Rumor: Apple's "iPad Pro" to be as thin as an iPhone, sport 12.2-inch display & extra speakers

Posted:
in iPad edited November 2014
The latest rumblings surrounding the anticipated release of a larger, education-focused iPad next year suggest the device may touch down with Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 in its crosshairs, sporting a super-slim form factor, enhanced audio, and a slightly more compact 12.2-inch display.

iPad Air
The iPad Air is currently Apple's largest tablet with a 9.7-inch display.


That's according the latest report out of the Japanese-language macotakara, which has at times unearthed details about Apple's future product designs that turn out to be fairly accurate. In this particular case, the publication cites its own sources as saying that iPad maker is specifically designing the device to play into the same markets as Microsoft's Surface Pro 3, but adds that the company may choose to employ a slightly more compact 12.2-inch display than the 12.9-inch option that is widely rumored and also used by the Surface Pro 3.

The overall design of the iPad Pro itself is said to largely resemble a jumbo iPad 2 with two additional speakers (and an additional microphone) located at the top of the device, which "might" make the iPad Pro "capable of supporting stereo audio." It reportedly won't be as thin as the 6.1mm iPad Air 2, but will still be as slim as an iPhone, measuring somewhere between the iPhone 6's 6.9mm and the iPhone 6 Pro's 7.1mm at its thickest point.

While earlier reports suggested that Apple may have been targeting the current quarter as an entry point for the new educational tablet, more recent reports have indicated that full-scale manufacturing of the device will more likely begin in the first quarter of 2015.

Apple faces a number of challenges in delivering on a so-called iPad Pro, according to Ming-Chi Kuo -- a well-connected analyst who has similarly claimed knowledge of the product under development. In addition to executing on the hardware end, he says Apple is also tasked with crafting and secretly evaluating a completely new flavor of iOS designed to take advantage of the device's much larger display real estate.

In a report on the iPad Pro back in February, Kuo accurately predicted that the iPad mini family of products would show signs of neglect this year as the company had prioritized its iPad teams on completing an all new iPad Air 2 for late 2014 and what he called a "12.9-inch iPad Pro" for 2015.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 261
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member

    Wanted to be the first to say, if the thinness is true,

    NO, Benjamin - they will NOT bend in a strong breeze...;)

  • Reply 2 of 261
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Surface Pro 3 in its crosshairs? The entire Surface line is *already* a disaster.
  • Reply 3 of 261
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    It's all about the software. A 12.2 "pro" device needs better software than the current iOS for iPad.
  • Reply 4 of 261
    ApplePay at the ready.
  • Reply 5 of 261

    Hmm...if it comes with a nicely designed stand and keyboard, some new tricks in IOS 8.2 or 9, who knows, it may just be the ideal replacement desktop for small businesses and users who are not tied-in to Winword and Excel.  Easier maintenance, less malware/virus threats and cost savings over the long-term.

     

    I know of a friend who wishes to buy a 12" inch iPad just to read his magazine subscriptions on it.  But how many people would prefer to consume media on a heavier 12" versus 5.5" plus, 7.9" mini or 9.7" Air?

     

    At the end of the day, it will all depend on softwares and what kind of new uses can be unearthed for new form factor.

  • Reply 6 of 261
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    They're not "targeting" Microsoft. Microsoft's tablets have been trivial in the marketplace. A heavy tablet with reduced battery life, coupled with a slow laptop with a poor keyboard? Worst of both worlds! Charitably: there is a small niche for that. Small is the key word.
  • Reply 7 of 261
    Just add a hypothetical MacCover Air that is a standalone Mac (like a headless MacBook Air) that I can use separately with a thunderbolt display but doubles as a keyboard cover for the iPad.

    The MacCover Air could even replace the Mac mini in the lineup.

    Then I would have the option of using the large iPad as the display for my MacCover Air. I would be able to bring an iPad and MacBook with me as one unit. And integrate the two otherwise standalone devices with handoff (even show the iPad connected in iTunes when it is serving as a Mac display)

    That would be the correct solution to the convertible. Not one device that acts as two but two devices that can MERGE to be one (like Voltron).

    When I split the devices I can use the iPad part with iOS and use handoff to pickup where I left off.
  • Reply 8 of 261
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    It's all about the software. A 12.2 "pro" device needs better software than the current iOS for iPad.



    We heard rumors about a device, possibly this larger iPad, that could run both iOS and Mac OS X. Not a hybrid version of both, but actually both, independently.

     

    Sort of like....when its docked with keyboard/track pad accessory, you automatically see OS X, when its undocked it runs iOS.

     

    After thinking a lot about that...It would be pretty cool. Basically a full blown Macbook Air with the right accessory, and full blown iPad without it. Not a bad deal.

  • Reply 9 of 261
    Originally Posted by pmz View Post

    We heard rumors about a device, possibly this larger iPad, that could run both iOS and Mac OS X. Not a hybrid version of both, but actually both, independently.



    Have we? What moron would want OS X on a touchscreen?

  • Reply 10 of 261
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    I am so tempted to get a Surface Pro 3. I am desperate for these rumours of an iPad Pro to be true, and it better have a stylus. I remain taken aback and how few people seem to want this - but making notes with accurate drawings requires a stylus. I am hoping that by the middle of next year that I will have the choice of either a Surface Pro 4 with Intel Broadwell or an iPad Pro, and the iPad Pro will be better.
  • Reply 11 of 261
    mr. hmr. h Posts: 4,870member
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">We heard rumors about a device, possibly this larger iPad, that could run both iOS and Mac OS X. Not a hybrid version of both, but</span>
    <em style="line-height:1.4em;">actually</em>
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">both, independently.</span>


    Have we? What moron would want OS X on a touchscreen?

    I think PMZ’s proposal is interesting. However, it would be ARM-based OS X so none of the current third-party OS X sotware would work. Or it would have to have an Intel processor which would make it bigger, heavier, more expensive, and have worse battery life.
  • Reply 12 of 261
    cwscws Posts: 59member
    What they are targeting is the professional laptop market. This is huge. When you equip this size tablet with an integrated keyboard/cover like the ones Logitech already makes for the iPad, every executive, manager, sales person, engineer on the planet will want to dump their heavy, clumsy laptop in favor of this device. With Microsoft already offering an excellent version of its Office software suite on the IOS platform, it's all most business users will ever need. We are talking major penetration of the enterprise with this device - many tens of millions of units per year just to the enterprise. And then their is the consumer and eduction market on top of that!
  • Reply 13 of 261
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    [why bother]
  • Reply 14 of 261
    Originally Posted by Mr. H View Post

    I think PMZ’s proposal is interesting.

     

    Look, I’m 100% for... what do we want to call it... “stronger” software on a larger touchscreen device (13”, 15”, and the desktop models). I’ve always called it OS XI, as a desktop successor to OS X.

     

    But that’s a big step and anything that comes out this year won’t be that yet. So that means just another modified iOS since OS X isn’t at all appropriate for touchscreens.

     

    Oh, OS XI won’t let you see folder trees, by the way. If anyone thinks that Apple doesn’t intend to hide them from users entirely, you’re just kidding yourself.

  • Reply 15 of 261
    Nothing "pro" about a tablet running iOS
  • Reply 16 of 261
    Originally Posted by agramonte View Post

    Nothing "pro" about a tablet running iOS

     

    Why not just go away forever?

  • Reply 17 of 261
    mac_128mac_128 Posts: 3,454member

    Have we? What moron would want OS X on a touchscreen?
    My mother. Who is not a moron ... But is so usèd to using her iPad, that she routinely tries to touch her MacBook in certain situations to close windows, select items, etc. and I have to admit I've been tempted to touch a few things myself.

    Would a limited touch implementation of touch on OS X be so bad? They would just have to code in a touch layer designed to enhance certain track pad activities. The ability to grab and move by touching for instance. Close windows, open folders. Then let the developers take advantage of that by adding more complex things to their desktop apps. That could more easily be enhanced there than in the OS.

    We all know the software has to be designed to take advantage of touch, but I don't really see the harm in an intermediate step. It wouldn't be much different than the track pad evolution, which slowly added more and more complex features. At least that's what I would propose.
  • Reply 18 of 261
    agramonte wrote: »
    Nothing "pro" about a tablet running iOS

    I use it daily for professional reasons. Maybe you're using it wrong.
  • Reply 19 of 261
    Originally Posted by Mac_128 View Post

    We all know the software has to be designed to take advantage of touch, but I don't really see the harm in an intermediate step.



    iOS is the intermediary.

  • Reply 20 of 261
    "Well-connected analyst"
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