A KGI report in August said that Apple was planning to launch three new iPads in 2017, and suggested that the 9.7-inch model would grow in size slightly to 10.5-inches. A Macotakara piece today also suggests three new iPad Pro models are coming up in the spring of next year, with some details overlapping the KGI report and others differing.
Makotakara supports the idea of a slightly larger standard-sized iPad Pro, though it suggests the diagonal screen size will be 10.1 rather than 10.5 inches. The larger screen size will be achieved by making the external dimensions 1cm longer and 0.5cm wide, it says …
While some had wondered whether Apple would continue to develop the iPad mini line now that it has larger iPhones, the report says that a new model is on the way, which will also get the ‘Pro’ suffix.
iPad mini 4 will renew as iPad Pro (7.9-inch), get Smart Connector, and change into the specification of 4 speakers audio. Also, the iSight camera of 12 million pixels, True Tone flash, and True Tone display correspondence to Display P3 [DCI-P3 wider color gamut aka True Tone display] seem to be adopted.
The report doesn’t say so, but if the Smart Connector makes it into the iPad mini, it seems likely that it will be included in the 10-inch model too. The report also suggests that all three models will be upgraded to quad microphones.
Finally, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be upgraded to the 12MP camera and True Tone flash from the current 9.7-inch model, along with the True Tone display.
There was no mention of the low-cost 9.7-inch iPad suggested by KGI.
With Apple dropping the 3.5mm headphone socket from the iPhone 7, many of us had wondered whether it would follow suit on the iPad, but Makotakara says not: all three models will retain the socket, it claims. There’s also no word on whether next year’s iPad will retain a mechanical Home button or switch to the touch-sensitive version used in the iPhone 7.
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