“Thinnest iPad Ever” – WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Summary

In this tech review, the ultra-thin 13-inch M4 iPad Pro is put to the test for durability and everyday practicality. With a thickness of only 5.1 millimeters, Apple's thinnest device yet features a tandem OLED display for enhanced brightness and a pressure-sensitive Apple Pencil Pro. Despite its slim profile, the iPad Pro shows impressive structural integrity against horizontal bends, but a vertical bend test reveals a weakness at the charging port. The video also explores the device's build quality, hardware, and protective measures, including the use of tempered glass and anodized aluminum in the Magic Keyboard.

Takeaways

• 📦 The new 13-inch M4 iPad Pro comes in a box with a color-matched USB-C cable and a 20-watt charging brick.
• 🔍 The device is incredibly thin, being the thinnest Apple device ever, which makes it difficult to pick up and potentially prone to slight warping.
• 🤔 The thinness raises questions about the durability and ability to withstand everyday use.
• 📊 The iPad Pro is only 5.1 millimeters thick, comparable to the thickness of three stacked quarters or a third of a Ben and Jerry's lid width.
• 🛠️ Apple has added a central cowling over the main logic board to increase structural integrity despite the reduced thickness.
• 🖥️ A significant technological advancement is the introduction of a tandem OLED display, which stacks two OLED screens to enhance brightness and image quality.
• 🎨 The Apple Pencil Pro has an updated design with a pressure-sensitive ribbon and a taptic engine for a realistic button feel.
• 🔨 The iPad's screen is protected by a thin tempered glass that scratches at a level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale.
• 💻 The Magic Keyboard, made from anodized aluminum and plastic keys, is designed to protect against aluminum contact allergies and is unlikely to scratch the iPad's glass.
• 📹 The iPad Pro features a 12-megapixel selfie camera and a single 12-megapixel rear camera with a time-of-flight 3D LiDAR scanner.
• 💪 Despite its thinness, the iPad Pro shows impressive structural integrity when bent from the back, but is vulnerable to damage at the charging port when bent vertically.

Q & A

What is the thickness of the new 13-inch M4 iPad Pro?

The new 13-inch M4 iPad Pro is 5.1 millimeters thick, which is about the same thickness as 3 quarters, 7 razor blades, or 1/3 the width of a Ben and Jerry's lid.

What is included in the box with the M4 iPad Pro?

Inside the box, you get a color-matched USB-C cable and a 20-watt charging brick.

Is there a noticeable issue with the iPad Pro's housing when it arrives?

The iPad Pro may arrive with a slight bow in the housing, which is likely due to heat treating and warping during the manufacturing process.

What structural feature did Apple add to the M4 iPad Pro to increase its overall structure with decreased thickness?

Apple added a cowling over the main logic board that runs through the center of the iPad, which can be felt as a central rib through the top class.

What is the technological advancement in the display of the M4 iPad Pro?

The most impressive technological addition is the tandem OLED display, which stacks two OLED screens on top of each other, providing 1000 nits of HDR brightness with a 1600 nits peak.

How does the Apple Pencil Pro differ from its predecessors?

The Apple Pencil Pro has a removable tip with a pressure-sensitive ribbon inside that can sense minute pressure differences from your fingers, and it triggers a taptic engine to make it feel like an actual button is being clicked.

What is the Mohs hardness level of the glass used in the M4 iPad Pro's display?

The glass used in the M4 iPad Pro's display scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7 on the Mohs hardness scale.

What material is the Apple Magic Keyboard made of, and why is anodization necessary?

The Apple Magic Keyboard is made from anodized aluminum to provide material protection, aesthetics, and to prevent allergic reactions in the 1% of the human population that has a bare aluminum contact allergy.

How does the M4 iPad Pro fare in terms of durability when subjected to bending?

When bent from the back, the M4 iPad Pro holds up surprisingly well, showing structural integrity. However, vertical bends at the charging port can lead to catastrophic failure and damage.

What is the M4 iPad Pro's camera setup like, and what changes were made compared to previous models?

The M4 iPad Pro has a single 12-megapixel rear camera with a single color diffused LED flash and a lower time of flight 3D LiDAR scanner. One of the camera lenses has been removed, but it is not expected to be noticeable.

What is the significance of the double diodes in the tandem OLED display of the M4 iPad Pro?

The double diodes in the tandem OLED display mean that each pixel doesn't have to run at maximum load, leading to less power usage and a longer lifespan for the screen.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Unboxing and Durability Test of the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro

This paragraph introduces the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro, Apple's thinnest device ever, which is thinner than an iPod Nano. The presenter expresses curiosity about its durability in everyday life and invites viewers to subscribe for the upcoming durability test. The unboxing reveals a color-matched USB-C cable and a 20-watt charger. The presenter notes the difficulty in picking up the device due to its thinness and observes a slight bow in the housing, suggesting manufacturing challenges with maintaining a perfectly flat surface. The iPad's thickness is compared to everyday objects for context. The central focus of the iPad's design, a cowling over the main logic board, is highlighted as a structural innovation. The technological highlight of the year, a tandem OLED display, is introduced, which features a unique stacked OLED screen design for enhanced brightness and image quality. The presenter also mentions the Apple Pencil Pro, which includes a pressure-sensitive ribbon and a taptic engine for a realistic button feel. The durability of the iPad's screen is tested with Mohs picks, indicating the use of tempered glass.

05:02

🛠 Exploring the iPad Pro's Build and Durability Concerns

The second paragraph delves into the build quality and potential durability concerns of the M4 iPad Pro. The presenter discusses the anodized aluminum of the Magic Keyboard and its compatibility with the iPad's glass display, noting the lack of scratches even with direct contact. The build quality is further examined through the inclusion of a 12-megapixel selfie camera with scratch-resistant glass and the use of anodized aluminum for the frame. The presenter also comments on the placement of the microphone hole and the removal of one camera lens, which is not expected to be noticeable. The iPad's canvas for artwork is highlighted, along with a durability test involving bending, which reveals the iPad's surprising structural integrity against horizontal bends but a vulnerability to vertical bends, particularly at the charging port. The test results in a cracked glass screen, leading to an exploration of the iPad's internals, including the central spine and the M4 chip.

10:05

👨‍🔧 Disassembly and Analysis of the M4 iPad Pro's Internal Components

In the final paragraph, the presenter continues the disassembly process of the M4 iPad Pro to reveal its internal components. The focus is on the central spine or cowling that Apple added over the motherboard, which is shown to be incredibly thin yet functional. The loudspeakers' design change to a circular shape is noted, and after removing screws, the presenter successfully removes the cowling. The M4 chip and a large 10,209 milliamp-hour battery are revealed, showcasing the technological advancements within the slim form factor. The presenter suggests that an additional perpendicular spine near the charging port could have improved the iPad's structural integrity. The video concludes with a positive note on the tandem OLED development and an invitation for viewers to test a smaller unit and to grab a teardown skin through a provided link.

Keywords

💡M4 iPad Pro

The M4 iPad Pro is the subject of the video, representing Apple's latest iteration of its tablet line. It is highlighted as the thinnest Apple device ever, emphasizing advancements in technology and miniaturization. The video explores its thinness, durability, and the technological innovations it contains, such as the tandem OLED display and the structural integrity provided by a central spine or 'cowing' over the motherboard.

💡Thinness

Thinness is a key feature of the M4 iPad Pro, which is a testament to the progress in technology that allows for powerful devices to be incredibly compact. The script discusses the challenges and implications of such a thin design, including potential issues with durability and the difficulty in handling due to its slim profile.

💡Durability

Durability is a central theme in the video as the host investigates whether the M4 iPad Pro can withstand everyday use, despite its thin design. The script mentions concerns about the device's ability to remain flat, its resistance to bending, and the structural integrity provided by the central spine.

💡Tandem OLED Display

The tandem OLED display is a significant technological advancement in the M4 iPad Pro. It consists of two OLED screens stacked on top of each other, with one acting as a backlight for the other. This innovation allows for higher brightness levels and improved image quality, as well as increased energy efficiency and longer lifespan for the display.

💡Apple Pencil Pro

The Apple Pencil Pro is a high-end accessory for the M4 iPad Pro, designed for professional artists and designers. It features a pressure-sensitive ribbon that can detect minute pressure differences, providing a more natural drawing experience. The video mentions its complex engineering and the technology's origin from the HTC U12 Plus phone.

💡Mohs Scale of Hardness

The Mohs scale of hardness is used in the script to evaluate the scratch resistance of materials, specifically the tempered glass screen of the M4 iPad Pro and the anodized aluminum of the Magic Keyboard. It is a scale that ranks the relative hardness of minerals, with level 1 being the softest and level 10 being the hardest.

💡Magic Keyboard

The Magic Keyboard is an accessory for the M4 iPad Pro, made from anodized aluminum with plastic keys. Anodization is a process that adds a protective layer to the aluminum, enhancing its durability and aesthetics while also addressing potential allergies for some users. The script discusses concerns about potential scratches on the iPad's glass when in contact with the keyboard.

💡3D LiDAR Scanner

The 3D LiDAR scanner is a feature of the M4 iPad Pro's camera system, which enables advanced depth sensing and augmented reality capabilities. The script mentions the removal of one of the camera lenses in the new model, but the 3D LiDAR scanner remains, indicating a focus on maintaining these advanced features.

💡Charging Port

The charging port of the M4 iPad Pro is a point of interest in the script due to its placement and the structural issues it causes when the device is bent. The video demonstrates that vertical bending can lead to catastrophic failure at the charging port, which in turn reveals the internal components, such as the M4 chip.

💡M4 Chip

The M4 chip is the central processing unit of the M4 iPad Pro, revealed towards the end of the video after a durability test. It represents the cutting-edge performance capabilities of the device, and its exposure during the test highlights the vulnerability of the iPad's design when subjected to stress.

Highlights

Apple's new 13 inch M4 iPad Pro is the thinnest Apple device ever, thinner than an iPod Nano.

The M4 iPad Pro comes with a color-matched USB-C cable and a 20-watt charging brick.

The thinness of the M4 iPad Pro makes it difficult to pick up and may arrive with a slight bow in the housing.

Apple has added a cowling over the main logic board to increase structure with decreased thickness.

The iPad features a tandem OLED display with two OLED screens stacked for enhanced brightness and image quality.

The Apple Pencil Pro has a pressure-sensitive ribbon and a taptic engine for realistic button feedback.

The iPad's screen is protected by a thin tempered glass that scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at level 7.

Apple's Magic Keyboard is made from anodized aluminum, which is less likely to cause allergic reactions.

The M4 iPad Pro has a 12-megapixel selfie camera with scratch-resistant glass.

The iPad Pro's design includes anodized aluminum frame rails, a Pencil dock, and metal volume buttons.

The thickness of the M4 iPad is constrained by the size of the USB-C port.

Apple has removed one of the camera lenses, leaving a single 12-megapixel rear camera.

The tandem OLED display uses less power and has a longer lifespan due to the double diodes.

The iPad's display is resistant to damage from a lighter after being burned for over 60 seconds.

The M4 iPad Pro shows good structural integrity when bent from the back but fails catastrophically at the charging port when bent vertically.

The teardown reveals the central spine or cowling over the motherboard and the M4 chip.

The video offers a Teardown Skin for the M4 iPad Pro in collaboration with dbrand.

Transcripts

Apple's brand new 13 inch M4 iPad Pro.

The thinnest Apple device ever.

Thinner than even an iPod Nano.

It's wild to see how far technology has come, but is it durable?

Can it survive everyday life?

That's what we're here to find out.

Hit that subscribe button and buckle in.

We're going to see how this iPad is so thin.

Inside the box we get a color matched USB-C cable and a 20 watt charging brick.

Thank you very much.

But that's it.

First thing I noticed on this M4 iPad is that since it's so thin,

it's actually difficult to pick up off my desk.

And it looks like mine might have arrived with a slight bow in the housing.

As someone who works with metal regularly, I can zero out my angle finder on my flat tabletop,

Splitting hairs of course.

Not that I have many to split, but between

heat treating, and warping,

I imagine not many of these ultra thin iPads are going to arrive perfectly flat.

.1 degrees is better than I was expecting though.

And to be honest, while I don't personally yearn for ultra thin electronics,

I can still appreciate that packing all this hardware into such a tiny device is an incredible feat.

It really is only 5.1 millimeters thick.

For my American audience, that's about the same thickness as 3 quarters,

7 razor blades, or 1 third the width of a Ben and Jerry's lid.

And just for the record, I am not the Jerry mentioned in Ben and Jerry's.

However, I am available for adoption.

Where was I?

Oh yeah.

Apple says that in order to increase the overall structure with decreased thickness,

they've added a cowling over the main logic board.

That logic board runs through the center of the iPad,

and I can even feel that central rib through the top class with just my fingers.

And hopefully we'll be able to see it with our eyeballs in just a few minutes.

The most impressive technological addition to the iPads this year, in my opinion,

has got to be the tandem OLED display.

Let's take a peek at it through my microscope.

OLED screens are awesome.

The individually lit pixels, as you can see here through the microscope,

deliver super crisp and vibrant images.

What Apple has done here,

for the first time ever, is stack two OLED screens on top of each other.

So not only are there 264 pixels per inch, but there are also, apparently,

264 identical pixels below those pixels acting as a backlight.

An OLED backlight for an OLED display.

This gives us a ridiculous 1000 nits of HDR brightness with a 1600 nits peak.

If you notice, the file icon on the M4 iPad Pro has super long blue diodes,

while the iPhone 15 on that same folder icon has much smaller diodes within the exact same footprint.

This is actually only because the iPhone 15 OLED has twice the pixel density and is in

no way comparable to the tandem OLED conversation, since my microscope only sees in a 2D plane

and tandem OLED exists in 3 dimensions.

But it still looks cool and it was worth a shot.

The tandem OLED isn't the only thing Apple changed up.

There's quite a bit more hardware inside of the Apple Pencil Pro.

I'm definitely not the target demographic for a $129 professional pencil,

especially when my razor knife is only 15 bucks.

But I guess it just depends on which side of the tablet you'll be drawing on.

As you saw, the tip is removable and inside

that plastic housing is a pressure sensitive ribbon that can sense minute pressure differences from your fingers.

We first saw this technology debuted with the HTC U12 Plus Android phone back in 2018.

The ribbon triggers a taptic engine that we can find past the square mounting magnets.

It's all tucked up into the back end where the eraser should be.

The taptic engine makes it realistically feel like an actual button is getting clicked,

even though there are no clicky buttons.

It's a complex piece of engineering and an interesting tool built for a very specific job.

Some of my favorite tools, however, are my Mohs picks,

which help us differentiate between different materials.

The tandem OLED Apple is using this time around

because it feels to be protected with glass.

And since there are no marks left by my Mohs 2, 3, 4, or 5 picks,

we can be sure that Apple is using a thin tempered glass screen that

scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7.

The Mohs hardness is especially relevant this time around when we open up Apple's new Magic Keyboard.

We already know that something at a softer level on Mohs scale of hardness cannot scratch any of the levels above it.

A level 3 aluminum won't scratch a level 6 glass,

and a level 6 glass will never scratch a level 10 diamond.

However, this time around, Apple's Magic Keyboard is made from an anodized aluminum.

The keys themselves are plastic.

Anodization is necessary for material protection, aesthetics,

and as well, there's a rather large 1% of the human population that has a bare aluminum contact allergy.

We learned this while building wheelchairs at my factory.

Bare aluminum is not like kryptonite or anything.

It's more like a slow motion poison ivy rash after extended contact.

And the aluminum oxide anodizing top layer helps eliminate those reactions.

F in chat for the F.

But that same aluminum oxide coating also ranks at a level 9 on Mohs scale of hardness,

which when pressed right up against the level 6 glass display of the M4 iPad Pro makes me worried.

However, even though the metal is coming directly in contact with that glass,

the Magic Keyboard hinge does not allow for any lateral movement,

which reduces the abrasive potential.

And to further decrease worries of accidental scratches,

I took my level 9 anodized iPhone 15 and scuffed up the iPad glass as well as I could,

but each of the marks wiped completely away.

I imagine the surface lubricity of the anodizing and smoothness of the glass,

along with the rigidness of the Magic Keyboard, will all help to keep the glass undamaged.

So far, there doesn't appear to be anything to worry about.

There's no glaring build quality issues yet.

There's one 12 megapixel selfie camera tucked into the long side bezel of the iPad Pro,

protected with the same scratch-resistant glass.

And swinging our way up to the ultra-thin frame rails,

we see we have a whole lot more anodized aluminum, along with the Apple Pencil dock

and two metal volume buttons that cannot be removed.

The top of the iPad Pro has two stereo speaker openings and a terribly placed center microphone hole.

You'll see why in a second.

Moving along to the other long flat side,

Apple has removed the microphone hole in the center of this rail.

Glad that's gone.

And down here at the bottom of the M4 iPad,

we can see that the thickness of the iPad is literally constrained by the tiny size of the USB-C port,

which sits right between two more stereo speaker openings.

If this thing gets any thinner,

we'll have a camera bump and a charging port bump.

Speaking of camera bumps,

Apple's removed one of the camera lenses this year,

and to be honest, no one's going to notice.

There's a lower time of flight 3D LiDAR scanner,

and the upper circle is the only remaining 12 megapixel rear camera with a single color diffused LED flash,

which is also tucked into the same camera hump.

Now one of my favorite parts of owning an iPad is its immense canvas for which I can display my artwork.

Drawing on the tandem temporary, so I'll just use the back.

I learned two new things recently.

One, apples are made up of 25% air, which was news to me.

And even more interesting, lions,

like the anatomically correct beast you see here, actually eat apples.

Yeah, they're carnivores and all that, but

if they get hungry enough, apples are on the menu.

You learn something new every day.

To keep your own iPad from getting scratched,

might I recommend my Teardown Skin collab with dbrand.

Astute observers might notice that this skin is the same teardown skin as last year,

because of course we haven't seen the inside of the M4 yet,

so how would I have a skin for it?

But don't you worry, there's a very large probability that we'll see the insides in about 60 seconds,

and then we can start shipping out the real deal.

Link down in the description.

The coolest part of the tandem OLED that I didn't mention before

is that because of the double diodes, each pixel doesn't have to run at maximum load.

Just like a person can walk farther than they can sprint,

two pixels working together means that a single pixel doesn't have to work as hard.

So overall the screen uses less power while having a much longer lifespan, which is awesome.

There also appears to be no effect on the 13 inch ultra retina display from my lighter,

even after burning it for more than 60 seconds, so thumbs up for that.

Finally, the bend test.

No one's going to be putting their iPad Pro in their back pocket obviously,

but it will very much be bumping around in backpacks, book bags,

and as Apple's thinnest product ever, we need to know how this Netflix

machine is going to hold up to everyday life.

When bent from the back, the answer is that it holds up surprisingly well,

like suspicious black magic levels of structural integrity going on.

You can see the glass screen literally ripple away from the frame,

eliminating any water resistance, but all that hardware itself is still intact.

Yeah, the M4 iPad Pro might be a bit bendy right out of the box

and will definitely not be straight after a few months of regular use,

but that central spine is definitely providing enough structure for horizontal bends.

I'm very impressed.

Vertical bends, however, still not as wrecked as Drake,

but holy macaroni, there's no recovering from this catastrophic failure right at the charging port.

The M4 iPad Pro is now built like a rainbow, or bow and arrow, or a bowing.

Joke just made my life insurance go through the roof,

kind of like that wheel did.

The back side of the charging port itself is what put pressure on the inner side of that glass,

cracking it up from the bottom edge, which means that now we get to go find the M4 chip.

I do happen to have another smaller 11 inch M4 iPad Pro with the nano textured glass,

so if this video gets 100,000 likes, we can see if that one also falls apart in the same place.

If we roll back the glass like a very expensive tortilla,

we can get our first look at that center spine, or cowling, that Apple added over the motherboard.

This time around we also have some very circular loudspeakers instead of rectangular.

And with 14 Phillips head screws removed, Apple's cowling comes off in two pieces.

It's incredibly thin, like the rest of the iPad, but obviously gets the job done.

If Apple could add another more perpendicular spine running widthwise near the charging port,

where all that structure was removed,

this thing probably would have survived.

And there you have it, the M4 chip in all of its glory,

right alongside the 10,209 milliamp hour pouch style battery.

Honestly it's a pretty cool tablet.

Congrats to Apple on the tandem OLED development.

Let me know if I should test the smaller unit and grab your teardown skin with the link in the description.

Thanks a ton for watching.

I'll see you around.