Apple has ended its iPad drought that lasted well over a year by launching the first OLED version of the device. In a surprise move, the latest iPad Pro (instead of the MacBook) has become the first machine to be powered by Apple’s own silicon, the M4, which will help bolster the company’s artificial intelligence-focused goals in a market that is seeing big strides from Microsoft and Google.

The latest introductions, including new versions of the iPad Air, may help turn around revenues from the iPad, which in the company’s recent Q2 earnings report came to $5.6 billion, slightly down from the year before.

The new iPad Pro — coming in 11-inch and 13-inch options — will be able to satisfy the core needs of the creator community, which normally turns to the MacBook Pro.

The hunger on Wall Street for AI-focused devices is expected to be satisfied by the M4 chip. Since the new devices are coming ahead of Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, the company perhaps will use the June 10 event to speak about features that will be enabled by the new chip.

“The new iPad Pro with M4 is a great example of how building best-in-class custom silicon enables breakthrough products,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice-president of Hardware Technologies. “The power-efficient performance of M4, along with its new display engine, makes the thin design and game-changing display of iPad Pro possible, while fundamental improvements to the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and memory system make M4 extremely well suited for the latest applications leveraging AI. Altogether, this new chip makes iPad Pro the most powerful device of its kind.”

The OLED dream for the iPad Pro has been there for a long time. The technology allows deeper blacks, better contrast and improved HDR. The 11-inch and 13-inch versions are the thinnest Apple products ever.

Also introduced are new models of the iPad Air, which come with the M2 chip, and revamped Apple Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil. The unique feature of the new Apple Pencil Pro allows out-of-the-box interactions and the haptic engine can offer precise feedback and now supports the “Find My” feature. Developers can create their custom interactions for the Pencil Pro.

The new iPad Pro also aligns with the vision of Steve Jobs, who before his death in 2011, declared that the iPad to be the future of computing. He famously said “PCs are going to be like trucks”, used by users for a dwindling set of power tasks while “cars” would be the iPad and phones. Apple CEO Tim Cook said these are “the biggest update for the iPad since its introduction”.

The 11-inch iPad Pro begins at Rs 99,900 in India.

Google is expected to talk about AI features during its annual conference on May 14.

(The reporter is in London on an invitation from Apple, which is taking care of travel and accommodation.)