Big changes expected for iPad family in 2024

AppleInsider

The iPad lineup is anticipated to get a number of significant changes in 2024, a newsletter believes, including a big-screen iPad Air, faster standard and iPad mini models, and a Pro line revamp.

The 2022 12.9-inch iPad Pro on the Magic Keyboard

Apple's iPad family didn't get a single update in 2023, with the last major change happening in October 2022. While 2023 is a bust for the tablet collection, Apple is seemingly planning quite a lot for the range in 2024.

Outlining the changes in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that major changes are due for the range. The list is headed up by the iPad Pro getting a revamp, though with no mention of what that entails.

There have been rumors that OLED display production for the iPad Pro will start in February, which could lead to a release later in the year.

Gurman goes on to add that the iPad Air will have the "option of a larger screen." Rumors about the model claim the screen could be 12.9 inches in size, matching the larger iPad Pro.

The iPad mini and entry-level iPad will apparently be updated with "faster chips," he writes. This does seem likely, as a spec bump update would be the minimum change Apple would make to a major product like the iPad range, and with over a year since the last one, it looks very plausible.

Gurman's Sunday musings are somewhat reminiscent of the pronouncement he made on December 6. At that time, he discussed the 12.9-inch iPad Air rumor, along with iPad Pro with OLED, as well as a new Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

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rogue01

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

byronl

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

MacOS is not made for touch

nubus

byronl said:

Rogue01 said:

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

MacOS is not made for touch

One could argue that iPad is only in part built for touch. Went to an Apple Store this week. Apple displayed all models with keyboards attached.
Is iPad in fact a Mac stuck to "At Ease" instead of Finder with the option to be used with touch?
Why not give iPad a full Finder or macOS, when a keyboard is connected? The hardware is able to.

As for hardware, there are too many models and variants. And there are not enough. Why can't we decide on memory in a Pro? 

But why iPad? Display size, performance, and battery life were the original USPs when compared to Mac and iPhone. Now iPhone is just as fast and display sizes have increased. MBA battery life has moved from 3 hours to all day with prices dropping. iPad has touch and Pencil, but we're not all that creative. I have been using iPad since day 1, I have created apps and content for iPad, but today... why iPad? It will stay, but it feels more niche than ever. How can iPad stay relevant?

davgreg

 My iPads are the large Pro and the Mini. Both are excellent.

Only complaint is the pricing of the keyboard case on the Pro. I think it is a bit excessive even by Apple standards of pricing. Hopefully going to M3 will give better battery life. The Pro does use the battery quickly.

tht

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

Modern day PC operating systems be it macOS, MS Windows, or Linux don’t work that well on 10” displays. All the apps are designed for 13” displays or larger. You could use them on 12”, maybe 10” displays, but they are not that usable. 

I’ve said it before, all laptops that start out with 10” displays, gradually become 13” display laptops. It happened with Netbooks. It happened with Chromebooks. Apple’s last two laptops at 11.6” and 12.1” only survived being in the market for 3 or for years before being retired. 

So, it would be no different if macOS was put on iPads. It won’t work out. The displays are too small for macOS. 

A loud subset of iPad users, including me, want it to have all the features of macOS. Apple doesn’t want to enable it. They are segmenting iPads such that they are more capable than iPhones, but less capable than Macs. 

The smaller display sizes and this segmentation is probably why iPadOS’s multitasking is a kludge. The iPad UI team has some strange ideas. 

edited December 2023

mattinoz

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

Or do what they need to do, let complex Apps run on a sandboxed OS (or lift the sandbox*). Seems to me that iPadOS is already as capable as macOS already geared to multiple input methods, it is really lacking in some flexibility that is needed for more complex apps. Scripting, Peripherals, etc, that surely someone in Apple is smart enough to find away of working that doesn't break the security model. 


*not advocating for this option just acknowledging it.

tht

Outlining the changes in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes that major changes are due for the range. The list is headed up by the iPad Pro getting a revamp, though with no mention of what that entails.

The rumors as I recall over the years are:

1. Glass back, new industrial design
2. Induction charging - both source and sink
3. Tandem layer OLED display
4. Bigger displays 14+ inch class
5. A lot more expensive
6. The usual chip, sensor improvements
7. New case designs, including keyboard cases

If the recent past is any indication, the industrial design will follow the MBP, MBA and iPhone 15 Pro design language. The bottom edges will be more rounded. With the iPad 10th gen taking a half step toward being a landscape first device, the 2024 iPad Pro might go all the way where the Apple logo and Face ID sensor cluster will be in landscape orientation.

With the new Apple Pencil the way it is, I'm wondering if induction charging and side mounting will go away. I don't like the magnetic attachment for the Pencil. It should either be in a silo or just a separate device. I'd actually prefer that they discretize the capacitive layer, have the route for lighting up pixels a more direct one, instead of relying on BT or wireless.

I'm indifferent on the keyboard cases. I use an iPad as a tablet all the way, touchscreen keyboard and all. So, would like to see a lot of improvements to the iPadOS touch UI. I have a lot ideas for what those should do after 6 years using my iPP10.5 as a tablet only device. There are a lot of things they can do both hardware and software, imo.

chasm

All I know is that I have an 11-inch iPad Pro, and I enjoy using it so much that I doubt I'm ever going to buy a MacBook Pro again. I simply don't need a portable Mac; the iPad does everything I need when I'm away from my home or office, making it (for me) the ultimate portable.

I like having something with both a simpler OS and smaller/lighter than the Mac for travel. For me, the Mac is mostly about "work" or heavier-duty stuff, and the iPad is fantastic for lighter apps, games, entertainment, etc.

PS. I don't use the Apple Pencil that often, but I have the one that charges magnetically on the side, and as far as I'm concerned Apple has simply bloated the lineup and confused potential buyers with this inferior new one.

cheesefreeze

I have an unpopular opinion :-)
Which will never happen. 

Apple should reposition the iPad as the consumer device again. Deprioritize the “pro” and wanting it to be a productivity device, which IMHO is already solved for with the Mac.
iPadOS doesn’t make for a good productivity machine. It’s too much iOS based and they cannot fix it unless Apple negatively impacts what are now considered the strengths of the consumer side of the iPad.

Focus on families and price the devices accordingly. It’s just too expensive now. Focus on creatives with the pen which then are the prosumer exception. 

Then, for the Mac, consider detachable screens or anything to support a macOS based touch experience; as soon as macOS knows you enter “touch mode” by disconnecting your screen and using it as a tablet, it can adjust its UI accordingly, more akin to iPadOS.
Apps would obviously need to be designed around this principle. 

hexclock

In my professional life, most iPads I see serve a support role to change faders on audio or lighting rigs.  The MacOS is in a rack box somewhere, and the iPad just controls the software remotely.   

Different people need the OS to do other things, but for that role, it’s great. 

tht

CheeseFreeze said:

I have an unpopular opinion :-)
Which will never happen. 

Apple should reposition the iPad as the consumer device again. Deprioritize the “pro” and wanting it to be a productivity device, which IMHO is already solved for with the Mac.
iPadOS doesn’t make for a good productivity machine. It’s too much iOS based and they cannot fix it unless Apple negatively impacts what are now considered the strengths of the consumer side of the iPad.

Focus on families and price the devices accordingly. It’s just too expensive now. Focus on creatives with the pen which then are the prosumer exception. 

Then, for the Mac, consider detachable screens or anything to support a macOS based touch experience; as soon as macOS knows you enter “touch mode” by disconnecting your screen and using it as a tablet, it can adjust its UI accordingly, more akin to iPadOS.
Apps would obviously need to be designed around this principle. 

Isn't this just the current iPad strategy save for a macOS touch layer? And, you can basically argue that with higher end iPads supporting Stage Manager, that's the "touch mode" in macOS.

iPad lineup:
$330 iPad 9th gen
$450 iPad 10th gen
$500 iPad mini
$600 iPad Air

That's a nice spread of consumer iPad options for customers to choose from. And, it looks like they are adding an iPad Air 13" option next year.

Like I said in my other post, screen size is hugely important to how things can get done and what you can do on a device. OEMs have been capable of building 5" to 12" mini-PCs, and have shipped them, for more than 20 years now. They are basically a gadget niche and there are fundamental human factors reasons for such devices just being a small niche for gadget lovers.

If you are going to use macOS, it has to be on a 13" display and larger. It's basically the size of an 11x8, 11x7 size of piece of paper, which itself has had centuries (?) to get there. Something about the optimum size for the optimum amount of words for human readable font sizes at 15 to 25 inches away from your face.

As the display sizes get smaller, the limitations on what you can do gets bigger and bigger. You end up single tasking, where it is one app at a time just like it is with iPads and iPhones. At phone sizes, the functionality of apps themselves are even more constrained. On the Watch? You are barely even interacting anymore and you only see like 10 pieces of information at time.

iPadOS's "issues" on the high end isn't a GUI problem per se. It's really a functionality problem and Apple is doing it on purpose. People want unlimited background tasking, access to Unix CLI, sideloading (because pro apps are not going to accept the App Store fees), and at the least, tunnels between sandboxes for a lot more kinds of data. They could do it now with the same iPadOS UI and most people would be happy.

sirlance99

byronl said:

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

MacOS is not made for touch

But it could easily be!

applezulu

sirlance99 said:

byronl said:

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

MacOS is not made for touch

But it could easily be!

MacOS runs Mac Pro all the way down to a MacBook Air. Trying to make it do touch so it’ll work on an iPad as well is the sort of bloatware all-things-to-all-people approach that makes MS Windows so awful. Apple isn’t going to do that. 

hexclock

sirlance99 said:

byronl said:

Rogue01 said:

How are there big changes when Gurman has no idea?  'A revamp, but no mention of what that entails'.  Typical Gurman response.

They can do whatever hardware changes they want, it still runs iPadOS and baby iPad apps, so the base model and the iPad Pro both do the exact same thing, with similar performance.  Neither can take full advantage of the SoC.    The only real revamp was in 2018.  Since then, each new iPad has been exactly like the previous one.  So they are going to waste M3 chips in an iPad when they should be using them in the rest of the Mac lineup.  Same reviews each year, great hardware, but limited by the OS.

Apple needs to scrap iPadOS and just put macOS on the iPad since the hardware is now the same.

MacOS is not made for touch

But it could easily be!

Or not. Apple has probably done the R&D, and probably have a prototype stashed away somewhere. Perhaps they have decided that, as a practical matter, touch MacOS just doesn’t work well enough to make the effort worth it. 

edited December 2023