Tablets · 2022 · Apple

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation, M2)

Name: Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation, M2)
Brand: Apple

The iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation) is Apple’s large tablet updated with the M2 chip in 2022. It offers a mini LED Liquid Retina XDR display, Apple Pencil hover, Thunderbolt / USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6E. A review praised the display and pencil preview and found the day-to-day gain over M1 small. Owners describe screen flicker on iPadOS 16.1 and random shutdowns.

iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation, 2022); Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular; 128 GB to 2 TB. 8 GB RAM on 128/256/512 GB models, 16 GB RAM on 1 TB and 2 TB models. The 11-inch (4th generation) and the 13-inch M4 iPad Pro are separate models.

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation, M2) — The image from Apple’s iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation) tech specs page: Space Gray and Silver backs with the front display. — The image from Apple’s iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation) tech specs page: Space Gray and Silver backs with the front display.

Specifications

Specification	Value
Display	12.9-inch Liquid Retina XDR; mini LED with 2596 local dimming zones; 2732 × 2048, 264 ppi; ProMotion; P3; True Tone Local dimming zones deepen blacks; a faint halo can appear around bright text on a black background.
Brightness and contrast	SDR 600 nits; full-screen XDR 1000 nits; HDR peak 1600 nits; 1,000,000:1
Chip	Apple M2; 8-core CPU (4 performance + 4 efficiency), 10-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine; 100 GB/s memory bandwidth
Memory and storage	8 GB RAM on 128, 256 and 512 GB models; 16 GB RAM on 1 TB and 2 TB models RAM depends on the storage choice and cannot be chosen separately.
Port	Thunderbolt / USB 4: up to 40 Gb/s with Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4, 10 Gb/s with USB 3, DisplayPort; one external display up to 6K at 60 Hz This matters for fast external SSDs and monitors; actual speed depends on the cable and device used.
Apple Pencil	Apple Pencil (2nd generation) and Apple Pencil (USB-C); Apple Pencil hover Hover shows a preview of brush size and where the stroke will land before the pencil touches the screen.
Cameras	Rear: 12 MP wide ƒ/1.8, 10 MP ultra wide ƒ/2.4 (125°), LiDAR Scanner, True Tone flash; front: 12 MP ultra wide TrueDepth, Center Stage, Face ID The front camera is on the short edge, so it sits at the side during landscape video calls.
Video	4K at 24/25/30/60 fps; 1080p slo-mo at 120/240 fps; ProRes up to 4K at 30 fps
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6E 2x2 MIMO, up to 2.4 Gb/s; Bluetooth 5.3; on Cellular models 5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave), nano-SIM and eSIM
Audio	Four speakers; five studio-quality microphones
Battery	40.88 Wh lithium-polymer; up to 10 hours of web or video on Wi-Fi; up to 9 hours of web on cellular; 20 W USB-C adapter in the box
Size and weight	280.6 × 214.9 × 6.4 mm; Wi-Fi 682 g, Wi-Fi + Cellular 685 g
Colours	Silver, Space Gray

From the manufacturer

Apple presents the M2 iPad Pro with Apple Pencil hover, ProRes video and Wi-Fi 6E. Apple Support

Strengths and limitations

Christian de Looper of BGR used the 1 TB cellular 12.9-inch model. He found the screen bright and vibrant and ended an eight-hour workday with 23% battery left. He considered the move from M1 to M2 meaningful on paper but too small to notice in daily use. He found Apple Pencil hover useful because it previews brush size while drawing, and Stage Manager more stable than before; at the time external display support was limited to mirroring and preview. The front camera on the short edge and a rear camera behind recent iPhones were listed as downsides.
BGR, Christian de Looper, updated 24 January 2023; 1 TB (16 GB RAM) cellular test unit. The external display limitation applies to iPadOS at that time.
BGR — Christian de Looper: Apple iPad Pro (2022) Review: The Best iPad Gets Even Better

Owner experiences and issues

On Apple Community, Siberian Sabre wrote that on their Wi-Fi 6th-generation 12.9-inch iPad Pro with iPadOS 16.1 the screen flickered in some parts of the Settings app and white text took on a reddish tint while scrolling (October 2022); the thread has 172 “me too” marks. FinnBoogie said it stopped when night mode was turned off, jcs2000 said it disappeared after choosing strict calibration in display settings, Davidjps74 saw it on a newly delivered unit, and fnord0 reported it fixed after the iPadOS 16.2 (20C65) update. In a separate thread, ISLLC wrote that their iPad on iPadOS 17 shut off randomly while storage was not full and the device was not hot (March 2024, three “me too” marks); the community reply suggested a forced restart, resetting settings and Apple Support, and no fix was reported.
Apple Community, two separate threads: 254321740 (26 October 2022, iPadOS 16.1) and 255525502 (12 March 2024, iPadOS 17). Users said the flicker was fixed by a software update; the shutdown report is a single thread. No failure rate was drawn.
Apple Community: 2022 12.9” iPad Pro Screen Flicker

Apple iPad Pro 12.9-inch (6th generation, M2)

Specifications

From the manufacturer

Strengths and limitations

Owner experiences and issues

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