The ultrathin iPad Pro turns out to be shockingly sturdy


Since about six seconds after Apple debuted the new and remarkably thin iPad Pro, the internet has collectively been asking one question: you can totally snap this thing in half, right?
By god, that’s JerryRigEverything’s music! And our favorite destroyer of gadgets delivered on Thursday, posting an 11-minute dive into the new Pro. As ever, it’s a really interesting (and brutal) test of a 13-inch tablet: you’ll get to see the new OLED screen at microscopic levels, open up the new Pencil Pro, watch this incredibly expensive device get scratched up good (though it holds up pretty well!), and pry apart the pieces of the Magic Keyboard. JRE host Zack Nelson’s videos are always both incredibly fun and kind of painful to watch, as you see a beautiful piece of engineering just get totally wrecked. It’s great.
But at about eight and a half minutes into the video, we get to the main event. And spoiler alert: the iPad Pro holds up really well. Even with some aggressive bending, “that central spine is definitely providing enough structure for horizontal bends.” Vertical bends don’t do as well, though — the Pro cracks right at the charging port, which appears to be the main structural weakness of the device. Still, for what it is, and how you’re likely to use it, the Pro should hold up fine.
Other creators are also getting their hands on the new Pro and finding similarly solid results. In nearly every case, the charging port appears to be the weakest part of the device, but in general, it holds up better than ever.
This is particularly good news because the iPad’s history in JRE tests is, let’s say, not great. The first Pro did terribly:
Even the last model bent pretty easily, though it was somewhat hilariously still functional, even after Nelson turned it into “a crinkled piece of paper”:
The latest Pro is definitely a big step up. No word on the new Air yet, but to borrow a JRE-ism, if you get the 10th-generation iPad, don’t put it in your back pocket:
Overall, most of these testers seem impressed by the Pro, and they do a good job of showing off what Apple does to make the device so sturdy despite its size. Like any gadget, you can break it if you really try — and you can probably carve a lion into most things as well, if your knife is sharp enough. But for all the new iPad Pro owners worried about how their new tablet will fare in their backpack, it seems you’re probably going to be okay.
Since about six seconds after Apple debuted the new and remarkably thin iPad Pro, the internet has collectively been asking one question: you can totally snap this thing in half, right? By god, that’s JerryRigEverything’s music! And our favorite destroyer of gadgets delivered on Thursday, posting an 11-minute dive into…
Recent Posts
- HubSpot and Canva team up to level the creative playing field
- EV truck maker Nikola goes bust
- Apple TV+ releases a gritty new crime drama trailer for Dope Thief that looks like a stylish version of The Wire
- NVIDIA GeForce 5070 Ti review: A ‘sensible’ 4K powerhouse for $749
- The women who made America’s microchips and the children who paid for it
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010