The next iPad Pro could be just days after launch.
David Phelan
Another rumor is about the imminent arrival of the next iPad Pro this month, so it may only be a few more days. Since there is a consensus that this means an entirely new display technology and Apple’s fastest processor to date, that’s very good news.
However, as TS Eliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month,” and if you’re part of the iPad mini design team, you might find that appropriate, as the same tipster claims the next iPad mini won’t be launched. this month after all. To be clear, Eliot’s The Waste Land talks about deeper things, but it’s the best reference to April in the opening line of any poem since Chaucer, so I wanted to quote it.
Anyway, where were we?
Ah yes, the tip comes from someone who calls himself Uncle Pan, who said on Weibo that he had dreamed of the products Apple will unveil at the ‘April conference’ – not that such an event has been confirmed – and that he believes the next iPad Pro will be unveiled as planned. He also said “the full-screen iPad mini is out of the game” and that AirPods will also be updated. More on that last piece from Gordon Kelly here on Forbes.
Will the next iPad mini have a new design, and if so, when?
Apple
Note that this doesn’t quite say there won’t be an iPad mini this month, but if there is one, it will have a design similar to the current model rather than rumors that there will be an update to one with a larger screen that omits the home button from Face ID or Touch ID in the power button, like the latest iPad Air.
Still, I’ve suspected that since that upgraded iPad mini, it’s been rumored that Apple won’t refresh its smallest tablet until it’s ready to drop the all-new model.
In that case, it looks like the iPad Pro will be the focus of this month’s unveiling. I also rule out the possibility of an update to the entry-level iPad, as Apple’s last iPad, the eighth-generation model, is only six months old.
So it looks like we can expect a blazing fast processor, probably called A14X, which will be a modified version of the A14 found in the latest iPhones and iPad Air. Rumor has it that this will be just as fast as the M1 chip on the latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, which is going to be quite astonishing.
The screen probably looks dazzling, upgraded from LED LCD to miniLED on the larger 12.9-inch model, but stays with the normal 11-inch model’s screen.
As for when we should expect this, there is a lot of confusion about this. The rumors of a March 23 event completely dissipated – but as readers of my weekly AppleUnboxed newsletter will know, I got that idea behind us weeks ago.
So if you’re pressuring me for a date, I think Tuesday April 13 or Wednesday April 14 will be when the iPad Pro (and AirPods and some accessories) are unveiled. It could be next week at the latest, but I don’t think so.
So not long.
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