Apple's iPad Pro boasts ‘top tier display,’ but falls behind iPad mini 4 & Microsoft Surface Pro 4
A showdown pitting the new iPad Pro display against the rest of the tablet market has found that Apple's new 12.9-inch Retina display is an excellent panel, though it can't outmatch …
Context & Ripple Effects
This display shootout lands weeks after the first big-screen iPad Pro shipped, and its verdict — a top-tier panel that still trails the smaller iPad mini 4 and Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 on measured quality — set the template for how the line would be judged. AnandTech's early-2016 review confirmed the display strength while crowning the A9X as unmatched in ARM silicon, making the screen one of two pillars of Apple's 'pro' pitch.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4 now have a third-party measurement showing Microsoft's convertible with the better panel, undercutting Apple's flagship-on-every-axis claim.
- The iPad mini 4's stronger showing gives Apple an awkward internal contrast: its cheapest current tablet beats its most expensive one where 'pro' credibility matters most.
Second-order effects
- Apple's response path ran through panel refreshes rather than price cuts — culminating in the 9.7-inch second-generation Pro four months later and eventually the mini-LED screens reviewers flagged in the M1-era iPads as class-leading.
- Microsoft gains durable marketing ammunition in the stylus-and-productivity market, forcing every subsequent iPad Pro review to re-litigate display parity alongside the recurring iPadOS shortfall noted from 2024's M4 model onward.
Third-order effects
- A decade of coverage shows the pattern hardening: each generation pairs unbeaten hardware (A9X, M1, M4, M5) with software that lags, leaving the Pro line priced as a primary computer but reviewed as a premium secondary one — a structural tension between Apple's component roadmap and iPadOS's pace.
- If that split persists, tablet competition shifts from panel specifications, where Apple has since closed the 2015 gap, to whether the OS justifies flagship pricing — the question every review since 2021 keeps raising.
The trend: The iPad Pro line has spent ten years winning on hardware while its software catches up slowly, turning each generation's review into a referendum on whether the OS finally matches the silicon.