Apple’s New iPad Pros Are Not So ‘Pro’ in One Key Way

In comparison to its iPhone devices, Apple has never placed as much emphasis on the camera hardware built into its much larger iPad and iPad Pro tablets.

And while modern updates like the mid-2017 iPad Pro models feature relatively powerful camera hardware (namely, the same 12 MP rear-facing and 7 MP front-facing camera as iPhone 7) one sharp-eyed Twitter user is being credited with uncovering that the latest iPad Pros aren’t quite up-to-par with the photo-taking prowess of their predecessors.

Ravi Chowdhury, a Public Health professional employed here in the U.S., pointed out in a Tweet published to his account yesterday that the rear 12 MP camera Apple used in the latest iPad Pro models feature a 5-element lens, which notably takes the place of the 6-element lens Apple employed on its 10.5-inch iPad Pro last summer. 

The new 11- and 12.9- iPads, in comparison to their predecessors, also lack the optical image stabilization (OIS) feature, which is actually quite important for  anything of or relating to the field of augmented reality (AR).

As we mentioned, Apple has never before placed such importance on the quality of its iPad camera hardware — and while recent models have proven to be at least on par with recent iPhones, the company’s decision to literally downgrade its iPad Pro camera tech this year is puzzling, to say the least.