Mike Wuerthele
According to supply chain rumors, Apple is planning to update the 9.7- and 12.9-inch iPad Pro line, in conjunction with releasing a bezel-less 10.9-inch iPad in a March release event.
Barclays analysts, also responsible for information repeating previous "iPhone 8" rumors on Friday, claim that the new 10.9-inch iPad will feature the same enclosure size as the 9.7-inch iPad pro, but omitting the bezel on the side of the case. This is now the third size reported to be under development in the 10-inch to 11-inch range for a future iPad.
Also reiterating previous rumors, Barclays claims that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will not be a premium model, despite it's "pro" nomenclature, and be "low-cost" sold aside the 7.9-inch iPad mini. If the reports are accurate, the iPad mini will not see improvements in early 2017, despite some earlier rumors from October suggesting otherwise.
As with Friday's "iPhone 8" rumors, there is really nothing new, or any actual confirmation of previous rumors. The analyst report appears to be little more than repetition of previous rumors, or identical rumors collected from the same source as previous reports.
Earlier rumors peg the 12.9-inch iPad Pro refresh to get a full True Tone display like the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, with similar ambient light sensing equipment as the smaller model.
Christine McKee
Amber Neely
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
34 Comments
I'd love a bezel-free iPad and iPhone, but I really hope they've perfect the palm/finger rejection technology. Not sure what the SE is supposed to have, but when typing in landscape mode, other parts of my hand routinely cause problems. Is pal, rejection software or hardware based, or both?
Tech amazes you what it can do. Looks like bezel-less is the new theme for 2017 phones and tablets.
Definitely some low prices on the 12-inch now, as who would not wait for the better screen? Not sure why you would have a 10.9 and a 9.7 fitting within the same physical form factor. If they can make it without the bezel **and it's better**, I would expect Apple to do that for all models.
Sounds good to me.
I can wait until March to buy an iPad Pro.
The only thing that seems strange is if they make a bezelless 10.9 model, then why don't they make a bezelless 12.9 model?
That doesn't make much sense, and I'll have to see what the deal is with the 10.9 model, if and when such an iPad does get released.
I would love to get a 12.9 pro because I love to draw, but it seems to me like specialized apps and OS optimization is moving quite slow. So I'm still on a wait and see mode for now.