As well as losing an ultra-wide camera, the new iPad Pro has also dropped support for 5G mmWave.
As seen on the iPad Pro specs page, the M4 iPad Pro supports 5G cellular on sub-6 GHz spectrum only, and LTE on 31 bands. The older cellular iPad Pro could do mmWave and supported one additional LTE band.
First introduced to Apple ecosystem with iPhone 12, millimeter wave enables super high wireless speeds and ultra low latency cellular communication. However, the tradeoff is that the signal can only be carried over shorter distances. It also often cannot penetrate glass or trees, and therefore is usually unavailable indoors.
Top comment by BelgianWaffle
Apple is charging criminal amounts of money for that cellular antenna and GPS. It's absolutely disgusting.
I recall my very first iPad was an iPad 2. I got the cellular version and it was 110€ more expensive than the non cellular one.
Today that's 250€!!! It's absolutely disgusting. Which is why my current iPad, the 2022 11" Pro is wi-fi only. I won't ever get a cellular iPad ever again. Personal hotspot works well enough.
As such, its adoption by carriers has been relatively low. mmWave deployment in the US is championed by Verizon, where customers can see 1-2 gigabit speeds in select areas. mmWave is also useful in highly-congested areas like sports stadiums. However, the vast majority of 5G coverage in the US is carried over sub-6 GHz.
mmWave availability outside the United States is even more bleak, so much so that iPhones sold outside the US do not include mmWave radios at all.
Apple has seemingly determined that the lack of carrier support means it is not worth including on iPads anymore, US or otherwise. Certainly, iPads are most often used in indoor environments where mmWave is rarely available.
Follow Benjamin: @bzamayo on Threads and Twitter.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments