Apple will not hold iPad Pro, 'AirTags' launch event on March 16

AppleInsider

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman poured cold water on rumors of a special Apple hardware event supposedly scheduled for March 16, rumblings that began making the rounds late in the week on the back of unsubstantiated tweets.

Earlier this week, Twitter accounts "LeaksApplePro" and "FrontTron" claimed Apple was planning to release a new iPad Pro models, iPad mini and "AirTags" tracking hardware at a keynote event on March 16. South Korean publication Economic Daily News subsequently picked up and ran with the uncorroborated gossip in a report that has since been cited by numerous online outlets.

"LeaksApplePro" is not known to have insight into Apple's business and has in the past made erroneous claims pertaining to new products and launch timelines. "FrontTron," meanwhile, appears to focus on Samsung devices and is largely an unknown in the Apple world. While not a purveyor of inaccurate predictions like "LeaksApplePro," "FrontTron" has no track record in the field.

On Friday, Gurman, a well-connected insider with solid Apple sources, put the nail in the coffin and confirmed on Twitter that there will be no event on March 16. While he fails to specify when the company intends to hold its typical spring event, Gurman notes "AirTags" will not be released on the 16th.

The apparently false Twitter "reports" were likely educated guesses based on legitimate reporting and historical launch dates.

Apple is anticipated to introduce new iPad hardware this spring in lockstep with its annual release cycle. Multiple reports point to an announcement sometime in March, though that date could be pushed back due to lingering development and supply chain delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

daalseth

No surprise there. The rumour sounded more like someones hope than anything. The iPP is likely, as a spec bump released to the store. The rest of the list was the wish list that's been attached to every event for the last year.

omar morales

uncorroborated gossip 

  the irony. 

edited February 2021

lkrupp

Why do people start to believe rumors (uncorroborated gossip) and then get disappointed when nothing happens? Sounds just like politics.

multimedia

A Micro or Mini LED iPad Pro would be more than a spec bump. On the other hand aren’t all new products spec bumps?

pulseimages

The iPad Mini’s design is long in the tooth and needs a redesign. 

dewme

The devil's advocate side of me thinks that stretching out upgrades to existing products helps those who own the current products. Once the new version shows up the shine on the current versions always gets taken down a few notches.

The latest iPad Mini is definitely looking a little bit left behind at this point, but functionally it is still is without equal in its class. If nothing else, updating its build to look, feel, and perform more like its siblings would not offend anyone. If I owned the latest iPad Mini I would totally understand the change - it had it coming.

I'm at a loss to articulate what's really pushing the Apple TV to change from its current version, at least the ATV 4K variation. With Apple TV and TV+ streaming functionality being baked into more and more smart TVs the ATV 4K is mostly just a way to extend access to your personal media and content and to play games. What it does, it does extremely well, but at a premium price. Apple has to either cost reduce it to compete with the "stick" devices or raise the bar by rolling out a bunch of new features that redefine what Apple TV devices are all about. I don't see myself getting excited at all about a spec bump on Apple TV devices. It needs a new focus and purpose, not simply more storage and a faster processor or better media playback capabilities. 

mplsp

lkrupp said:

Why do people start to believe rumors (uncorroborated gossip) and then get disappointed when nothing happens? Sounds just like politics.

That's half of this site! Rumors that get batted around, recycled and elaborated upon until they're treated like fact.

pulseimages said:

The iPad Mini’s design is long in the tooth and needs a redesign. 

How would you change it? make the edges square instead of rounded? Look at a comparison of all the iPads - the bezel shrinks. the contour of the edges changes and the colors change. They finally added Face ID to the iPad pro and moved the TouchID sensor in the Air - those have been the only significant changes since the ipad was introduced.

blastdoor

I predict apple will not announce anything on feb 22nd, either. 

That’s right folks, you heard it here first. You’re welcome.

detnator

pulseimages said:

The iPad Mini’s design is long in the tooth and needs a redesign. 

How would you change it? make the edges square instead of rounded? Look at a comparison of all the iPads - the bezel shrinks. the contour of the edges changes and the colors change. They finally added Face ID to the iPad pro and moved the TouchID sensor in the Air - those have been the only significant changes since the ipad was introduced.

Well.. yeah.. That's exactly how I would change it.  

I'm clamoring for a (relatively) bevel-less iPad mini.  Preferably the same screen size and smaller device, not increase the screen to fill the current device's size, but I'll take either.  I thought it was a long shot they'd ever bring the iPP features to the mini (eg. Face ID) but with last year's Air's design, with its Touch ID on the button and in other ways more affordable approach to the Pros' bevel-less design, I think they got that pretty well right.  So a redesign of the mini that matches that Air's redesign would be perfect.  As I say I'm clamoring for such a device and I wish they'd release it already.

I'm pretty sure that's what pulseimages was referring to when he/she said it needs a redesign. And if so, I agree entirely and I really hope it's coming, preferably sooner rather than later.

anantksundaram

But 2020 was the best year for Apple innovation-wise, so we're good. 

hexclock

anantksundaram said:

But 2020 was the best year for Apple innovation-wise, so we're good. 

Yup, all those new emoji everyone has been clamoring for. /s

randominternetperson

You just know that someone in the Apple Leak Elimination Department is thinking, "There might be just enough time to pull off a mid-March event..."

mplsp

hexclock said:

anantksundaram said:

But 2020 was the best year for Apple innovation-wise, so we're good. 

Yup, all those new emoji everyone has been clamoring for. /s

I was so happy when I heard about the new emoji. All these years I’ve been struggling and didn’t know why, but when I saw the new emoji I knew my life would be infinitely better. 

mplsp

Detnator said:

pulseimages said:

The iPad Mini’s design is long in the tooth and needs a redesign. 

How would you change it? make the edges square instead of rounded? Look at a comparison of all the iPads - the bezel shrinks. the contour of the edges changes and the colors change. They finally added Face ID to the iPad pro and moved the TouchID sensor in the Air - those have been the only significant changes since the ipad was introduced.

Well.. yeah.. That's exactly how I would change it.  

I'm clamoring for a (relatively) bevel-less iPad mini.  Preferably the same screen size and smaller device, not increase the screen to fill the current device's size, but I'll take either.  I thought it was a long shot they'd ever bring the iPP features to the mini (eg. Face ID) but with last year's Air's design, with its Touch ID on the button and in other ways more affordable approach to the Pros' bevel-less design, I think they got that pretty well right.  So a redesign of the mini that matches that Air's redesign would be perfect.  As I say I'm clamoring for such a device and I wish they'd release it already.

I'm pretty sure that's what pulseimages was referring to when he/she said it needs a redesign. And if so, I agree entirely and I really hope it's coming, preferably sooner rather than later.

So if they release an iPad with the same screen but a smaller bezel you’ll be happy? I don’t get it. How does that affect how you use the iPad one bit? 

Faster processor? Great. More features in iOS? wonderful? Smaller bezel - meh. Adding FaceID to the entire lineup would be really nice and is overdue IMO, but I just don’t get obsessing over things that really don’t matter, like bevel size and the edge profile. 

ramanpfaff

AirTags. For the past two years there is at least one story every week. Really hope they get released before 2026 so I only have to see another 350 rumors about them. /s

detnator

MplsP said:

Detnator said:

pulseimages said:

The iPad Mini’s design is long in the tooth and needs a redesign. 

How would you change it? make the edges square instead of rounded? Look at a comparison of all the iPads - the bezel shrinks. the contour of the edges changes and the colors change. They finally added Face ID to the iPad pro and moved the TouchID sensor in the Air - those have been the only significant changes since the ipad was introduced.

Well.. yeah.. That's exactly how I would change it.  

I'm clamoring for a (relatively) bevel-less iPad mini.  Preferably the same screen size and smaller device, not increase the screen to fill the current device's size, but I'll take either.  I thought it was a long shot they'd ever bring the iPP features to the mini (eg. Face ID) but with last year's Air's design, with its Touch ID on the button and in other ways more affordable approach to the Pros' bevel-less design, I think they got that pretty well right.  So a redesign of the mini that matches that Air's redesign would be perfect.  As I say I'm clamoring for such a device and I wish they'd release it already.

I'm pretty sure that's what pulseimages was referring to when he/she said it needs a redesign. And if so, I agree entirely and I really hope it's coming, preferably sooner rather than later.

So if they release an iPad with the same screen but a smaller bezel you’ll be happy? I don’t get it. How does that affect how you use the iPad one bit? 

Faster processor? Great. More features in iOS? wonderful? Smaller bezel - meh. Adding FaceID to the entire lineup would be really nice and is overdue IMO, but I just don’t get obsessing over things that really don’t matter, like bevel size and the edge profile. 

Well, my particular need is I want a device that’s as small as physically possible while having as much screen as possible still. There is a certain use in my car that I have for something about iPad mini size but the current mini is just slightly too big physically for the physical location in the car I want to use it in. For now, in the absence of such a device, I use my iPhone Max instead. But that screen is a little too small for this use, plus i need some of the iPadOS features that the iPhone doesn’t have.  So it’s a compromise that the iPad mini device I’m describing would resolve perfectly. 

That said... I acknowledge all of that is pretty specific and potentially unique to me. But that’s just answering your specific question as best I could. 

Still, more broadly, the whole point of the iPad mini is it’s a smaller device than the full size iPads, but to make it smaller obviously necessitates making the screen a lot smaller too - which could be argued is a compromise - or at least a compromise if said screen is any smaller than it needs to be. If the point of a mini is making it smaller, doesn’t it make sense to make it as small as possible with as little compromise to the display as possible? Doesn’t that speak to the whole point of this specific device in the first place? 

Laying my iPad mini 4 on top of my 1st gen iPad Pro 9.7” (same physical screen size as all the original iPads before they started making a myriad of screen sizes) I see that the height of the full size iPad’s display is marginally shorter than the iPad mini’s physical size.  If Apple made a full size 9.7” bezel-less iPad the physical device would be only marginally bigger than the current iPad mini. That’s one option. But I’ll argue that’s too close to what’s now the latest iPad Air, so a device with the current mini’s display size but physically smaller would make more sense to me, and be a nice sized device about midway between the largest iPhones and the otherwise smallest iPads.

I’m really hoping they make such a device for my specific use case, but also in general and in principle because of that gap it fills as well. 

edited February 2021