The year 2015 was an odd one for Apple's tablet business. In the face of falling sales of its previously evergreen 9.7in iPad, it decided against an incremental update to what is already a fine tablet and decided a shake-up was in order. Instead, it launched the 12.9in iPad Pro, a tablet - it seems - designed specifically to go up against the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, and prevent it having the whole of the hybrid market all to itself.

With that in mind, the iPad Pro is a dramatically different device to previous iPads, but despite this, one glance tells you this is still very much an Apple iPad, thanks to its glass front and aluminium rear, chamfered-edge front and all-over immaculate build quality. It has an identical design to the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4. The front is all display, surrounded by narrow bezels on the longer sides and wider ones at top and bottom. A camera lens peeps out from the centre at the top and the home button with Touch ID capabilities nestles at the bottom.

Every other detail, almost, is the same as on the smaller-screened Apple tablets. Power button on the top edge: check. Volume up and down buttons on the right edge: check. Whacking great Apple logo on the middle of the back: check. On the Wi-Fi and cellular model – plastic stripe on the back and SIM card slot on the right edge: check and check. Single loudspeaker on bottom edge: oh, hold on.

The iPad Pro, uniquely in Apple's iPad range, has four speakers, two on the top and two on the bottom edge. As you'd imagine, this design change seriously upgrades the tablet's audio capabilities.

There's one other difference: on the left edge, three small circles sit innocuously in the middle. These form the Smart Connector, which attaches Apple's Smart Keyboard or third-party accessories such as the Logitech Create keyboard case.

For all the similarities to previous iPads, the Pro has one major difference: its size. The 12.9in display may not sound much bigger than the previous iPad's 9.7in screen, but it looks huge in comparison.

It's much heavier than the iPad Air 2, but still lighter than the first iPad, weighing 713g for the Wi-Fi-only edition, and 723g for the Wi-Fi and 4G model. That's heavier than many rival tablets, but it still feels light relative to its size.