The impossibly thin M4 iPad Pro has bendgate protections built in thanks to this design change, breaking YouTuber hearts everywhere

iPad Pro with M4 at Apple's Battersea headquarters
(Image credit: Future)

Apple might not have entered the foldable phone market just yet, but the company does have an unwanted history of making devices that bend instead. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus famously had a flaw that made them unfortunately easy to bend. And then there was an iPad Pro that found itself in a similar position. But buyers of the impossibly thin M4 iPad Pro need not worry about a repeat performance.

When Apple announced the new iPad Pro last week it made quite the big deal of just how thin it is, especially if you go for the larger 13-inch model. At just 5.1mm thin, it's the slimmest device Apple has ever made, which might make you worry about its rigidity.

But thankfully, Apple foresaw your concerns and added a handy design change to address them. And in the process, it also broke the hearts of countless YouTubers who already had all-new Bendgate videos planned.

Not-so-flexible iPad

The good news comes via YouTuber Arun Maini who shared a clip on the X social network in which he had it confirmed by Apple that the new iPad Pro won't flex quite as much as you might expect.

In short, Apple has added a new metal cowling that is designed to cover the entire logic board and then run down the center of the tablet, adding some much-needed structural support as it goes.

The upshot? Your new iPad Pro won't bend as much as its diminutive measurements might have you think, which is a good thing to be sure. You might be unlikely to fit that 13-inch tablet in your back pocket, but nobody wants to take a $1,299 tablet out of their bag and find that it's no longer quite as flat as it used to be.

The new M4 iPad Pro is available for preorder right now and will go on sale on May 15.

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Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.