2022 iPad Pro M2 review: Six months later, powerful and still stale

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It's been about six months since Apple released the 2022 M2 iPad Pro. We revisit Apple's flagship tablet to see how it has held up.

Using Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro
Using Apple's 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro


Apple released the M2-equipped iPad Pro in the fall of 2022 with relatively minor upgrades from the prior generation. Since then, we've been relying on Apple's 12.9-inch tablet daily.

We believe in its potential. At the same time, we can't help but be a bit underwhelmed.

The highlighted new features include Wi-Fi 6E support, Apple Pencil hover, the M2 chip, and ProRes video capture. Otherwise, it has retained the same design as before.

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Our mobile workflow is varied. We edit large-resolution RAW photos, the occasional 4K video editing, lots of writing, plenty of emails, and the occasional games.

It knocks all of this out of the park without any new game-changing features.

The new features were underwhelming

We said as much in our initial review, but now that we've lived with the new features for the last several months, we can confirm that the latest ones are underwhelming -- at least for us.

The hover effect for Apple Pencil is neat, but we've all but forgotten about it, despite using Apple Pencil regularly. Most developers haven't even given lip service to it.

Hover effect in Affinity Photo
Hover effect in Affinity Photo


When using apps that did upgrade for it, like Affinity Photo, we touch the screen so fast that we don't even notice the hover effect. Its most useful feature is to get a tooltip to describe a tool before selecting it.

ProRes video capture checks another box off a list of specs. We can't say we're going around capturing professional-quality video on our iPads.

GoPro Hero 11 Black
GoPro Hero 11 Black


This feature targets creative pros, but as content creators, we have many other options we'd turn to before our iPad. Our Nikon Z7, GoPro Hero 11, or iPhone would all be preferrable.

We'll admit Wi-Fi 6E is beneficial, and we do see improved network performance, but we do more downloads on our Mac versus the iPad. If you live in an apartment or a city, Wi-Fi 6E can have additional benefits, in certain situations.

The M2 chip, too, feels like overkill as iPadOS and third-party apps have struggled to keep up. Apple has yet to migrate its pro apps, such as Final Cut Pro, to iPadOS.

DaVinci Resolve on the App Store
DaVinci Resolve on the App Store


We recently got DaVinci Resolve on iPadOS, but it barely utilizes the M2 chip's full potential. The same goes for games, most of which are lightweight mobile titles.

New isn't always necessary

Lest this sound like an increasingly pessimistic outlook of Apple's latest pro tablet, there is a lot to love here. We're fully aware of what we're griping about, which is relatively minor from this overly-successful device.

The form factor is excellent, Face ID is ultra-fast, the screen looks fantastic, and the M2 is incredible. Apple doesn't need to introduce a new form factor or design to make the iPad Pro a hit.

Using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil
Using iPad Pro and Apple Pencil


What iPad is capable of is superb, and we can be more productive than ever, especially as iPadOS has grown too.

That doesn't stop the product from feeling slightly less exciting over the years. Using iPad Pro in 2023 feels the same as the iPad Pro from 2018.

Editing video with DaVinci Resolve
Editing video with DaVinci Resolve


We have faith in Apple's iPad line and are crossing our fingers that Apple will do something through software or hardware to make it feel fresh again in the future.

2022 iPad Pro - Pros

  • New M2 chip shows good year-over-year gains

  • Design still looks good, even if unchanged

  • 12.9-inch has an amazing display

  • Hover for Apple Pencil is quite useful

  • First Apple devices to support Wi-Fi 6e

2022 iPad Pro - Cons

  • Few new features

  • Hampered by lackluster software

  • Still no mini-LED on 11-inch model

Rating: 4 out of 5

Where to buy & save on Apple's iPad Pro M2

Shoppers can find aggressive iPad deals in effect today on the Pro line.

The cheapest prices are at your fingertips in our iPad Price Guide, with jump links to each screen size below. At the time of this long-term M2 iPad Pro review, discounts of up to $150 off are available, with bonus AppleCare savings as well. Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    glhglh Posts: 18member
    No reason at all to replace my 2018 iPad pro (5 years old). Except for the screen, I don't think I would know the difference between that and the latest version, and the screen on the 2018 is still more than adequate.
    williamlondonOferwatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 2 of 18
    It's a great thing that Apple is keeping its products like the iPad Pro up-to-date with the latest Apple Silicon. It may not be a reason to upgrade, but for people who need to buy a new iPad, it's far better to get the latest version. And sorry, but if Apple hadn't updated it, reviewers like Mr. O'Hara would have been complaining about how the iPad Pro had a 3-year-old processor!
    williamlondondanoxmike1foregoneconclusionPeramanAppleZuluwatto_cobraphyzbyronl
  • Reply 3 of 18
    xyzzy-xxxxyzzy-xxx Posts: 193member
    I really like my old iPad 6 for surfing the web on the couch and answering mails.
    But: To do serious work a touch screen interface is not what I want and in addition to that my work system will never be a closed platform (although iOS / iPadOS may be forced to be opened for 3rd party app stores etc. in the next two years).

    edited March 2023 williamlondonelijahgFrankS
  • Reply 4 of 18
    I want a bigger iPad pro, between 12.9” and 15”.

    williamlondonwatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 5 of 18
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,970member
    I love my year and a half old M1 iPP, though all the things you mentioned would apply to it as well. The only time the chip was at all pushed was playing the new Myst. Other then that, the M1 is really more power than I ever need, but it’ll be good for many years to come. 

    As far as the hover effect goes, I didn’t see much point to it when they announced it. Fwiw, I have a feeling that the hover effect will end up being like the TouchBar on MacBookPros. Really cool, but developers won’t bother and in a few years it will quietly go away.
    edited March 2023 muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 18
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,280member
    iPad Pro best in class by far, yes like everything else it could better, but no one today is even close to Apple.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 18
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,772member
    DAalseth said:
    I love my year and a half old M1 iPP, though all the things you mentioned would apply to it as well. The only time the chip was at all pushed was playing the new Myst. Other then that, the M1 is really more power than I ever need, but it’ll be good for many years to come. 

    As far as the hover effect goes, I didn’t see much point to it when they announced it. Fwiw, I have a feeling that the hover effect will end up being like the TouchBar on MacBookPros. Really cool, but developers won’t bother and in a few years it will quietly go away.
    Hover isn’t going anywhere. Both it and State Manager will be fundamental in the UI Apple releases with their AR/VR/MR headset. 
    fastasleepwatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 8 of 18
    bala1234bala1234 Posts: 157member
    Sadly my 6 year old ipad pro 9.7 is laying unused as my son, who I got it for has grown out of it. He's no longer interested in ipad games!  I tried configuring his school stuff in the ipad but doesn't seem interested in it as well as his school uses chromebooks. I tried setting it up as a media watching device for me, but it feels too big to use on bed and on the couch, TV is more comfortable...
    byronl
  • Reply 9 of 18
    brianjobrianjo Posts: 52member
    There are relatively few things that the iPad pro can do BETTER than a Macbook.  Yes, it's trying to be a replacement, but in just about every scenario, it's a huge step backwards in productivity if you choose that as your primary device.

    Generally speaking, iPads are data CONSUMPTION devices and are excellent at that.  For creation devices, they are amazing companions to your primary computer.  It's cool to be able to pull out your MacBook and set the iPad ext to it as a second display with touch screen, or being able to pull out the iPad alone to show things to clients, but again, I always seem to gravitate back to the Mac as the day to day use device, as many times as I've tried to make the iPad my primary.  It's just a step backwards.
    elijahgMplsPkestraltokyojimubyronl
  • Reply 10 of 18
    uraharaurahara Posts: 733member
    raymondai said:
    I want a bigger iPad pro, between 12.9” and 15”.

    13.0”? Really? Why? Think what you wish for.
    Peramanbyronl
  • Reply 11 of 18
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,970member
    brianjo said:
    Generally speaking, iPads are data CONSUMPTION devices and are excellent at that.  For creation devices, they are amazing companions to your primary computer.  It's cool to be able to pull out your MacBook and set the iPad ext to it as a second display with touch screen, or being able to pull out the iPad alone to show things to clients, but again, I always seem to gravitate back to the Mac as the day to day use device, as many times as I've tried to make the iPad my primary.  It's just a step backwards.
    Maybe for you. For me it is my PRIMARY creation device. Heck it’s my primary computing device. Mobile I use it with a Brydge keyboard, or with the screen keyboard depending on the circumstances for writing and I write a lot. A few thousand words per day. Then I use it for painting and drawing with my Apple Pencil. Now YMMV but I object to someone dragging out the old chestnut of iPads being only for consumption. Not true with this with my 12.9” M1 iPP. Wasn’t true with my 9.7” iPP that it replaced. Hasn’t been true for about a decade for a lot of people. As far as my Mac, I have a 2016iMac, and this morning I realized that while I’d like to upgrade it, there was really no reason to. I simply don’t use it that much. My work needs me to remote in, and so I’m on it for that. I turn it on at 8:00in the morning, and turn it off at 5:00. I really don’t use it for anything else so there’s no reason for me to upgrade until it dies.
    Peramanwatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 12 of 18
    charlesncharlesn Posts: 1,068member
    At this point, and for quite a while now, upgrades to the iPad processor are like dropping a Lamborghini V12 engine into a Toyota Corolla--you can brag about the amount of horspower you have, but you can't put it to use. iPad continues to be hobbled by iPad OS, which is how Apple wants to keep it. Cupertino has never wanted the iPad to be a laptop replacement because it wants to sell us a laptop AND an iPad. Here we are, 13 years after iPad was introduced and its system for multitasking remains a kludge. 
    MplsPmuthuk_vanalingamkestralbyronl
  • Reply 13 of 18
    Agree. I’m disappointed that Apple still didn’t add the possibility to instantly switch the iPad Pro to macOS after connecting it to an external monitor-and-keyboard (or a thunderbolt docking station), thereby turning it into a MacBook.

    I’m disappointed because Apple usually add extra usability features (benefitting it’s users) and this seems to be an obvious one: all the hardware is in place.
    But in this case they seem to only think about money (just benefitting themselves) being afraid of cannibalising their MacBook sales by adding that feature. 

    That’s a shame, 
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 14 of 18
    longfanglongfang Posts: 513member
    charlesn said:
    At this point, and for quite a while now, upgrades to the iPad processor are like dropping a Lamborghini V12 engine into a Toyota Corolla--you can brag about the amount of horspower you have, but you can't put it to use. iPad continues to be hobbled by iPad OS, which is how Apple wants to keep it. Cupertino has never wanted the iPad to be a laptop replacement because it wants to sell us a laptop AND an iPad. Here we are, 13 years after iPad was introduced and its system for multitasking remains a kludge. 
    And yet if i were gonna pay money today i wouldn’t say give me the m1 version instead of the m2. Y’all like to complain it seems. 
    edited March 2023 watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 18
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 4,000member
    brianjo said:
    There are relatively few things that the iPad pro can do BETTER than a Macbook.  Yes, it's trying to be a replacement, but in just about every scenario, it's a huge step backwards in productivity if you choose that as your primary device.

    Generally speaking, iPads are data CONSUMPTION devices and are excellent at that.  For creation devices, they are amazing companions to your primary computer.  It's cool to be able to pull out your MacBook and set the iPad ext to it as a second display with touch screen, or being able to pull out the iPad alone to show things to clients, but again, I always seem to gravitate back to the Mac as the day to day use device, as many times as I've tried to make the iPad my primary.  It's just a step backwards.
    charlesn said:
    At this point, and for quite a while now, upgrades to the iPad processor are like dropping a Lamborghini V12 engine into a Toyota Corolla--you can brag about the amount of horspower you have, but you can't put it to use. iPad continues to be hobbled by iPad OS, which is how Apple wants to keep it. Cupertino has never wanted the iPad to be a laptop replacement because it wants to sell us a laptop AND an iPad. Here we are, 13 years after iPad was introduced and its system for multitasking remains a kludge. 
    Exactly. I got a 2nd gen iPP 5 years ago in an attempt to replace my aging MacBook. I lasted a bit over a month before I broke down and purchased a new MacBook Pro. Even today there are numerous things I either can’t do or simply find too cumbersome to do on an iPad and I find myself constrained not by the A10x processor but by iPadOS. Until Apple gets serious about maturing iPadOS putting more powerful processors in an ipad is pointless. 
    muthuk_vanalingamkestraltokyojimubyronl
  • Reply 16 of 18
    I have the 12.9 iPad Pro M2. I went M2 for the hover pencil since I am an illustrator/animator. As for utilizing the M2, I can do 3d sculping in Nomad (zBrush going out of my pricerange currently) it taxes it pretty well. I can take my sculpts to Octane x and render. Quite spiffy.

    Yeah, there is no devulge of pro apps, but the ones that are take well advantage of the M2. It is my daily driver and my iMac Pro is feeling a bit ready for a replacement. I am hoping something with M3 comes that I can upgrade to for ray tracing logic on the gpu.


    Otherwise, very happy with the M2, do not regret it. It even replaced my iphone as a browsing entertainment device.



    macplusplusfastasleepDAalsethPeramanwatto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 17 of 18
    I would like to see further software improvements mainly being able to play multiply audio sources at the same time like you can on a Mac. Certain bugs need to be fixed up for example the hardware keyboards stop working all of a sudden. Other than these little irritants. I’m really digging the IPad with IPadOS. It has come a long way, and for the most part it’s my main work station. I have a couple of desktop macs at home, but when I’m on the road, I don’t miss them at all.
    watto_cobrabyronl
  • Reply 18 of 18
    AppleZuluAppleZulu Posts: 2,140member
    Everybody likes to complain about “planned obsolescence,” and then turn around and complain that a six month old $1800 device has too much power and isn’t maxed out yet. 

    It’s been over fifteen years since the iPhone was introduced, and with it, an operating system that would, unlike anything before it, be upgraded for years for free. 

    All this time, and people still don’t realize that the device they buy now has the capacity built-in to run apps and features that won’t be added until several years later. 

    Of course the M2 processor isn’t being challenged yet. Maybe the reviewers should try harder to understand the company they’re specialized in reviewing and not miss the forest for the trees. 
    danoxwatto_cobrabyronl
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