Newly-discovered iOS icon confirms small bezels, other changes in 2018 iPad Pros

Posted:
in iPad
An icon found within iOS apparently validates most recent rumors about Apple's 2018 iPad Pro redesign, which should be unveiled on Tuesday.

Apple's 2018 iPad Pro icon.
Apple's 2018 iPad Pro icon.


The icon shows much smaller bezels than 2017 models, and no sign of a home button, as claimed in numerous reports. Also visible are rounded corners, something seen in leaked renders.

Though it's difficult to tell for sure, the icon at least seems consistent with rumors that Apple plans to square off the sides in a throwback to devices like the iPhone SE. That could make new iPads easier to hold while allowing Apple more internal design space.

The icon was uncovered by 9to5Mac.

2018 Pros are generally expected to come in 10.5- and 12.9-inch sizes, equipped with faster "A12X" processors, TrueDepth cameras for Face ID and animoji, and USB-C in place of Lightning. The last would be a radical change for Apple's product line, but bolster the product's "professional" credibility.

AppleInsider will be at Oct. 30's "There's more in the making" event. Keep up with our coverage by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a Liquid Retina display rather than OLED.
  • Reply 2 of 34
    simply258 said:
    I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a Liquid Retina display rather than OLED.
    No doubt. An OLED display would make it much more expensive. It’s at least two or three years away I think. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 34
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    I love OLED since I got Xs. I love how deep blacks are. On my iPad Pro, the blacks are not deep, they kinda "glow" which is annoying especially when you're viewing letterboxed videos. They need to hurry up the microLED development because it would be much a welcome change since it should provide deep blacks as well. I don't think we'll ever have OLED for iPad Pros or monitors because there's a signifiant risk of burn ins and don't have long lifespan as LCD. microLED on the other hand should offer the advantages of OLED and LCD - better efficiency, more light, and longer lifespan.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 34
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,415member
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
  • Reply 5 of 34
    I like the fact Apple keeps improving the iPad/iPad Pro and isn’t abandoning the tablet market like all the Android vendors are. 
    vukasikaiqatedowatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 34
    I'm loving this iPad update. Sine iOS 11, I pretty much stopped carrying a laptop with me.  I just travel with a good keyboard if I think I may have need to type something sizable while I'm on the road.  On the rare occasion the I need to access my full Mac OS on my 5k iMac, I use Screens Connect for remote access. The more I hear about the event in 2 days, the less likely I am to change my mobile strategy.  
    chiaStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 34
    I like the fact Apple keeps improving the iPad/iPad Pro and isn’t abandoning the tablet market like all the Android vendors are. 
    Google really made a dead end out of the Android tablet market.  Since there apps were never more that bigger versions of the phone app, the section never matured into anything.  It was stunned from birth into a phablet space. As phone got bigger, the market segment for a small tablet have dried up.  I'm honestly surprised Apple is rumored to be doing an iPad mini update.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 34
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Apples 2018 iPad Pro icon
    Stunning.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 34
    hentaiboyhentaiboy Posts: 1,252member
    I like the fact Apple keeps improving the iPad/iPad Pro
    Yes except the price keeps on going up. Remember when the $399 iPad was the best iPad?*

    *capacity aside
  • Reply 10 of 34
    netrox said:
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
    And possibly how to pick it up for correct orientation for FaceID. It could be that FaceID requires a button (portrait) or buttons (landscape) on the top edge to unlock; button(s) oriented on the bottom edge might be “upside down”, and not work. 
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 11 of 34
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    netrox said:
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
    And possibly how to pick it up for correct orientation for FaceID. It could be that FaceID requires a button (portrait) or buttons (landscape) on the top edge to unlock; button(s) oriented on the bottom edge might be “upside down”, and not work. 
    iPad with touchID works in any orrientation if FaceID doesn't/can't match that it shouldn't ship. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 34
    mattinoz said:
    netrox said:
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
    And possibly how to pick it up for correct orientation for FaceID. It could be that FaceID requires a button (portrait) or buttons (landscape) on the top edge to unlock; button(s) oriented on the bottom edge might be “upside down”, and not work. 
    iPad with touchID works in any orrientation if FaceID doesn't/can't match that it shouldn't ship. 
    It hasn’t worked in any orientation on the iPhone X/XS and it’s been shipping for two (model) years. We already know FaceID works in portrait and landscape on the iPad, and that might be due to having TrueDepth camera system on both a long and short edge. 360° unlock orientation is a nice to have, but not a necessity—I’d say the same about TouchID, though it’s trivial to do 360° unlock with TouchID.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 34
    simply258 said:
    I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a Liquid Retina display rather than OLED.
    No doubt. An OLED display would make it much more expensive. It’s at least two or three years away I think. 
    Too expensive ? Yeah, right. More Apple marketing deception. Like the ridiculous premium for a 316L Stanless Steel Apple Watch, despite the reality that 316L stainless steel typically sells for slightly less than the slightly more expensive aluminum the much cheaper Apple Watch is made from. But stainless steel “looks” more expensive. Samsung S series tablets have been using OLED displays for years and they cost less than iPad Pros. An HP envy laptop I had almost a decade ago came with and OLED display. While Apple has created a super nice LCD for the iPad Pro, the lack of an OLED is pretty much inxcuseable at its price point. It’s not the cost. It’s the fact Apple customers will buy it anyways. Lest you think I’m anti-Apple our 3 person household has more than a dozen Apple devices.... we are all in on Apple. I personally have an iPad Pro 10.5 and have had the 9.7 and a gen1 12.9 Pro. Also have an Apple Watch 4 and iPhone XS Max among many other Apple devices. This intentional major deception, specifically with Apple Watch pricing greatly weakens Apple’s moral authority. Tom Cook is surely smart enough to realize this. So if he truly wants to help social causes like diversity and personal privacy, why does he allow this sort of deception to continue?
    edited October 2018
  • Reply 14 of 34
    vukasika said:
    I like the fact Apple keeps improving the iPad/iPad Pro and isn’t abandoning the tablet market like all the Android vendors are. 
    Google really made a dead end out of the Android tablet market.  Since there apps were never more that bigger versions of the phone app, the section never matured into anything.  It was stunned from birth into a phablet space. As phone got bigger, the market segment for a small tablet have dried up.  I'm honestly surprised Apple is rumored to be doing an iPad mini update.
    Google shifted their strategy for tablets.  Their new strategy involves ChromeOS and 2-in-1s (Pixel Slate)
  • Reply 15 of 34
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    mattinoz said:
    netrox said:
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
    And possibly how to pick it up for correct orientation for FaceID. It could be that FaceID requires a button (portrait) or buttons (landscape) on the top edge to unlock; button(s) oriented on the bottom edge might be “upside down”, and not work. 
    iPad with touchID works in any orrientation if FaceID doesn't/can't match that it shouldn't ship. 
    Nonsense. Sure it would be nice, but even without it’s better. 
  • Reply 16 of 34
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member

    dpkroh said:
    simply258 said:
    I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a Liquid Retina display rather than OLED.
    No doubt. An OLED display would make it much more expensive. It’s at least two or three years away I think. 
    Too expensive ? Yeah, right. More Apple marketing deception. Like the ridiculous premium for a 316L Stanless Steel Apple Watch, despite the reality that 316L stainless steel typically sells for slightly less than the slightly more expensive aluminum the much cheaper Apple Watch is made from. But stainless steel “looks” more expensive. Samsung S series tablets have been using OLED displays for years and they cost less than iPad Pros. An HP envy laptop I had almost a decade ago came with and OLED display. While Apple has created a super nice LCD for the iPad Pro, the lack of an OLED is pretty much inxcuseable at its price point. It’s not the cost. It’s the fact Apple customers will buy it anyways. Lest you think I’m anti-Apple our 3 person household has more than a dozen Apple devices.... we are all in on Apple. I personally have an iPad Pro 10.5 and have had the 9.7 and a gen1 12.9 Pro. Also have an Apple Watch 4 and iPhone XS Max among many other Apple devices. This intentional major deception, specifically with Apple Watch pricing greatly weakens Apple’s moral authority. Tom Cook is surely smart enough to realize this. So if he truly wants to help social causes like diversity and personal privacy, why does he allow this sort of deception to continue?
    What evidence do you have that AW alumnimum costs more than the steel material and process in the AW SS?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 34
    dpkroh said:
    simply258 said:
    I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a Liquid Retina display rather than OLED.
    No doubt. An OLED display would make it much more expensive. It’s at least two or three years away I think. 
    Too expensive ? Yeah, right. More Apple marketing deception. Like the ridiculous premium for a 316L Stanless Steel Apple Watch, despite the reality that 316L stainless steel typically sells for slightly less than the slightly more expensive aluminum the much cheaper Apple Watch is made from. But stainless steel “looks” more expensive. Samsung S series tablets have been using OLED displays for years and they cost less than iPad Pros. An HP envy laptop I had almost a decade ago came with and OLED display. While Apple has created a super nice LCD for the iPad Pro, the lack of an OLED is pretty much inxcuseable at its price point. It’s not the cost. It’s the fact Apple customers will buy it anyways. Lest you think I’m anti-Apple our 3 person household has more than a dozen Apple devices.... we are all in on Apple. I personally have an iPad Pro 10.5 and have had the 9.7 and a gen1 12.9 Pro. Also have an Apple Watch 4 and iPhone XS Max among many other Apple devices. This intentional major deception, specifically with Apple Watch pricing greatly weakens Apple’s moral authority. Tom Cook is surely smart enough to realize this. So if he truly wants to help social causes like diversity and personal privacy, why does he allow this sort of deception to continue?
    Samsung uses their own OLED displays, they don’t have to buy them from a third party. And that HP Envy didn’t have a 264 ppi display, which makes a ton of difference in pricing. You actually have no idea how much an OLED display the size and quality Apple uses would cost. Let’s guesstimate. 

    The 5.5” iPhone 8 LCD is estimated to cost $52. Samsung is estimated to charge Apple $90 for the iPhone X’s 5.8” OLED display; your guess is as good as mine for how much Samsung would charge for a much larger iPad-sized OLED display. I’d guess somewhere in the neighborhood of $250. If that’s $100 more than an LCD, you’re looking at an increase in selling cost of maybe $275. 

    Like I said, it would be much more expensive. I’m estimating two to three more years before competition from LG brings OLED prices down to the point they’ll be used in iPad Pro. 
    edited October 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 34
    mattinoz said:
    netrox said:
    Oh the buttons being so close is a great decision. It helps you know quickly which "side" the buttons are.
    And possibly how to pick it up for correct orientation for FaceID. It could be that FaceID requires a button (portrait) or buttons (landscape) on the top edge to unlock; button(s) oriented on the bottom edge might be “upside down”, and not work. 
    iPad with touchID works in any orrientation if FaceID doesn't/can't match that it shouldn't ship. 
    It hasn’t worked in any orientation on the iPhone X/XS and it’s been shipping for two (model) years. We already know FaceID works in portrait and landscape on the iPad, and that might be due to having TrueDepth camera system on both a long and short edge. 360° unlock orientation is a nice to have, but not a necessity—I’d say the same about TouchID, though it’s trivial to do 360° unlock with TouchID.
    How do we know? Was it confirmed on a software leak?
  • Reply 19 of 34
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    vukasika said:
    I'm loving this iPad update. Sine iOS 11, I pretty much stopped carrying a laptop with me.  I just travel with a good keyboard if I think I may have need to type something sizable while I'm on the road.  On the rare occasion the I need to access my full Mac OS on my 5k iMac, I use Screens Connect for remote access. The more I hear about the event in 2 days, the less likely I am to change my mobile strategy.  
    It really depends on what you do. For a few years, I exclusively used my iPad for all my mobile use, much like you. However, I was mostly researching and writing at the time. When I got back into web design/development, it was back to a laptop. As much as I loved my iPad, there is a big workflow difference. That said, I'm strongly considering going back in that direction again, as I'm doing less web design.

    hentaiboy said:
    I like the fact Apple keeps improving the iPad/iPad Pro
    Yes except the price keeps on going up. Remember when the $399 iPad was the best iPad?*

    *capacity aside
    Yep, they've gotten everyone hooked. Now it's time to see how high they can raise the prices without substantially impacting sales.

    mattinoz said:
    iPad with touchID works in any orrientation if FaceID doesn't/can't match that it shouldn't ship.  
    Exactly. I used my iPad in landscape like 80%+ of the time. If FaceID can't do that, then it's a no-go. I was actually a big shocked to learn it couldn't do that with the phone, though I guess the phone is more often portrait. But, I was still like... what?!?! (You have to hold it right, LOL)

    PickUrPoison said:
    It hasn’t worked in any orientation on the iPhone X/XS and it’s been shipping for two (model) years. We already know FaceID works in portrait and landscape on the iPad, and that might be due to having TrueDepth camera system on both a long and short edge. 360° unlock orientation is a nice to have, but not a necessity—I’d say the same about TouchID, though it’s trivial to do 360° unlock with TouchID.
    They can't just rotate the image in the camera system? I thought this was sophisticated. :)

    dpkroh said:
    Too expensive ? ...  Samsung S series tablets have been using OLED displays for years and they cost less than iPad Pros. An HP envy laptop I had almost a decade ago came with and OLED display.
    ... and maintain as high of profit margins. Plus, as others have pointed out, OLED has downsides as well. I'd actually rather not have OLED, but I don't spend most of my time watching movies in the dark on my iDevices.

    StrangeDays said:
    What evidence do you have that AW alumnimum costs more than the steel material and process in the AW SS?
    Irrelevant, as we're talking about cents. It's a marketing/desirability thing. Very few products are, materials + labor + % profit margin = selling price.
  • Reply 20 of 34
    cgWerkscgWerks Posts: 2,952member
    AppleInsider said:
    Though it's difficult to tell for sure, the icon at least seems consistent with rumors that Apple plans to square off the sides in a throwback to devices like the iPhone SE. That could make new iPads easier to hold while allowing Apple more internal design space.
    Gosh, I hope so. I like the design of the SE a lot more than anything that followed it. IMO, the thin pill-shape sucks in several ways.... including harder to hold onto and internal space sacrificing, as the above indicates. It also looks cheaper.
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