The new, recently announced iPad Pros are the thinnest devices Apple has ever made, with the 11-inch model measuring 5.3mm and the 13-inch one a rather unreal 5.1mm thick. So of course the question on our minds since the announcement is: how will any of these pass a bend test?
Luckily for us, Zack on the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel has the answer, and intriguingly it’s not a simple “it survived” or “it failed” as the 13″ iPad Pro has a trick up its sleeve. Just watch video below, it makes everything clear.
In case you couldn’t watch for whatever reason, here’s the gist of it. Apple added a special part inside to reduce stiffness, and it works amazingly well – if you try to bend the iPad into ‘landscape mode’, so to speak. Though it bends, nothing breaks.
Unfortunately, if you bend it into ‘portrait mode’, that special plate can’t do anything, and so the space in the USB-C port becomes the weakest link, and the iPad’s screen close to it cracks.
Still, this performance is downright excellent for a device with a thickness of 5.1 mm. As Zack suggests, Apple could add a new plate on the inside for the next generation, parallel to the bottom where the USB port is located, to hopefully alleviate the current model’s problem.
Of course, you hopefully won’t be carrying this in your back pocket, so attempting 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 are already available and we’ve put together the links below to make the purchasing 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-textured glass | |||
| Britain | 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-textured 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-textured glass | |||
Interestingly, Apple’s Tandem OLED technology, which essentially stacks two OLED screens on top of each other to increase brightness, appears to have had an effect on the screen’s resistance to fire, as even with a direct flame that comes with When a lighter is inserted, nothing happens. Usually the OLEDs that are directly affected turn white or black forever, but not in this case.
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