsoft was also nominated in the category Best Mobile Handsets & Devices.

The Surface Pro 3 won the same title in 2015.

24/02/16

The Surface Pro has barely been out a few months but talk has now turned to thoughts of a possible Surface Pro 5 launch.

According to a report by Inquisitr, Microsoft could fix one of the major concerns over the Surface Pro 4, battery life, with the next version of its hybrid tablet-cum-laptop.

In the meantime, Microsoft has slashed the price of the device by $100 in a bid to make it more appealing to consumers. The discount until the end of this month. The discount comes as Huawei released its Windows-based rival to the Surface Pro 4, the Huawei Matebook.

The Surface Pro 4 was recently named best tablet of MWC, beating the iPad Pro.

18/02/16

Microsoft issues fix for Surface bugs

Microsoft is addressing the power management problems that are reportedly plaguing the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book.

In his blog, Surface chief Panos Panay said the software firm had listened to customer feedback and was releasing a set of Microsoft and Intel driver and firmware updates to help users “get the most of the power management options that Surface is designed to offer and continue to make your Surface more productive.”

“We are committed to continuing to improve Surface – to keep pushing out updates to make your device more awesome,” he said. “And to continue to help all our customers realise the full benefits of the latest silicon and Windows 10. With that in mind, one of the most important steps you can take is to ensure your Surface is up-to-date with the fixes we post on Windows Update.”

08/02/16

Microsoft signs up 117 new partners to bring Surface 4 to UK

With the Surface Pro 4 set to become available in the UK on February 18, Microsoft has recruited a further 117 partners to bring the devices to market.

The additional Distributor Managed Partners (DMPs) will supplement 63 recruited at the end of last year and Microsoft’s existing 13 UK Authorised Device Resellers (ADRs). This, says the software company, will enable customers to choose from a greater number of partners, many of which specialise in certain vertical sectors.

“The expansion means that we will be able to better satisfy the demand from partners to resell Surface,” says Pauline Yau, UK commercial Surface lead for Microsoft UK. “The expanded partner line up means [businesses will] be able to buy Surface from a greater range of providers, many of which have industry specific expertise.”

David Watts, commercial director at Microsoft distributor Tech Data, says Surface devices are a key part of the distie’s Windows device strategy. “The new devices have wide adaptability to a number of businesses cases and this new partner line up will expand the number of end user markets.”

‎Raj Pandya, head of commercial management at another Microsoft distributor, Ingram Micro, says the firm is seeing momentum with Microsoft Surface as well as Windows 10.

“There is high demand from education, local and central government, healthcare, finance, media and design and legal sectors to name just a few…At Ingram Micro we are looking to grow with the opportunity and we are making investments to ensure we can fulfil all opportunities with our Microsoft Surface community as well as the whole Microsoft proposition.”

29/01/16

Surface Pro helps drives Microsoft revenue increase

The launch of the Surface Pro 4 helped to bolster Microsoft’s revenues for FY16 Q2, according to the vendor’s latest financial results.

It says Surface revenue increased 29 percent, driven by the launch of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

“It was a strong holiday season for Microsoft highlighted by Surface and Xbox,” says Microsoft COO, Kevin Turner.

However, revenues for the Windows Phone plummeted 49 percent, reflecting the vendor’s “strategy change” announced in July 2015.Microsoft says it is currently re-organising its approach to smartphones in an attempt to rival the likes of Apple and Samsung.

27/01/16

Microsoft announces high-end Surface pro 4 and Surface Book

Microsoft has announced it will now ship two new Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 models, both with 1TB of storage, an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM.

However, they are currently only available in the US and Canada – with the Surface Book coming in at a hefty £2230 and the most powerful Surface Pro 4 at £1880.

Microsoft made the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 available to pre-order in the UK earlier this month.

The first batch of Surface Book pre-orders will ship by February 18, according Microsoft’s website.

19/01/2016

Surface Pro 4 delays “temporary”

Microsoft has stated that the continuing delays affecting European channel suppliers of the Surface Pro 4 should shortly be resolved.

The shortage has reportedly been affecting the top-end variants of the hybrid device. While the basic model with Intel’s Core-m3 CPU remains readily available, the higher-performance Core-i5 and Core-i7 versions have been much scarcer.

Microsoft’s channel partners report that they currently have almost no stock available, and that delivery dates for replacement inventory has been continually pushed back, despite being scheduled for arrival within the next few days.

The issues could be tied to Microsoft’s own supply chain difficulties in getting hold of components for the devices.

Last month, reports from Digitimes stated that US shipments of both the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book would be delayed, due to a shortage of Intel’s Skylake processors.

The company has assured that the lack of stock will shortly be remedied. “Any shortages in the commercial channel should be temporary as inventories are refreshed,” a Microsoft spokesperson said.

“We’re constantly working with our manufacturing team and reseller partners to ensure that customers who want to purchase Surface will find it in the commercial channel and will watch this closely on an ongoing basis.”

18/01/2016

Surface Phone

The Surface Pro 4 could soon be getting a little brother – in the form of the Surface Phone.

For the past few years, fans have been anxious for Microsoft to drop its Lumia branding and roll its smartphones into the Surface device family, which was expanded last year to include the Surface Book.

This could be on the horizon, as rumours suggest that the company may be gearing up to release the last Lumia device it had in pre-production.

After that, the company will allegedly begin working on the first smartphone entirely conceived and produced by Panos Panay and the Surface team, who now handle all device engineering.

Existence of the device is still unconfirmed, but early rumours suggest that it will be a high-end flagship powered by an Intel CPU – think Surface Pro 4, but with a smaller footprint.

It is also rumoured to be arriving in the second half of 2016, around the same time as the Windows 10 Redstone update.

Casing and appearance

By now, Microsoft has pretty much nailed down its ideal design for the Surface range, and it shows. The Surface Pro 4’s magnesium alloy chassis is attractive and sleek, with an eye-catching angular design sensibility.

It’s pleasingly premium, abut also retains the sturdy, functional feel of previous Surfaces. That’s thanks in no small part to the inbuilt kick-stand, which can be fully adjusted through an impressive range of motion meaning that you’re guaranteed a comfortable viewing angle.

It’s also equipped with a respectable complement of hardware ports, including a full-size USB3 input, a MicroSD slot and a Mini DisplayPort. It also has a USB input on the power brick, meaning you won’t have to unplug any peripherals to put your devices on charge.

Though it’s positioned as a hybrid, Microsoft’s device comes down more on the laptop side of the fence than on the tablet, and it shows in the weight. While it’s lighter than the majority of laptops at 800g, it’s heavy for a tablet, to the point where using it handheld can become an uncomfortable strain after long periods.

Keyboard and Surface Pen

Despite being one of the main things supporting Microsoft’s claim that the Surface can replace your laptop, the Type Cover keyboard still doesn’t come free with the Surface Pro 4. Instead, it’s an extra £109, which is a frankly extortionate price for what it is.

It’s a shame, as the keyboard has seen some real improvements for the Surface Pro 4. The keys are larger, and have more travel depth and resistance, while the keyboard itself is sturdier and more rigid. All of this means that typing is now a much easier and more pleasant affair than with previous Surface models, with none of the bouncy, rattley problems that plagued previous Type Covers.

The trackpad has also had an update. It’s now larger and more accurate, with a glass finish rather than plastic. The only slight hiccup is that clicking depresses the pad to a deeper extent than on most laptops, which felt initially jarring.

The Surface Pen is the star of the show in many ways, though. Microsoft’s stylus has had a tune-up, and works with the screen to detect 1,024 levels of pressure-sensitivity. Complementing that is a slight rethink of its design, with a magnetic strip along the side to attach it to the Surface’s casing directly.

Embedded into the end of this strip is a single hardware button, replacing the two found on earlier models. The removal of a button would normally bother us, but it’s made up for by the fact that the ‘eraser’ button on the end now actually functions as an eraser.

Rub it over anything you’ve drawn with the stylus, and it’ll vanish. It’s also been updated with new functions, such as pressing twice to save a screenshot to OneNote, and triple–pressing it to launch Cortana.

It’s an excellent improvement over the previous Surface Pen, and though how much you use it will likely be determined by your artistic ability, it’s the most naturalistic stylus experience we’ve had yet.

Display

For the latest iteration of the Surface family, Microsoft has pulled out all the stops in getting the 12.3in display as good as possible. It’s bumped the resolution up to 2,736 x 1,824, providing an impressive 267ppi. Text is crisp, pictures are detail-packed, and pen-strokes appear smooth and fluid.

It also has incredibly good colour accuracy, which is a vital component for winning back the swathes of the creative community currently swearing by Apple’s products. Brightness is absolutely blazing too, even outside or under harsh office lighting.

The display looks great, and is well suited both to standard office tasks like document processing and to watching a movie after work. It’s also likely to be a hit with artists – though we couldn’t sketch our way out of a paper bag, the high resolution and accurate colours make it a great creative tool.

Specs and performance

The Surface Pro 4 packs the latest Intel chips under the hood. There’s various configurations on offer, with different CPUs and RAM allocations at different price-points. In our case, it had an Intel Skylake Core i5-6300U processor with 8GB of memory.

Unsurprisingly, it racked up a highly respectable overall score of 44 in our benchmarks, with the only thing letting it down being the lack of a dedicated graphics processor. It’ll breeze through light to medium workloads, but anything that requires serious GPU rendering like current-gen gaming or video editing is likely to present a problem.

In our battery benchmarks, the Surface Pro 4 held out for seven hours and 40 minutes, which is not bad at all. It’s not quite enough to get through a full workday, however, and we’d advise keeping the charger to hand while out and about, just in case.

It’s unlikely to replace a dedicated gaming laptop, or any truly mammoth workstations, but for most other tasks, Microsoft’s right when it says the Surface Pro 4 can replace your laptop – in terms of performance, at least.

Software

As one might imagine, one of the Surface Pro 4’s main duties is to be the poster-child for Microsoft’s newest operating system. Windows 10 is suitably impressive, with the Intel RealSense camera used to provide Windows Hello biometric login functionality.

It’s got all the associated Windows 10 bells and whistles, but the simplest things about the new operating system are the best, like the notification system for emails and system alerts, or the fact that the traditional start menu has returned once more.

There was one issue, where a problem with graphics drivers caused the Surface to boot to a black screen, but a hard reset quickly took care of the problem, and it’s easily fixable with a software update.

Verdict

The Surface Pro 4 is an excellent poster child for Windows 10, and Microsoft’s new focus on mobility looks to be paying off. It feels light and portable with an excellent display, while still packing in enough power to smash through most day-to-day tasks with ease.

The main downsides are the battery life, which some may find just a touch too lacklustre to be truly worthwhile, and the somewhat eye-watering price, which can climb to just under £2000 for the top-end model once you factor in the Type Cover.

On balance, though, the Surface Pro 4 is an excellent machine, and is certainly the best use of the windows 10 operating system we’ve seen yet. While it’s not going to please everyone, it’s a superb device, and may finally see hybrids become a staple of the workplace.

Read next:

iPad Pro specs, price, release date: Everything you need to know

Panasonic has recruited 60 partners to sell its Toughbook tablet across Europe, with all joining its rugged mobile device-focused Edge channel programme.

The company set up the programme to snatch a share of the rugged handheld market from competitors such as Honeywell, Datalogic and Zebra Technologies.

Handheld devices now make up a third of Panasonic's rugged mobile device range sales, and contribute a significant amount of revenue to its bottom line. In the last year, the sector has grown by 176%, according to VDC Research.

Panasonic's dedicated handheld channel programme seeks to reward VARs to push its solutions out into the market, offering dedicated marketing, sales and technical support and attractive incentives for businesses that meet its qualification criteria.

“The new resellers will have a proven track record in the delivery of value-added, rugged handheld solutions covering hardware, software and services,” said Steven Vindevogel, sales director at Panasonic Toughbook. “As the new partners agree and then achieve sales targets they will be promoted through the three-tier channel programme.”

Panasonic is now looking for more European resellers to join its line-up, selling its devices such as the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 & FZ-N1 handheld tablets. It will work closely with its new distributor Scansource to find and enroll them into the Edge programme.

It's taking aim at the transportation and logistics, retail and manufacturing industries and as such, is looking for partners specialising in the field service, supply chain and proof of delivery verticals.

It's taking aim at the transportation and logistics, retail and manufacturing industries and as such, it's looking for partners specialising in the field service, supply chain and proof of delivery verticals.

Apple has always been fairly consistent in its design of the iPad, landing on a hit format early on that has remained popular with fans. However, with the launch of the iPad Pro, Apple was keen to demonstrate that its humble tablet is capable of much more than browsing the internet and watching videos - that it has the potential to evolve from a companion device into a genuine laptop replacement.

With Apple having recently refreshed the iPad Pro range, we decided to put that claim to the test, pitting its 10.5in model head-to-head against another device gunning to replace your laptop, Microsoft's similarly refreshed Surface Pro.

Microsoft's fifth-generation Surface Pro is the most refined yet, having trimmed away most of the fat of the old models and made noticeable improvements to battery life and the detachable keyboard.

With both devices vying for the same thing - an audience that wants the functionality of a laptop paired with the portability and flexibility of a tablet - which one will come out on top?

Design

With the refreshed iPad Pro range, Apple is clearly attempting to attract the attention of business users while trying to take on the Microsoft Surface. Overall, the iPad Pro sports the same design DNA as other Apple tablets: there's the iconic home button, a curved frame as well as front and rear cameras.

However, by getting rid of some of the bezel found on the 9.7-inch model, the firm has been able to kit out the tablet with a larger 10.5-inch display. Compared to its predecessor, the screen's frame is only 10mm taller and 2mm wider. And with a weight of 469g, the tablet is slightly lighter, too. We reckon it's more comfortable to hold, as a result.

In comparison, the Surface Pro is far thicker and heavier than the 10.5-inch iPad. Because of this, you're going to find it harder to carry around. The Surface Pro has dimensions of 292x201x9mm, while the iPad Pro comes in at 250x174x6mm. As for weight, Microsoft's offering is 786g. Plus, without curves, the Surface Pro looks a lot chunkier than its main rival.

That being said, the Surface Pro doesn't fully disappoint. If you've got documents you need to access, or if you want to watch a film, you'll be happy with its built-in kickstand. Solid in design, the stand provides enough strength to hold the tablet in place, and without notches, movement is always smooth. You only need one hand to adjust it, as well. With the iPad, you have to rely on a detachable keyboard.

These are pretty hefty tablets, so a built-in stand does make a lot of sense. Microsoft has definitely trumped Apple in this respect. A physical stand not only makes using a keyboard more convenient, but a tablet that stands on its own also looks more appealing. Unfortunately, you have to rely on a fiddly - and somewhat weak - cover to prop up the iPad Pro.

Verdict: Surface Pro

Display

As is to be expected with Apple products, the iPad Pro boasts an excellent screen, offering superb viewing angles and an impressive 96% coverage of the sRGB colour gamut. The LED backlit Retina display features a 2,224 x 1,668 resolution, with an impressive max brightness of 528cd/m2 and an excellent contrast ratio.

Apple's trump card is the ability to set the display to 120Hz and have it automatically adjust refresh rates depending on the capabilities of the app running. It's a wonderful addition that not only makes the screen feel far smoother and more responsive, but helps to significantly reduce eye strain.

The Surface Pro's screen is similarly impressive, again offering wide viewing angles and an only marginally lower performance output to the iPad Pro. It does have a noticeably lower contrast ratio to the iPad, and side-by-side it can't quite match the deep blacks and bright whites of Apple's tablet.

The biggest issue is that Windows 10 does not scale particularly well with higher resolutions. With many installed applications, including suites like Adobe, we frequently encountered text that was blurry or difficult to read, or objects that were too small. This was even the case with some Windows menus, like the device manager screen. Sadly this requires no small amount of tweaking to Windows 10 display settings, and even then it is an unreliable fix.

Verdict: iPad Pro 10.5

Stylus

Microsoft Surface Pen has been given a beefy upgrade with the refresh, now boasting 4,096 levels of pressure. Although it feels thicker than the previous Pen, its magnet for attaching to the Surface Pro has been significantly strengthened. While we can't really say how good it is for artists, the combination of the stylus and PixelSense display, along with superb palm detection and accuracy, make this one of the best writing experiences we've had with a tablet.

The iPad Pro's stylus is similarly impressive, able to take advantage of a rich suite of design apps available through iOS. It is also superbly accurate and responsive, and now shines with the ProMotion 120Hz display of the iPad Pro.

The biggest issue here is that for both machines, an optional pen adds nothing to the laptop experience, particularly at 99 each. While they both perform admirably, they don't allow for the finesse that artists or designers will want, and without a reliable means to store them, they will most likely get in the way.

Verdict: iPad Pro 10.5

Keyboard

For devices that are wanting to convince you to ditch your laptop, it's baffling that both sell a keyboard separately. What is particularly jarring are the asking prices - 124.99 for the basic Surface type cover and 159 for the iPad Pro's.

With this annoyance aside, their potential as a laptop replacement hinges on the performance of the keyboard, and fortunately both devices provide compelling detachable type covers.

The iPad Pro opts for a keyboard that doubles as a traditional tablet case, and, as mentioned above, is needed to prop the screen up. It is covered in a tough fabric that is easy to clean and robust enough to be weather resistant, though feels a little strange when you first use it and may require some getting used to.

Attached to the cover is a full low profile Querty keyboard, which due to some nice key spacing and decent travel time makes typing an absolute breeze. The issue is that it's a fairly unremarkable board at 159, and in fact has a number of issues that make it seem heavily overpriced. It only has one screen angle, which is too laid back for our liking, making typing overly difficult if you don't have access to a table. It also lacks a touchpad, which is somewhat of an oversight, and no backlighting.

These limitations are accentuated next to the Surface Pro type cover, which is the product of years of trial and error. The keyboard is essentially identical to the Surface Pro 4's excellent type cover, only now with soft Alcantara covering as a standard. The board itself is thicker and sturdier than the iPad's. It also has an excellent track pad that takes advantage of Microsoft's Precision Touchpad software for an incredibly smooth experience.

While both devices opt for a magnetic strip for attaching a keyboard, the Surface Pro attaches in a way that angles the keyboard up so that you have an elevated surface from which to type. It's a lovely piece of design that makes typing a more comfortable experience, akin to traditional laptops and keyboards.

Like other laptops within this price range, the Surface keyboard is also backlit with some beautiful white LEDs, whereas this is missing on the iPad's board. Not only does this make it possible to type in the dark, but it also adds that extra lick of luxury. There's also a range of colours available, whereas the iPad's keyboard is only available in black.

Verdict: Surface Pro 4

Specs & hardware

Before looking at numbers, let's take a look at the what specs are on offer. Following this year's refresh, the iPad range is now packing a beefy six-core A10X processor clocked at 2.36GHz, although three of those are high performance cores and do most of the heavy lifting. You have the choice of 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage, and the standard options of WiFi or WiFi+4G. All models come with 4GB of RAM.

The Surface Pro range continues to offer a variety of specifications to suit most needs, making the iPad Pro selection feel rather limited. At the low end you have the choice of the Intel Core m3 model with 4GB of RAM, or more powerful Core i5 and i7 models, each with an increasing amount of RAM. At the very top end is a Core i7 clocked at 4GHz, with 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage.

While the last generation A9 was no slouch, we were still staggered by the performance of the A10X in our benchmarks, scoring 9380 in our multicore tests and 3,930 for single core. That's almost double the performance of the iPad 9.7, and more importantly, smashes the 5,342 multicore score of the Core m3 Surface Pro. It also manages to beat the Core i5 model (7,544), meaning the iPad Pro is roughly on par with the top end Surface Pro.

That's not the whole story however, as the generous amount of RAM afforded by some Surface Pro models means that it is far more suited to multitasking, making it an attractive device for business users.

In terms of desktop benchmarks, the top end Surface Pro scored 60 overall, which is decent for a mobile processor and far ahead of similar 2-in-1s such as Dell's XPS 13 convertible.

The iPad Pro's monster A10X processor is scarily good, and is more than a match for the Surface Pro's Intel chips. Yet in everyday use cases, the Surface Pro is the better multi-tasker and far better suited to running demanding apps.

Verdict: Surface Pro

Battery

The iPad Pro is also incredibly power efficient given that staggering performance output, managing just shy of 13 hours in our benchmark tests. The Surface Pro meanwhile managed a similarly impressive 11 hours 30 minutes, which is a substantial improvement over the Surface Pro 4.

In this respect there is very little between the two devices. The iPad managed to last longer overall, however both devices are more than capable of supporting a full day's work away from a power socket.

Verdict: iPad Pro

Features & OS

Setting aside their looks and hardware, the biggest difference between the two devices is their operating system. The Surface Pro contains Windows 10 Pro, a fully fledged desktop OS. Previously, the iPad had iOS 10 but this has been upgraded to iOS 11 - it's a leading mobile operating system but it can't compete in the laptop environment.

This will, obviously, have a huge impact on what tasks you'll be carrying out. You can expect to have the same exact experience with the Surface Pro as you would with a traditional Windows PC or laptop. The iPad, on the other hand, simply can't provide the same utility as macOS.

The iPad does have some noteworthy qualities, however, such as the inclusion of a 'Split View', which helps enormously with multitasking, and it has access to a good-sized library of third-party apps. Despite this, due to its 10.5in screen size, there isn't enough space for the device to scale each app with a 50/50 split. Instead, apps will rather annoyingly appear as a 75/25 split or vice versa, which is a little frustrating - the iPad 12.9 is capable of the 50/50 split.

The launch of iOS 11 has substantially improved the capabilities of the iPad as a business device, including an app switcher, drag and drop content sharing, improved document scanning and new Siri functions. You can read more about iOS 11 here but it's definitely a step toward bringing the mobile OS more in line with its macOS counterpart.

The Surface Pro wins this round - only just - purely because iOS 11 lags a little behind Windows 10 Pro in terms of functionality on these devices.

Verdict: Surface Pro

Price

Both devices have a range of price options available depending on the configuration you want. The iPad Pro starts at 619 for the WiFi only 64GB model, rising to 709 for 256GB and 889 for 512GB. For the 4G+WiFi model expect to pay 749, 839, and 1,019 respectively. The only difference between the models is the storage on offer.

However, the Surface Pro offers a range of customisable specifications outside of storage that result in a much wider spread of prices. The cheapest model is available for 799, offering an Intel Core m3 with 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM. There are also two i5 versions, one with an i5 processor, 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM for 979, with the other offering a 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM for 1,249. The top end i7 models range from 1,549 to 2,699, depending on the internals.

More choice is always a good thing, and it's nice to see Microsoft allowing customers to pick precisely what they need. For the iPad to offer only a choice of storage sizes and colours feels far too limiting, particularly as a device looking to pick up a discerning business audience.

Final verdict: Surface Pro

While both devices are great in their own right, only the Surface Pro is capable providing that all-round hybrid experience that customers want from a laptop replacement.

The iPad remains first and foremost an Apple tablet, a device capable of performing perfectly well without optional extras. It has an excellent screen, great build quality, and a healthy selection of apps. However, the inclusion of a keyboard provides only a quasi-laptop experience, which is handicapped by its mobile OS. It has the power, but little to back it up.

Compare that to the Surface Pro, with which a keyboard becomes a necessity to get the most from the device. That excellent type-cover offers the sort of typing experience you would expect from a top-end ultrabook, and at a desk you will soon forget you are using a tablet sat on its side. And with the potential for some serious hardware configurations, backed up by a full Windows 10 experience, it is by far the better option for replacing a laptop.

Verdict

While both devices offer compelling cases as laptop replacements, only with the Surface Pro do you get a complete package that is worth the asking price, but is more likely to be a device you would use exclusively. The iPad, while admittedly powerful, can't compete against the full Windows 10 desktop experience, or the excellent detachable keyboard offered by the Surface Pro.

Apple and GE have united their enterprise resources to offer businesses a wide range of tools and services to help field workers carry out their jobs more effectively.

GE will use Apple's resources to create new, innovative apps for businesses, while Apple's sales team will try and sell the GE Predix platform to its industry customers. GE will also roll out iPhones and iPads for its 330,000 employees and give them the option of using Macs as their work computers.

Apple's iOS SDK will become an integral part of GE's Predix Platform, which has been designed to help industry businesses, such as manufacturing plants, track their equipment and detect failures before it becomes too serious. This is particularly useful for the company's fleet of transportation equipment such as jet engines, turbines and trains.

"For the first time, we're unlocking incredible new potential for industrial workers by giving them access to native apps that tap the functionality of iOS devices in exciting ways. Now employees can make better informed decisions through the native capabilities of the apps right at their fingertips," Susan Prescott, vice president for apps, markets and services at Apple told TechCrunch.

Prescott explained that, for example, a technician at GE could use the iPhone's camera to view a thermal image of a piece of equipment in order to find a fault. They could also use iBeacons or location services to send information to a worker's iPhone or iPad if there is a problem or the engineer needs further information.

We're essentially closing the feedback loop between the employee in the industrial environment and the analytics and data that's stored in the cloud," she said.

Whatever happened to tablets? After the iPad brought tablet computing to the mainstream in 2012, they seemed to be everywhere, with tech fans convinced that they'd herald a new revolution in computing. Five years on, however, and the tablet form-factor appears to be consigned to the scrap-heap of history, used only by grandparents and in-store kiosks.

At least, that's what analysts and market-watchers would have you believe. Every quarter, the bell (in the form of Gartner's market forecasts) tolls for tablets, with sales figures continually shrinking and an inescapable collapse on the horizon. I sincerely hope those predictions are wrong. I've recently rediscovered the joys of the tablet form-factor and I've fallen in love with it all over again.

Like many people, as phones became more capable and more polished, I all but abandoned my tablet, opting to do everything on my smartphone instead. However, there's no getting away from the fact there's an awful lot of use-cases in which the tablet is superior not just to the phone, but to the laptop as well.

The biggest area where tablets shine is in little time-wasting games, which I've found myself playing while watching TV or waiting for the kettle to boil. The combination of large screens and a pick-up-and-play interaction model results in experiences that you just can't get on a smartphone.

Aside from the fun and games, though, the tablet has also been a big boon for work. An awful lot of my job involves tasks which are largely passive - going through my email inbox, reading news stories, editing documents and the like. Most of these don't involve long stretches of typing, and I've found it oddly freeing to do them with a tablet. Even the sveltest laptop is heavier than the iPad Pro, and not being shackled to a notebook means I'm free to do all the things I need to over coffee, or even just in a more comfortable chair.

Another reason that I've rediscovered how great tablets are is the tablet market has never been in a better position from a user's perspective. At the top end, Apple continues to destroy the competition with gorgeous, powerful devices, while those who don't want to drop more than 500 on a tablet have Amazon's excellent range of Fire slates to fall back on.

On top of that, the growth and maturing of the available software for tablet devices means that I can do pretty much everything I normally use my laptop for on my tablet, with very few exceptions. Tablets have been able to do pretty much everything for years, of course, but it no longer feels like a compromised experience compared to desktop.

Gartner may tell you that tablets are on the way out, but don't you believe them. Sure, shipments might be low compared to smartphones, but that's because tablets last so much longer without showing their age. That might be a negative for companies like Apple and Samsung, but if my tablet can run for three years before it starts feeling outdated, then that's absolutely fine with me.

Whether or not the tablet really is doomed, it doesn't deserve to go out in obscurity and ignominy. It's a nifty little form-factor, with many uses and strengths. Don't believe me? Dig out your old iPad and use it for a week - you might just be pleasantly surprised.

The iPad Pro, which was released in late 2015, sees Apple take on the likes of Microsoft and Lenovo in the laptop-tablet hybrid market, but, with a focus on the needs of designers and graphic artists, also harks back to the company's long-time core market.

Here you can find out everything there is to know about Apple's massive new tablet, the iPad Pro.

iPad Pro latest news

04/10/2017

Apple raises price of certain iPad Pro models

Apple has raised the price of certain iPad Pro models due to the rising cost of NAND flash memory chips, with prospective buyers now required to pay up to £80 more for the same product.

The price of the 256GB 10.5-inch iPad Pro has risen from £709 ($749) to £769 ($799), whilst the 512GB configuration of the 10.5-inch tablet has also increased to £969 ($999), up from £889 ($949).

The 12.9-inch (2017) models have also fallen victim to the increase, with the 256GB version rising from £859 ($899) to £919 ($949). Buyers looking to purchase the 512GB iteration will similarly have to pay more, with the tablet now costing £1,119 ($1,149), up from £1,039 ($1,099).

Apple has not commented on the price changes, but sources “in the know” told 9to5Mac that the increases were down to a dramatic hike in the cost of NAND flash storage.

As also noted by the website, however, Apple CFO Luca Maestri did previously hint at the situation during Apple’s Q2 earnings call.

“We started to experience some level of cost pressure on the memory side, particularly on NAND and DRAM,” Maestri said. “To offset that and actually do better than that, we had very good cost performance and other commodities.

“The impact on NAND and DRAM will continue to be there and we expect it to be there.

Despite the increases, the smaller capacity 64GB iPad Pro models remain unchanged and can still be purchased at the usual price.

08/09/2017

iPad sales continue to grow in Q3

Sales of Apple's iPad range registered year-on-year growth for the first time since 2013 in Q3, according to stock market watcher Amigo Bulls, with the Cupertino firm also registering its highest market share in four years.

Apple shipped 11.45 million tablets during the third quarter of 2017 - marking a 14.8% increase over the 9.95 million units it shifted in the corresponding quarter of 2016, while quarter-on-quarter growth also stood at 28%.

Shipments in the education sector also performed well and saw a strong increase, rising 32% year-over-year to over 1 million iPad sales.

"Our iPad product lineup is stronger than ever," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the company's earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha. "The new iPad we launched in March offers great value and performance. And the all-new 10.5-inch iPad Pro, launched in June, features the world's most advanced display with ProMotion technology and is more powerful than most PC desktops.

"iPad is the perfect tool for teaching in new and compelling ways, and our iPad results were especially strong in the U.S. education market, where sales were up 32% year over year to over 1 million units."

As Amigo Bulls notes, however, overall revenue did increase at a slower rate of 1.9% - but this was attributed to large sales of lower-cost iPad models.

16/08/2017

New Smart Connector Accessories for the iPad Pro are on the way

A number of peripheral manufacturers are working on new accessories for the iPad Pro's Smart Connector, Apple has revealed.

Accessories for the Smart Connector are currently only available from Apple itself or Logitech -- but the Cupertino firm told Fast Company that "multiple companies" are working on add-ons for the port.

It wasn't revealed what the accessories are or when they would hit the shelves – but The Mac Observer speculated that it "seems likely" these will arrive in the form of more keyboards and docks.

Fast Company spoke to a number of manufacturers regarding the low number of Smart Connector accessories for the iPad Pro, with the firms stating a number of causes – including market appetite, component sourcing and limitations of the Smart Connector's design.

"The thing with the pogo pin design, in particular with the way that Apple's implemented it on the iPad, is it's incredibly limiting," Brydge CEO Nicholas Smith told Fast Company.

"Looking ahead, there is no reason why the Smart Connector wouldn't be considered for future Brydge products --if the application is right."

The improvement of Bluetooth capabilities was also cited as another reason. Salman Sajid, creator of the Touchtype iPad keyboard, said Bluetooth connectivity allowed users to detach their keyboard and improve iPad functionality.

"I'm trying to go for the people who really like the distraction-free environment of portrait typing," Sajid said. "To use [the Smart Connector], you have to go back to that traditional laptop form factor, which is taking away a whole selling point of the iPad."

03/08/2017

Microsoft lets slip details of iPad Touch Cover

Microsoft may have indirectly revealed that it has been developing a keyboard cover accessory for the iPad.

German website WinFuture recently found references to an unknown “iPad Touch Cover (Model1719)” in a Lithium Battery Transportation document, which was originally posted back in April.

Although the reference now appears to have been removed, it suggests the Redmond firm may have at least considered producing the accessory for the rival device. Other devices listed in the document include the Surface Pro range, Microsoft’s HoloLens and multiple Lumia devices.

The presence of a battery inside the proposed iPad Touch Cover suggests the keyboard would function using Bluetooth as opposed to utilising the tablet’s Smart Connector.

However, with very little information included in the post, it is unclear whether Microsoft plans to release the iPad Touch Cover - or whether it was simply considered and then scrapped.

As noted by Apple Insider, Microsoft has rebranded its Touch Cover as the Surface Type Cover – and the presence of the older name could be a hint that the reference is out-of-date.

Alternatively, with Apple only offering a smart keyboard for the iPad Pro, The Verge reasons that Microsoft could simply be targeting the base iPad which does not possess the Smart Connector.

24/07/2017

Apple releases iOS 10.3.3 for iPad

Apple has released iOS version 10.3.3 for iPad and iPhone, bringing a selection of security patches and bug fixes for apps such as Safari, Messages, Contacts and Notifications.

Available to install now, the latest iteration of the operating system does not offer any new features for devices, with Apple's major iOS 11 release expected in the autumn.

The Cupertino company only provided vague information in the update's release notes but, as revealed by Forbes, iOS 10.3.3 does include a number of new wallpapers for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

Amongst the security fixes, Apple Insider also reports that the update protects against the harmful Wi-Fi vulnerability known as Broadpwn - rated as 9.8 out of 10 in severity by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Discovered by Exodus Intelligence security researcher Nitay Artenstein, the Broadpwn vulnerability allows hackers to access a device as it searches for a Wi-Fi connection, ultimately crashing the device.

Apple is due to release iOS 11 this autumn, with the next iteration expected to include an overhaul of the Control Centre, a new Files app, Siri improvements, a refreshed App Store and more.

iOS 11, which is now in its second public beta, does not currently have a release date.

01/06/2017

Apple steps up production on 10.5-inch iPad Pro

Apple has reportedly increased production on its upcoming 10.5-inch iPad Pro tablet, sources in the Taiwanese supply chain have told a publication, adding that shipments are set to top 600,000 units in July.

The figure is a considerable increase on the 500,000 estimated shipments in May, Digitimes reports, while annual shipments are predicted to reach 5 million.

Industry observers suggest that this could mean the tablet will hit the market in the coming weeks - with a possible unveiling at Apple's WWDC on 5 June.

As noted by MacRumors, the information appears to confirm a previous claim from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who also suggested that there is a "greater than 70% chance" the tablet will debut at this year's WWDC.

In a "2017 WWDC highlights" report, the analyst also tipped the new 10.5-inch iPad Pro to have a similar form factor to 9.7-inch iteration.

"The newly designed 10.5in iPad Pro will have a similar form factor to the 9.7in model, but will feature a larger display thanks to narrow bezels," Kuo predicted. "The new design should improve the user experience and help gain traction in the corporate/ commercial sectors. We forecast 10.5in iPad shipments of 5.0-6.0m units in 2017F, accounting for 15% of total 2017F

iPad shipments."

07/04/2017

Apple launches cheaper 9.7-inch iPad

The long-rumoured iPad Pro 2 is yet to surface - but Apple has launched a new 9.7-inch tablet that targets users with a lower budget.

With prices starting from $329 (32GB), the new iPad is Apple's lowest-priced tablet on the market. Designed with casual users in mind, the company said the device delivers all the processing and graphics performance required for apps and games - whilst providing the battery power customers expect from the iPad range.

The new tablet runs on Apple's A9 processor chip and sports a Retina display with the same 2,048 x 1,536 resolution as the existing 9.7-inch iPad Pro iteration. Unlike its pricier siblings, however, the new configuration's screen is not fully laminated and lacks the anti-reflective coating that other models boast.

The device also trims down in the camera specs department, featuring an 8MP camera (1080p video) as opposed to the 12MP (4k video) version found on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. Apple has also built two speakers into the tablet in contrast to the four found on the Pro model.

The new model does, however, replace the older, A8-powered iPad Air 2 device in the iPad line-up - which Apple has since pulled from its website.

Whilst the Cupertino company made no mention of the much-anticipated iPad Pro 2, Tech Times suggests the next-generation tablet could be unveiled sometime in April alongside a new iPad Mini 5.

15/03/2017

Apple to unveil new products next week?

Apple could be gearing up to announce new products as early as next week if the latest rumour proves accurate.

According to MacRumors, "reputable supply chain analysts" told the website that the new products are expected to be revealed between Monday 20th and Friday 24th March.

The sources asked to remain anonymous - but stated their information is from their own sources rather than originating from other reports.

The analysts did not specify which products would be unveiled - but the website notes these could include the long-speculated trio of new iPads.

Other sources - including renowned KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo - have previously predicted that Apple will release all-new 9.7-inch, 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad models as part of a product refresh.

MacRumors also cites Japanese website Mac Otakara's recent predictions of a March event for the unveiling of the refreshed iPads, larger iPhone SE and new Apple watch bands. The website adds caution, however, noting that the media have not received invitations as yet - and Apple would be cutting it fine should one take place next week.

Three "plausible scenarios" are therefore put forward: a March event with invites rolling out soon, a more-general spring event - or Apple will unveil its new products during the suggested time frame via a press release.

22/02/2017: 12.9-In iPad Pro stock running low

The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is reportedly in short supply as Apple readies three refreshed models.

As noted by MacRumors, the estimated shipping time in the US, UK, Australia, Canada France, Germany and Japan has increased on the Apple website – estimating 2-3 weeks for its 12.9in range. The estimate previously stood at 1-2 weeks.

In many locations, the in-store pickup option also states that most of the larger iPad Pro devices are available for collection from 3-6 March. The same models are also largely out of stock on various reseller websites – whereas the 9.7in iteration continues to be stocked as usual.

However, MacRumors does also note that the shortage could be the fault of the supply chain, with Apple CEO Tim Cook previously admitting that the tech giant had "underestimated" iPad demand.

The company is rumoured to be gearing up to unveil three brand new iPads in 2017 – and a release as early as March has been touted by various industry observers.

Renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously stated his belief that these will arrive in the form of a 12.9in iPad Pro 2, a lower-priced 9.7in version and a new 10.5in narrow-bezel, premium model.

08/02/2017: Apple stays at the top of the tablet market

Apple has remained the world's top tablet manufacturer despite an overall market decline in sales.

The market saw a 9% drop in shipments, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, with heavyweights Apple and Samsung suffering "double-digit declines" as the market looked to more affordable alternatives.

Apple ended Q4 2016 leading the way, boasting a 20.6% market share - but a decline of 19% over the same period of 2015. Rival Samsung was the second largest in the market with 12.8% - despite sales also taking a 10% hit over the previous year.

In its recent fiscal report, Apple said it sold 13.1 million iPads during the holiday quarter. Out of this total, however, research firm IDC reports that the company's iPad Pro flagship only accounted for approximately one out of every 10 tablets sold.

"The iPad Pro lineup made up only a small portion of overall shipments as the iPad Air 2 and Mini tablets continued to account for the majority of the shipments for Apple," the research firm reported. "For every 10 slate tablets shipped, Apple only sold one iPad Pro tablet."

IDC similarly estimated a large overall market decline (20%).

Ryan Reith, program vice president overseeing IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Tracker, said: "Typical tablets without a dedicated keyboard... are continuing to lose relevancy across all regions and, as a result, we see the decline happening globally.

"We do see future growth in some emerging markets like the Middle East & Africa as well as Central & Eastern Europe with the sole catalysts being simplicity and low cost. Unfortunately for the industry, these are the devices that don't equate to large revenues."

11/01/17

iPad Pro 2 amongst new tablets for 2017

Apple is planning to release three new iPad models this year, according to renowned analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

As reported by MacRumors, Kuo laid out his expectations in a recent research report - revealing his belief that one of the new models will come in the form of a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2. It is also predicted that the other two tablets will consist of a "low-priced" 9.7-inch iPad as well as a 10-10.5-inch high-end, narrow-bezel model.

The 12.9-inch and 10-10.5-inch devices will ship with an A10X chip (TSMC), it is claimed, whereas the more affordable 9.7-inch iteration will come with an A9 chip (Samsung LSI).

Whilst iPad sales will continue to drop overall, Kuo says that the "worst has passed" for Apple. The analyst predicts the company can expect a smaller year-on-year decline of 10 percent for the coming year (compared with a 20% fall in 2016) - thanks to less exposure to the iPad Mini, a better product mix and improved production cost structure.

"The 10-10.5" model may see more demand from commercial/enterprises and tender markets," Kuo added, "while the low-priced 9.7" model may have a greater shipment contribution and likely account for 50-60% of total shipments of new iPads."

28/07/16

Apple revenue boosted by iPad Pro sales

Sales figures for Apple’s iPad Pro helped boost the company’s revenue in the third quarter of 2016, it has been revealed.

Results released by the company showed that, despite the number of units sold actually declining, the higher price of the iPad Pro meant revenues actually increased by 10 per cent since Q2.

Apple stated that 9.95 million iPads were sold in the quarter ending in June, marking a year-over-year decline of nine percent.

However, the higher-priced 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro devices meant that tablet revenue hit $4.9 billion – a significant increase over the $4.5 billion recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2015 and a seven percent increase year-over-year.

The iPad revenue growth bucks a long trend for Apple, after 10 quarters of decline since Q2 2014.

“We are pleased to report third quarter results that reflect stronger customer demand and business performance than we anticipated at the start of the quarter,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a press release.

Apple also posted a significant growth in within its services business. Chief financial officer Luca Maestri added: “Our services business grew 19 percent year-over-year and App Store revenue was the highest ever, as our installed base continued to grow and transacting customers hit an all-time record.

“We returned over $13 billion to investors through share repurchases and dividends, and we have now completed almost $177 billion of our 250 billion capital return program.”

Apple also posted total revenue figures of $42.4 billion for its third quarter, exceeding the $42.09 billion that had been expected.

07/06/16

New iOS 9 update for iPad Pro

Apple has released a new iOS 9 update for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.

The update appears to have been designed to rectify the bricking issue that occurred upon installation of the original iOS 9.3.2 update, according to Mac Rumors.

The latest version – featuring build number 13F72 – is now available to download over the air on the smaller of the iPad Pro devices.

Apple recently cancelled its original iOS 9.3.2 update after receiving numerous reports that the tablets were displaying an “error 56” message after installation.

Affected customers were originally advised to contact Apple Support. Apple commented to Rene Ritchie of iMore: “We're looking into a small number of reports that some iPad units are receiving an error when updating the software.

“Those unable to restore their device through iTunes should contact Apple support.”

However, with no fix available, many devices were simply replaced by the company. It was then announced the issue would be resolved “as quickly as possible.”

Now, alongside the new update, Apple has released a support document for users upgrading their 9.7-inch iPad Pro from iOS 9.3 or iOS 9.3.1 – including step-by-step instructions for updating over the air or via iTunes.

Apple also states that users may need to set the time again once the device has updated.

Last month Apple released the latest iOS 9.3.3 beta update for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices registered to test iOS pre-releases.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro fix means this beta –which had so far not been available to users of the smaller tablet due to the bricking issue – may now become available to device owners.

25/05/16

Surface Pro outsells iPad Pro in Q1

Microsoft’s Surface Pro series outsold Apple’s iPad Pro in the first quarter of 2016, according to The Register.

Read more here

24/05/16

iPad Pro update shelved

The latest system update for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro has been pulled by Apple following reports the update was breaking devices.

The recently released iOS 9.3.2 had been designed to fix system bugs for the iPad, IPhone and iPod.

However, some 9.7-inch iPad Pro owners reported that the update was causing more issues and “bricking” their devices. The Independent reports that the affected users “seem to have updated their iPads ‘over the air’, rather than by connecting them to a computer.”

Apple has now announced they are currently working on solution to the problem. They said: “We’re working on a fix for an issue impacting a small number of iPad units that are receiving an error when trying to update the software.

“We’ll issue an update as quickly as possible.”

Users reporting the issue received an “Error 56” message after the update had downloaded and were instructed to connect their device to iTunes. However, the solution did not work for many.

Apple had initially responded to the complaints by instructing users to contact support.

They said: "We're looking into a small number of reports that some iPad units are receiving an error when updating the software. Those unable to restore their device through iTunes should contact Apple support."

It is not the first time Apple has had to pull updates for its devices. Several versions of iOS9 were re-released after various issues and an iOS 9.3 update for iPad 2 was also shelved due to bricking issues.

9 to 5 Mac suggests it is “likely Apple will re-release iOS 9.3.2 for the relevant models soon.”

15/05/16

Improved iPad Pro smart cover in the pipeline?

Apple has been granted a patent for a new iPad Smart Cover, boasting a selection of potential new features.

The patent hints at future iPad Pro devices possibly sporting a second display, solar panels and a built-in keyboard.

A secondary display on upcoming iPad Pro models would provide extra functionality to the tablet – enabling text notifications when the iPad is closed and even doubling up as a touch/drawing pad when combined with the Apple Pencil.

The abstract for the patent – originally filed in August 2011 - summarises: “A tablet device with a flexible cover is disclosed. Thin flexible display technology can be integrated into the flexible cover without affecting the overall form factor of the cover or tablet device.

“Adding the integrated display to the flexible cover greatly enhances the overall functionality of the tablet device.”

This could mean that the next-generation iPad Pro could come with a “setup officially sanctioned by Apple and which is comparable to the manner in which several laptops work currently,” according to Yibada.

The patent goes on to state that tablet accessories “can be improved” by including features such as a power source, a communications protocol, an input method and an independent storage medium.

It also states that the inclusion of solar panels “spread across the surface” of a cover accessory could extend the amount of time the device can be used between recharging.

The inclusion of a battery and “small amount of storage space” could also enable the accessory to continue operating at a low level even when detached from the tablet.

05/05/16

iPad Pro leads the way in detachables market

The iPad Pro is beating Microsoft “at its own game”, a new report has found.

According to market research firm IDC, first quarter figures for 2016 show the Apple devices to be making quick gains on its Surface Pro rivals in the detachable market.

IDC announced the findings in a recent report - titled “Apple Beats Microsoft at Their Own Game” – and stated that the iPad Pro has taken an “impressive lead”.

Senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani said: "Microsoft arguably created the market for detachable tablets with the launch of their Surface line of products.

"With the PC industry in decline, the detachable market stands to benefit as consumers and enterprises seek to replace their aging PCs with detachables.

“Apple’s recent foray into this segment has garnered them an impressive lead in the short term, although continued long-term success may prove challenging as a higher entry price point staves off consumers and iOS has yet to prove its enterprise-readiness, leaving plenty of room for Microsoft and their hardware partners to re-establish themselves."

It was also concluded that this was purely down to the sales of the iPad Pro and that iPad Air and iPad Mini sales were not contributing factors. Jitesh Ubrani told Foxnews.com: “This quarter they were number one. The growth [for iPads] is coming solely from iPad Pros.”

IDC said that more than 4.9m detachables were sold in the first quarter of 2016, whilst overall tablet sales declined by 14.7 percent to 39.6m units.

Apple’s share of the overall market reduced to 25.9 percent (from 27.2) but continued to lead the way in terms of units sold – shifting 10.3m.

21/03/16

Apple launches 9.7-inch iPad Pro

Apple has unveiled a smaller version of its professional iPad Pro.The 9.7-inch iPad Pro has a number of technologies borrowed from its bigger sibling, such as True Tone, which uses new four-channel sensors to dynamically adjust the white balance of the display to match the light around. The Retina display is 25 percent brighter and 40 percent less reflective than previous iPad displays.

Find the latest news and updates about the new iPad Pro here.

11/03/16

March 21 confirmed for Apple launches

Apple has confirmed an event will be taking place on 21 March, when the new iPad is expected to launch.

02/03/2016

Apple to launch new iPad on March 21?

Apple looks like it’s set to make a major change to its iPad line-up.

With very strong rumours that Cupertino will host an event on March 21 to launch possibly four new products, one of which will be a new iPad. It will be the first mid-sized iPad launch since October 2014.

According to 9to5Mac, a new iPad (which may be called iPad Air 3 or possible iPad Pro mini) will be the same size as the current iPad Air 2 but sport a smart connector for a smaller keyboard, Apple Pencil support and an A9X processor with 4GB of RAM. It will come in the same 32GB, 128GB Wi-Fi only and 128GB with Wi-Fi and mobile capabilities as the full-size Pro.

Like the iPad Pro, the new tablet will also feature quad stereo speakers and will have the same storage models and colour options as its bigger sibling. However, the new iPad is said to lack 3D Touch. But there could be a rear flash for improved photography as well as a 12-megapixal camera. It should also be capable of 4K recording. Prices are likely to start from £450.

The launch looks set to spell the end of the original iPad Air model and the iPad Mini 2. According to AppleInsider, stocks of some iPad models are running low with customers finding it difficult to lay their hands on stock ahead of the anticipated launch.

At the same event, it is expected that Apple will launch the iPhone 5se, which sports the same design as the iPhone 5s but with the innards of an iPhone 6s. Also expected are a few updates to the Apple Watch range including a Space Black watch with a Milanese loop, new Sport Band colours, and line of NATO-style nylon straps.

25/02/16

Apple not removing Pencil functionality

Apple has said it has no plans to permanently remove the Pencil accessory for the iPad Pro after recent iOS 9.3 betas removed the ability to navigate around iOS with the add-on.

In a statement reported by The Verge, Apple said: “Apple Pencil has been a huge hit with iPad Pro users, who love it for drawing, annotating and taking notes. We believe a finger will always be the primary way users navigate on an iPad, but we understand that some customers like to use Apple Pencil for this as well and we’ve been working on ways to better implement this while maintaining compatibility during this latest beta cycle. We will add this functionality back in the next beta of iOS 9.3.”

03/02/16

iPad Pro clear winner in battle with Microsfoft Surface

The iPad Pro has been declared “the clear winner” in a recent battle of the tablets – including its beating Microsoft’s Surface Pro, hands down.

According to latest figures from analyst IDC, the iPad Pro was the Christmas period’s top selling detachable, surpassing Microsoft and other PC vendors.

“One of the biggest reasons why detachables are growing so fast is because end users are seeing those devices as PC replacements,” says Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director, of tablets at IDC.

“We believe Apple sold just over two million iPad Pros while Microsoft sold around 1.6m Surface devices, a majority of which were Surface Pro and not the more affordable Surface 3. With these results, it's clear that price is not the most important feature considered when acquiring a detachable – performance is.”

Apple’s reign as market leader continued in 4Q15 though the company faced a -24.8 percent year-over-year decline. With the successful launch of the iPad Pro, the company was able to curb the decline in iPad revenues as its model mix shifted towards higher priced iPads.

27/01/16

iPad Pro can't stop falling iPad sales

Apple says it sold 16.1m iPad tablets in the last quarter of 2015, according to Apple’s latest earnings report. This is well short of the 21.4m it sold in the same period in 2014, and short of the 18.2 million unit sales analysts had expected.

This equates to a 25 percent dip in sales in the Christmas shopping period that not even the iPad Pro could stop.

In fact, some say that quantities of the iPad Pro were limited after the device launched in November, which contributed to the problem.

Others believe that iPad sales have been hurt by the introduction of larger-screened iPhones.

There has been a shrinkage in the overall tablet market. An Accenture survey reports that the number of people who said they plan to buy a new TV or a tablet PC this year – 30 percent and 29 percent, respectively – also dropped from 38 percent last year for both device types.

20/01/16

OneDrive updated to work with the iPad Pro

OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage platform, has now been optimised and updated to work with the iPad Pro.

The update adds pressure sensitivity to PDF annotations within the app, and also introduces contextual support for 3D Touch and the Apple Pencil.

This means that when adding edits, users can draw lines of variable thickness, depending on how hard they press.

A litany of bug fixes and stability improvements has also been introduced with the update, which pushes the software to version 6.8.

19/01/16

iPad 2 may not be revealed till 2017

Manufacturing issues could delay the iPad Pro 2 until 2017, according to semiconductor specialists.

The reason for this, says Motley Fool, is that the iPad Pro’s 16nm A9X CPU is still very large for a tablet, coming in at 14.7cm.

In order to squeeze out the performance boost necessary to justify a full refresh, the chip would need to be larger, more expensive and more taxing to the battery.

However, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing – the company responsible for the production technology behind the A9X – had confirmed that it will be delivering a 10nm fabrication system around the start on next year.

This would allow Apple to fit twice as many transistors on a chip with roughly the same footprint as the A9X.

Because of this, Motley Fool claims, Apple is going to forgo its usual annual upgrade cycle with its tablet range and release new iterations every two years instead.

The report cites the fact that a new iPad Air, last updated in 2014, is expected in the first half of this year, having skipped 2015 entirely.

As iPads are currently a shrinking market, and not as central to the company’s business as the iPhone, this release model would see a new iPad Air and a fresh iPad Pro released in alternate years.

07/12/15

iPad Pro "only reason" Apple will gain tablet market share

IDC’s latest Worldwide Tablet Market Forecast estimates tablet sales will to decline in 2015, detachable tablets will continue to represent a growing portion of total shipments.

Further, IDC sys the iPad Pro is the only reason why Apple will gain tablet market share in the coming years among business users.

“The transition to detachable tablets also ushers in two other key trends: the growth of Windows and a turnaround for Apple’s iPad device line,” explains Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.

“Though early reviews for the iPad Pro have been mixed, we believe the Pro to be the only reason for Apple to gain tablet market share in the coming years as they target select enterprise and prosumer audiences. At the same time we expect Windows-based devices – slates and detachables combined – to more than double its market share by 2019, driven by a combination of traditional PC OEMs as well as more household smartphone vendors.”

27/11/2015

iPad revenue etimated at $2.4bn

The iPad Pro could have a $2.4bn near-term revenue potential, according to RBC Capital Markets.

The firm estimates that Apple will earn $200 profit on every iPad Pro sold, based on the assumption that Apple can sell roughly three million iPad Pro units (which have an average selling price of roughly $800) in the first three months from the tablet's November 11 release.

If Apple is able to sell that many units of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the device would account for roughly half of the $5.2bn in iPad sales analysts are forecasting for the second quarter, according to FactSet.

16/11/15

iPad Pro: first impressions

The iPad Pro, Apple’s long-awaited jumbo-sized tablet, was finally released this week.

The company is positioning it as the ultimate all-in-one device, with CEO Tim Cook stating in a Telegraph interview that when people start using it, they will “conclude they no longer need to use anything else”.

We had a look at the new tablet, to see whether or not Apple’s new device really can do it all. The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of the thing – at 12.9in, it’s the size of many laptops. Of course, it’s as slim, sleek and well-made as you’d expect for an Apple product, but it’s still taken something of a hit on the portability front.

It’s carrying a little extra weight compared to older iPads, thanks again to the increased size. It’s not overweight by any means, but it’s significant enough that carrying it around for any length of time is likely to get tiresome.

It’s also effectively nixed some of the old-school input methods, too. Older tablets like the iPad Mini - and even the iPad Air to a certain extent – could be held like a phone, using the thumbs for typing. Unfortunately, the sheer size of the iPad Pro makes this concept laughable.

In order to compensate for this, Apple has produced an official keyboard cover similar to the one seen on Microsoft’s Surface range. Although it’s sold separately – at £129 – it’s being billed very much as an essential part of the package.

Apple’s not wrong, either. An official keyboard cover has been the main thing missing from the iPad range since its inception, and it’s the thing that finally gives it some weight as a legitimate business tool.

Aside from its mere existence, the keyboard has some useful features. The fact that it attaches via Apple’s new ‘smart connector’ means that it doesn’t need charging or Bluetooth. Most importantly of all, the full-size keyboard comes complete with a command button, so you can use Mac-style keyboard shortcuts for things like copy and paste.

However, it’s not perfect. The keyboard itself has a weird fabric-style covering, which for us felt odd and uncomfortable to type on. It’s also very thin, and while that ensures that the device maintains a nice svelte profile, it also means that the keys have next to no travel depth, which we found frustrating.

The other major addition in terms of input mechanisms is the new Apple Pencil. After much pleading from fans, the company has released a stylus, targeted primarily at creatives and people that want to jot down quick notes.

As we’re not particularly artistic, it’s unlikely that we got the full benefit from the Pencil, but what we did notice was spectacular latency and pressure sensitivity. Aside from the lack of friction, it felt surprisingly close to using a physical pencil and paper.

Once again, though, it’s not an unmitigated success. The fact that there’s no physical hardware buttons – as there are on the Surface Pen – means that erasing mistakes requires switching to a different tool and back again. It’s a quick task, but after doing the same thing instantly at the push of a button with the Surface Pro 3, we found it to be a mis-step.

The screen is – as expected – gorgeous. Images are a joy, and we’re sure that artists will love it for the justice it does their creations. Movies are also represented well – not only is the retina screen great to look at, but the speakers at each corner of the device pump out deep, rich sound.

Performance is excellent, too. The A9X chip and 4GB of RAM Apple has stuffed into the Pro ensures that not only can it handle anything you’d care to throw at it now, it’ll likely remain on top form for a fair few years to come.

In terms of software, it’s a little more backwards in some respects. It’s running iOS 9, and while this is Apple’s most advanced and capable software to date, it’s definitely not designed for laptop-style use.

The home screen, for example, feels like a waste of all that space, as app icons are scaled up and spaced out, rather than allowing you to fit more on one screen. The split-screen feature does come into its own here though, as it allows you to use two apps with absolutely no compromising on scaling or detail.

On balance, we’d have loved to see Apple offering the iPad Pro with an option to have a touch-enabled El Capitan as the OS, or possible dual-booting the two. However, failing that, it’s now largely up to app developers to make the most of the Pro’s considerable strengths.

The iPad Pro is an undeniably great device, and we were impressed by the brief time we had with it. Overall, though, we suspect that it will struggle as a professional device due to a lack of fine-grained enterprise functionality and stiff competition from Windows 10-based hybrids.

9/11/15

It’s coming! Apple today confirmed that the iPad Pro will be available to order online this Wednesday, November 11 from Apple.com and will arrive at Apple's retail stores, select carriers and Apple Authorised Resellers starting later this week. (Retail chain Sam's Club had already let slip that the iPad Pro is set for release on November 13.)

“The early response to iPad Pro from app developers and our customers has been incredible, and we’re excited to get iPad Pro into the hands of customers around the world this week,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, in a release.

“iPad Pro is the most powerful iPad we’ve ever made, giving users the ability to be even more creative and more productive with the epic 12.9-inch Retina display, powerful 64-bit A9X chip and groundbreaking Apple Pencil and new Smart Keyboard. We can’t wait to see what they do with iPad Pro.”

iPad Pro release date

The iPad Pro was released alongside the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus in September 2015, but didn't go on sale until 11 November 2015. It is now available to buy directly from Apple online or in store, and can also be bought at other major electronics retailers Apple works in partnership with.

iPad Pro Price

The iPad pro costs from £679 for a 32GB WiFi-only version up to £899 for a 128GB WiFi and cellular model. All prices include tax (VAT) and there is no variation in price by colour.

iPad Pro features

Apple appears to have taken a couple of leaves out of Microsoft’s Surface book (no, not that one). The big headline features for the iPad Pro are the addition of a stylus and keyboard cover, dubbed the Apple Pencil and Apple Smart Keyboard respectively.

The Pencil will allegedly let users “touch a single pixel”, and is rechargeable, connecting directly to the device’s Lightning port. The Smart Keyboard attaches via a Surface-style connector on the side, and features a full-size keyboard and stand.

Both are be sold separately and UK customers can expect to pay £79 for the Apple Pencil and £139 for the Smart Keyboard.

Complementing the larger 12.9in display, this appears to be Apple’s attempt to bridge the gap between its iMac and iPad ranges, enabling both creatives and business professionals to get more done with their tablets.

The iPad Pro also features four speakers – a first for Apple’s mobile devices. This reportedly delivers much better volume and sound quality, and automatically adjusts the output based on the device’s position and orientation.

Naturally, it’s also packing a Touch ID sensor in the home button, but we doubt the massive size will be conducive to using it with the company’s Apple Pay technology.

iPad Pro specs

Apple is competing primarily with the recently released Surface Pro 4 with its latest tablet, and is pulling out the big guns as a result. The iPad Pro is powered by an A9X CPU, which is an updated version of the A8X chip seen in the iPad Air 2.

Apple claims the new processor is 1.8 times faster than its predecessor, with double the memory bandwidth and storage performance. More impressively, the company also asserts that the iPad Pro is faster than 80 percent of portable PCs, with better performance in graphics benchmarks than 90 percent.

The iPad Pro will naturally be well-outfitted in the graphical department, and has a 12.9in panel with a retina display resolution of 2732 x 2048 pixels. The larger amount of screen real-estate will be put to good use thanks to iOS 9’s split-screen multitasking, allowing users to run two separate full-size apps on the same display.

The battery life will reportedly be in the region of 10 hours, partially thanks to the fact that the device can automatically scale down its refresh rate when there’s little screen activity, allowing it to conserve power.

As expected from Apple, the iPad Pro’s dimensions are predictably svelte. It weighs just 710g, almost 100g lighter than Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3, and is the same thickness as the iPhone 6s, despite its much larger screen.

iPad Pro verdict

Consumers and professionals alike have been clamouring for a larger iPad model for years, and the iPad Pro looks to deliver on their hopes. However, it’s aiming for a market segment that’s being hotly contested by the likes of Microsoft, Lenovo and others.

On its own merits, it appears to be a gorgeous and perfectly capable device, but whether it succeeds in becoming the productivity and mobility tool it apparently wants to be in the face of stiff competition remains to be seen.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has unveiled a smaller version of its professional iPad Pro, which succeeds the iPad Air 2.

The 9.7-inch iPad Pro has a number of technologies borrowed from its bigger sibling, such as True Tone, which uses new four-channel sensors to dynamically adjust the white balance of the display to match the light around. The Retina display is 25 percent brighter and 40 percent less reflective than previous iPad displays.

The steady decline in tablet sales continued in the second quarter of 2017, according to IDC figures that show detachable tablets and cheaper iPads failed to mitigate the fall in shipments.

The overall market has been in trouble for some time, and despite the release of cheaper products from Apple and others, worldwide tablet shipments fell 3.4% year-on-year, hitting 37.9 million units. Detachable tablets couldn't change the downward trajectory, despite previously being touted as the tablet market's saviour, with the devices also falling ahead of anticipated upgrades from Microsoft and Apple, which should see detachables perform strongly in the second half of 2017.

Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Device Trackers, said: "There's been a resetting of expectations for detachables as competing convertible notebooks offered a convincing and familiar computing experience for many. To date, the 2-in-1 market was bifurcated as Apple and Microsoft led with detachables while the PC vendors led with convertibles.

"Though that is slowly changing as smartphone vendors and traditional PC vendors begin to offer compelling alternatives, the pace has been rather slow as Surface and iPad Pro still dominate shelf space and mindshare."

Three of the five (Apple, Huawei and Amazon) top vendors actually increased their share of the market this quarter, though IDC warned that this growth could be short-lived due to the long replacement cycle for this kind of device when compared to smartphones and traditional laptops.

"The tablet market has essentially become a race to see if the burgeoning detachables category can grow fast enough to offset the long-term erosion of the slate market," said Linn Huang, research director for devices and displays at IDC. "From that lens, the second quarter was a slight righting of the ship and there is still much to be hopeful about in the back half of 2017."

She added: "New products launched from Microsoft and Apple are generally accompanied by subsequent quarters of inflated shipments, the reintroduction of Windows to the ARM platform could help remedy the aforementioned following of the middle of the market, and we expect a proliferation of Chrome OS-based detachables in time for the holidays."

When Apple revealed it would be releasing a new 9.7in tablet in March last year, it was generally expected that we'd get a glimpse at the new iPad Air 3. Instead Apple revealed the 9.7in iPad Pro, and since then the future of the iPad Air 3 has been in serious doubt. With the launch of Apple's latest tablet (simply called 'the iPad'), it's safe to say Apple has killed off the iPad Air range altogether.

On first glance, Apple appears to have made some odd choices with its newest device. What we have now is a hybrid of the original iPad Air and Air 2 that is both thicker and heavier than the previous models, with a screen that isn't as fancy. In other words, it should have been a disaster.

Price and competition

However, it seems Apple has attempted to deliver an attractive alternative to the rather pricey iPad Pro 9.7. Instead of packing in more expensive tech and bumping the price up, the new iPad is Apple's cheapest tablet on the market. At 339, it's by no means a budget device, but it's a full 60 cheaper than the iPad Air 2, and even offers twice the storage capacity at 32GB.

There is also a 128GB version available for 429, and 32GB and 128GB models that include 4G connectivity, priced at 469 and 559 respectively.

Even against competing Android tablets, the new iPad's price holds up well. The recently released Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, which is gloriously slim and slight and has a fantastic AMOLED display, is rather pricey at 599. Even the equally fantastic Tab S2 has held its price well at 329.

Features and design

Designs within the iPad range never seem to deviate too much from Apple's distinct look, and this time is no different. The visual appearance of the new device may look similar to that of its predecessors, but Apple's nailed one of the most popular designs ever - hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

You will find the home button, lightning connector, and headphone jack in all the typical places, and it even features the same 8MP iSight HDR camera on the rear and 720p 1.2MP front-facing camera found on the iPad Air 2. Apple has once again chosen the familiar aluminium casing, and offers the same colour variations as the iPad Pro 9.7: gold, silver, and 'space grey'.

Instead of the 'smart' keyboard connector found on the iPad Pro range, Apple has chosen to fit the new iPad with a series of magnets for the attaching of folding cases or compatible type covers, although for the latter you will need to use bluetooth. The downside to this change is that there's no officially supported keyboard cover from Apple, and it also doesn't support the Apple Pencil - but given the price of the tablet these are forgivable omissions.

The only tangible change we could see was the added weight and size of the newer model: 7.5mm and 478g over the iPad Air 2's 6.1mm and 437g. However, this is so slight you're unlikely to notice unless you're comparing them side-by-side, and it certainly won't make any difference when thrown into a bag.

Display

Sadly, the new iPad's display doesn't quite reach the standards of the iPad Air 2 or the iPad Pro 9.7. The anti-reflective coating found on older devices is missing, and there is a visible gap between the LCD panel and the surface glass, whereas this has traditionally been laminated. Screen vibrancy suffers as a result, and the presence of screen reflections and a poor contrast make on-screen images less impactful.

However, it is important to remember that this is not a pricier successor to the iPad Air 2, and for its price you are getting a very capable screen with some impressive features. The 4:3 Retina-class 2,048 x 1,536, 264ppi display has a superb maximum brightness that peaks at 520cd/m2, far superior to the 390cd/m2 on the iPad Air 2. The contrast ratio is a fairly average 861:1, almost identical to the original iPad Air, but the screen is able to cover more of the sRGB colour space, providing colours that are vibrant and highly accurate.

Apple has also included its Night Shift tech, which helps to reduce the amount of blue light generated by the screen. Unfortunately the iPad lacks the 'True Tone' feature found on the iPad Pro 9.7, which helps the screen adapt colour temperatures to match ambient conditions.

Performance and battery life

In terms of hardware, the big change is the move to an Apple A9 processor, the same used in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. While on paper it's not as powerful as the A8X processor found in the iPad Air 2, it's superior to the original iPad Air's 1.3GHz A7 chip.

Despite the apparent downgrade, the new iPad feels surprisingly nippy. Pinch-zoom and swipe gestures respond perfectly, and there is very little slowdown when running demanding apps.

Surprisingly, the new iPad also outperformed both the iPad Air and Air 2 in benchmark tests. It scored higher than both devices in the Geekbench 4 CPU test, reaching 2490 using single-core, over scores of 1803 from the iPad Air 2 and 1321 from the iPad Air.

It's also massively more power efficient than previous generations. During our video-playback test, with the screen brightness calibrated to 170cd/m2, the iPad lasted 14 hours 47 minutes in one charge. That's four hours longer than the iPad Air 2, and two hours longer than the iPad Air.

Verdict

Apple's move to rein in the price of the lower-end iPad is a very savvy one. The iOS software is far better suited to devices of this kind than Android, and offering a more powerful, longer-lasting and more competitively-priced replacement to the previous iPad generation will doubtless help secure the company's place at the top of the pile.

Of course, there's a bittersweet element to all this, as it's pretty much the final nail in the coffin for anyone who was hoping to see an iPad Air 3. If you can get over your disappointment, however, you'll find that Apple has produced one of the best tablets on the market once again. If you can't quite stomach the price of an iPad Pro, this is the tablet to buy.

Verdict

Apple has taken a sensible approach with the new iPad, sacrificing a fancy screen for a more attractive price point and some meaningful performance upgrades.

Last year Apple, it would seem, decided to drop the iPad Air brand and go for a new name to accompany the substantial revamp to its flagship 10in tablet. The iPad Pro 9.7in, which was launched in March 2016, as its name suggests, is a smaller version of the original 12.9in iPad Pro. This makes the new Pro Mini (if you will) a tablet that's both similar to and very different from the now two-and-a-half-year-oldiPad Air 2.

Casing and screen

There are many, many physical similarities between the iPad Pro 9.7in and the iPad Air 2. They have exactly the same dimensions, for example and both weigh 437g in their WiFi-only configurations. There are some minor cosmetic differences, though.

Most of these new differences relate to the Pro-specific features. The rear camera lens now protrudes slightly, while there's a smart connector for connecting keyboards and four speaker grilles rather than just two for the increased number of speakers.

One of the most notable physical changes to the new smaller iPad Pro is an unseen enhancement to its Lightning port. It can supply enough power to USB devices plugged into the optional full-size USB to Lightning adapter so that previously non-functional USB devices will now work.

This includes microphones and, most notably, USB to Ethernet adapters. For a company that has slowly been shunning built-in Ethernet in its computers, this is a notable move and a godsend for anyone who has ever struggled with woefully inadequate hotel or convention centre WiFi.

While both tablets have 9.7in screens with a resolution of 2048x1536 pixels, the Pro's screen has a sensor so it can automatically adjust its screen temperature to suit the ambient lighting around you. It also allegedly has a 25% greater colour gamut and is less reflective too.

There may be another iPad Pro (or even two) coming to market this year, which will sit alongside the others in the range and could edge the Air 2 into retirement.

A rumoured 10.5in version with2,224 x 1,668 resolution screen could be appearing in March or April, according toForbes, although with a smaller bezel it would be the same physical size as the existing 9.7in iPad Pro.

The website also suggests there could be a "value" 9.7in iPad Pro, which would undercut the iPad Air 2 in terms of price by about $100 (80). Specs for this version are not just scant, but non-existant, but if it does make an appearance, whether this year or in the future, it will almost certainly spell the end of the iPad Air 2.

Camera

The rear-facing camera lens now protrudes slightly as the 9.7in iPad Pro appears to have a completely different rear-facing camera compared to the Air 2. While the older tablet has a merely adequate eight-megapixel f2.4 camera of a quality comparable to the smartphones of a few years ago, the Pro has a 12-megapixel snapper.

It has the f2.2 aperture with the faster autofocussing, 4K video recording and slow motion video capabilities ofthe iPhone 6scamera it isthe 6s camera. This marks a major step forwards for tablet photography and a long overdue one too. Although we still think tablet photography is still too conspicuous, intrusive and just plain naff looking (with the possible exception of mini tablets), a lot of people clearly love taking photos with their tablet judging from what we've seen on the streets of the world's major cities.

Pencil and keyboard

Apple's official accessories for the iPad Pro 9.7in also immediately set this new tablet apart from its predecessor. The excellent Apple Pencil will be a boon to graphic design artists and CAD/CAM workers with its top-notch pressure-sensitivity, accuracy and palm rejection.

We were less enthused bythe 12.9 version of Apple's official keyboard case and the 9.7in official keyboard case is very similar with many of the same design trade-offs and drawbacks. We'll likely see third party keyboards and keyboard cases taking advantage of the magnetic smart connector on the smaller Pro.

Performance and battery life

Naturally, the Pro has an A9X processor, like its bigger brother, instead of the A8X processor of the Air 2. It is clocked slightly slower than the chip in the larger Pro at 2.16GHz, but it still runs circles around the Air 2 the A9X is still one of the fastest tablet processors we've ever seen.

The 9.7in Pro has 2GB of RAM instead of 3GB like the Air 2, but this was still more than enough for buttery smooth multitasking and a good measure of future proofing.

Apple claims ten hours of battery life for the 9.7in Pro, as it did for the Air 2. In our tests, the iPad Pro 9.7 lasted 11 hours when playing video on a loop, half an hour longer than the iPad Air 2. It's pleasing that battery life is no shorter despite the increase in performance and interior space given over to the new speakers, but other 10in tablets can last even longer.

Apple claims ten hours of battery life for the 9.7in Pro, as it did for the Air 2. This almost certainly refers to video playback and while we're confident that the new iPad Pro can match this, other tablets can last even longer.

This head-to-head was first published on 29/3/2016 and has since been updated, most recently on 20/03/2017.

All image credits: Apple.

Tablet shipments are set to rebound from their current slump by 2018, according to the latest data from IDC, but manufacturers shouldn't start popping the champagne just yet.

The same forecast - the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker - shows the rest of 2016 will not be good news for the tablet market, which is expected to reach an all-time low of -11.5% growth and shipments of 183.4 million units across Android, iOS and Windows devices.

The analyst house said manufacturers need to make devices that are attractive to businesses, rather than just relying on the consumer market, as popularity in that market segment begins to wane.

"Appealing to the commercial audience will be key as detachable tablets aim to take a larger piece of the traditional PC market," said senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani.

"Windows and iOS already have solid detachable offerings and with the latest version of Android, Google will also have a horse in the race as they finally offer better multitasking support and added security features."

Size will also have a big impact on tablet shipments. In 2016, IDC predicts 55% of devices shipped will have screens smaller than 9in, yet by 2020 these smaller slates will account for 40% or less of tablet shipments. This will have an impact on shifting tablets off the shelves.

"We see smaller slate tablets being offered at very aggressive price points, leaving little room for revenues outside of a pure volume or platform play like for Amazon for instance," said Jean Philippe Bouchard, research director at IDC.

"The price pressure combined with a healthier demand on larger screen sizes and detachable tablets will eventually result in an increased portfolio offering from tablet and PC manufacturers."

IDC's worldwide tablet market share forecast 2015-2020 shows Windows tablets really start to take off. While still the junior player, the OS will grow from 8.6% market share in 2015 to a predicted 11.3% this year and 19.3% in 2020.

This growth will come almost exclusively at the expense of Android tablets, which, while still the largest OS in terms of market share, will decline from 67.4% in 2015 to a predicted 66.2% in 2016 and 57.8% in 2020.

Apple's iOS, meanwhile, will remain fairly steady at 23.9% in 2015, 22.4% in 2016 and 22.9% in 2020.