Now, there's more to that sense of smoothness than an improved screen. The Pro 10.5 uses a new A10X Fusion chipset; it's a more powerful version of the chip we got in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, though it's not clear how much RAM there is inside. Older iPad Pros had already reached the point where everything felt seamlessly smooth, so you might not notice a difference just swiping around and launching apps. Where all that extra horsepower should shine is when it's applied to graphically intense games, not to mention the forthcoming iOS 11 update.

These Pros were running an early version of iOS 11, as you could probably tell by the dock at the bottom of the home screen. To be clear, you are definitely not getting features like that when the 10.5-inch Pro launches next week. It's still iOS 10 all the way. The wait may be a tough one though: Apple showed off a load of new features that should make iPads more capable across the board. You'll be able to access the dock while using apps to launch other ones and even drag them into the two-paned multi-window mode. You can now drag content back and forth between apps too, a handy touch for multitaskers. And some other features, like swiping up with four fingers to see all your running apps, feel a lot like ones already baked into macOS.

In other words, the line between iPads and Macs is blurring.

With a blend of improved hardware and a smarter OS, the new iPad Pro seems poised to shine when it starts shipping next week. Stick around for a full review shortly.

Get all the latest news from WWDC 2017 here!