The new, recently announced iPad Pros are the thinnest devices Apple’s ever made, with the 11-inch model coming in at 5.3mm and the 13-inch one being a rather unreal 5.1mm thick. So, naturally, the question on our minds ever since the announcement has been – how will one of these withstand a bend test?
Luckily for us, Zack over at the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel is here with the answer, and intriguingly enough, it’s not a simple “it survived” or “it failed”, since the 13″ iPad Pro has a trick up its sleeve. Take a look at the video below, it will make everything clear.
In case you couldn’t watch for whatever reason, here’s the nitty gritty. Apple has included a special part inside to help with stiffness, and it works amazingly well – when you try to bend the iPad in ‘landscape mode’, as it were. While it does flex, nothing breaks.
However, if you bend it in ‘portrait mode’, unfortunately that special plate can’t do anything, and the so the space inside USB-C port becomes the weakest link, and the iPad’s screen does crack near it.
Still, for a 5.1mm thick device, this performance is nothing short of outstanding. As Zack suggests, for the next generation Apple could add a new plate inside, sitting parallel with the bottom where the USB port is, to hopefully alleviate the issue that the current model has.
Of course you hopefully won’t carry this in your back pocket, so trying a bend test on a huge tablet like this is more for entertainment purposes than anything else. If you’re interested in purchasing one of the new iPad Pros and iPad Airs, they’re already available and we’ve prepared the links below to make the buying process easier for you.
| US | iPad Air | iPad Pro | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11” | 13″ | 11” | 13” | |
| 128GB | $600 | $800 | – | – |
| 256GB | $700 | $900 | $1,000 | $1,300 |
| 512GB | $900 | $1,100 | $1,200 | $1,500 |
| 1TB | $1,100 | $1,300 | $1,600 | $1,900 |
| 2TB | – | – | $2,000 | $2,300 |
| add $150 for 5G | add $200 for 5G, $100 for nano-texture glass | |||
| UK | iPad Air | iPad Pro | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11″ | 13″ | 11″ | 13″ | |
| 128GB | £600 | £800 | – | – |
| 256GB | £700 | £900 | £1,000 | £1,300 |
| 512GB | £900 | £1,100 | £1,200 | £1,500 |
| 1TB | £1,100 | £1,300 | £1,600 | £1,900 |
| 2TB | – | – | £2,000 | £2,300 |
| add £150 for 5G | add £200 for 5G, £100 for nano-texture glass | |||
| Germany | iPad Air | iPad Pro | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11″ | 13″ | 11″ | 13″ | |
| 128GB | €700 | €950 | – | – |
| 256GB | €830 | €1,080 | €1,200 | €1,550 |
| 512GB | €1,080 | €1,330 | €1,450 | €1,800 |
| 1TB | €1,330 | €1,580 | €1,930 | €2,280 |
| 2TB | – | – | €2,410 | €2,760 |
| add €170 for 5G | add €150 for 5G, €130 for nano-texture glass | |||
Interestingly, Apple’s Tandem OLED technology which basically stacks two OLED screens on top of each other to increase brightness, seems to have had an effect on the display’s resistance to fire, as even with a direct flame applied with a lighter – nothing happens. Usually the OLEDs that are directly affected either turn white or black forever, but not in this case.
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