This month, it’s expected Apple will launch not one but two new iPads. And exactly when they will launch has just had corroboration from a leading industry insider. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, the next Apple tablest are coming “very soon”.
You can read my analysis of precisely when the announcement of the iPads will be made here.
But now, Mark Gurman has chipped in with what he thinks is coming and when. Here’s what we know.
There’s no special event this month
I wasn’t sure before, but given that Apple sends out its invites to press events at least a week in advance, sometimes two, the prospect of a press event this month is slipping away fast. Since my guess for an event date was Tuesday, October 18, the week before has now passed.
So, I believe the new tablets will be announced by press release. This times with Gurman’s view that the iPad Pro “is arriving in a matter of days”. He points out that this is the first update to the Pro tablet in 18 months. He says, and I agree, the big change will be the inclusion of the M2 processor that was released a couple of months back for the latest MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro.
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The Pro looks like the last model…
There’s no significant design change to the new iPad Pro, Gurman says. He points out that the original iPad Pro styling was changed after three years, but this flat-edged look is sticking around for a fourth year.
What’s interesting is that Gurman previously said the next iPad Pro could have a glass back to permit wireless charging but as there’s now no mention of this now, it looks like that isn’t happening.
Similarly, there have been no recent reports that the 11-inch iPad Pro will have the miniLED backlighting found on the 12.9-inch model. This was another rumor some months ago but its silence more recently suggests it was misplaced.
…but the new iPad will be radically different
The new entry-level tablet will have a design much closer to the iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad mini. About time, you might say, but this is a big change nonetheless. As Gurman says, the usual process for the entry-level iPad is mostly focused on improving the processor and only occasionally the design.
Even then, a change like this is way bigger than in recent years. Recent reports claim that the next iPad will have a cliff-edge shape with, for the first time ever, no Touch ID on the front of the tablet. Instead, it’s thought that the fingerprint sensor will be relocated to the power button, like on the iPad Air and iPad mini.
New software, too
Apple has previously said that the next version of iPad software, iPadOS 16, will be released in October, so that’s not long to wait. It will launch, counter-intuitively, with iOS 16.1. I’d expect the software release to arrive in the next few days.
New Macs?
Gurman says new Mac laptops with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are imminent, but these may not arrive at the same time as the iPad Pro. Personally, I’d think they are only days away as well, just not quite as close as the tablets.
