Talk of Apple’s new iPad Pro has been circulating for a while and now a 30 October launch is confirmed. Here’s everything you need to know.
A new 2018 iPad Pro will be shown off tomorrow, 30 October.
Late-March yielded a new 9.7-inch iPad (non-Pro), but there wasn’t action on the iPad Pro during the first part of 2018 as we’d expected.
Here we break down the rumours so you know what to expect from the new Apple iPad Pro. New Apple iPad Pro release date Launching Tuesday 30 October Several references in beta software code
The last iPad Pro to launch was the Apple iPad Pro 10.5 in June 2017, along with a spec-updated iPad Pro 12.9 .
However, Apple has now sent out invites to an event tomorrow, 30 October and what’s more, the « There’s more in the making invites » appear to be one of a number of bespoke iPad Pencil drawings – so we’re also thinking there might be a new Apple Pencil, too.
Here’s the invite that was sent to Pocket-lint:
Apple will announce new iPad Pro on 30 October – but what else? https://t.co/y9fd0NjMH5 pic.twitter.com/GTcPYDfWWA
— Pocket-lint (@Pocketlint) October 18,2018
New Apple iPad Pro design Slimmer bezels coming Premium aluminium build likely to remain 3.5mm headphone socket to be removed
For the iPhone X Apple ditched Touch ID and the home button in favour of Face ID. On the design front, this meant that Apple could remove the button and fill that space with screen instead and it looks like that will also happen on the new iPad.
It seems certain that the do the same with the iPad Pro and move across to Face ID on the iPad Pro. Contrary to earlier rumour, it will work in portrait and landscape.
Bezels are generally considered useful when it comes to physically holding a tablet, but slim bezels do make the iPad look more desirable and there has been a further leak of a thin-bezel iPad in the latest iOS 12.1 beta. We’re not expecting an iPhone X-style notch.
Here’s an earlier render video based on the rumoured design:
The iPad Pro chassis will remain aluminium. We doubt that Apple would use glass for the body because of the potential for breaks and the weight compared to aluminium on a larger device like this.
We’d expect the Smart Connector to remain intact, as well as the four-speaker array. We are now expecting a new rear Magnetic Connector to replace the Smart Connector on the side, used for connecting the Smart Keyboard. This will obviously mean new accessories such a new Smart Keyboard.
We also expect the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack in favour of Bluetooth audio, something Japanese blog Macotakara also suggests .
According to an early September 2018 report from analyst Mi-Chin Kuo and later by Bloomberg, Apple is about to swap the Lightning connector for a USB-C port.
We still think this is a little unlikely, although the iPad Pro could introduce a USB-C charger which would be able to fast charge the iPad Pro via a USB-C to Lightning cable. There have been further reports of 4K HDR video being able to be transferred or USB-C to an external display, but we’re taking that with a pinch of salt. Apple iPad Pro 10.5 vs iPad Pro 12.9: What’s the difference? New iPad Pro display 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch models expected 12.9-inch model could come with smaller footprint 120Hz refresh rate likely on both
The Apple iPad Pro is currently available in a 10.5-inch model and a 12.9-inch model, with the smaller model replacing the original 9.7-inch model that kickstarted the Pro line.
According to Bloomberg, the next iPad Pro model will offer a « similar » screen size as the 10.5-inch model, though the 12.9-inch model wasn’t mentioned. If it does appear, we’d expect the same size slotting into a smaller footprint.
Could Apple switch to OLED like the iPhone X or stick with LCD? The latter is expected due to « technical and financial constraints ». So it looks like LCD will be the way of things.
The new iPad Pro should also come with Apple’s True Tone tech, adapting the colour and intensity of the display to match your environment.
In terms of resolution, the current iPad Pro 10.5 features 2,224 x 1,668, while the iPad Pro 12.9 has a 2,732 x 2,048 resolution. Both result in a pixel density of 264ppi. It is not yet clear whether Apple will increase the resolution but both will likely support a 120Hz refresh rate as the current iPad Pro 10.5 does. New Apple iPad Pro cameras Face ID predicted for next iPad Pro models
The biggest change to the front camera is likely to be the adoption of the iPhone X’s Face ID setup and Animoji and Memoji feature, the latter of which was hinted at in the beta build of iOS 12.1 found by 9to5Mac that talked about the « iPad2018Fall ». Currently, no iPad offers Memoji support so it’s a big hint the new model will.
Another big giveaway that Face ID is coming to the iPad is a new Face ID and Passcode settings menu in iOS 12 for iPad, where you can set up Face ID and choose which features you want to use it to unlock.
The Face ID setup UI is finally working on iPad. Clearly not done yet as can be seen by the descriptions mentioning « iPhone ». But it’s a start:) pic.twitter.com/PVQgfbne15
— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) June 5,2018
Beyond Face ID support, we’re lacking in information about the cameras in particular. The current iPad Pro models have a 12-megapixel rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture, optical image stabilisation and a Quad-LED True Tone flash, while the front camera is 7-megapixels. We can’t see this arrangement changing. What is Apple’s Face ID and how does it work? New Apple iPad Pro hardware A12 Bionic chip expected Storage likely to remain same Four-speaker audio and Smart Connector expected
The current iPad Pros feature the A10X Fusion chip with 64-bit architecture and an embedded M10 coprocessor.
The iPhone XS, XS Max and XR feature the A12 Bionic chip with neural engine with embedded coprocessor so we’d expect this platform to make its way onto the new iPad Pros. Bloomberg also says there will be an Apple custom graphics chip, too.
Current storage options of the iPad Pro devices sit at 64GB, 256GB and 512GB, none of which offer microSD support for storage expansion.
