What We’re Expecting From Apple’s iPad Pro

There have been rumours all over the internet for quite some time now that Apple will be introducing a bigger iPad to rival the likes of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which has surprised a lot of people by feeling like the true next generation between portable tablet and fully functioning laptop. The introduction of the iPad Pro would give Apple a device that brought the thin like between their brand new Macbook and their tablet like in. It’s an odd choice for sure, considering it’s likely to be a Macbook without a keyboard essentially, but we’ll obviously have to wait and see how Apple advertise the product to users and developers.

With these rumours circulating the web, we thought we’d compile them all into one place for you to view them and hopefully get a rough idea of what the new iPad Pro is going to involve. This includes screen size, the technologies that are likely to come with the device

The Screen

One thing that makes the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 a superior computing device to the current line up of the iPad Air 2 is the fact that it offers a slightly larger screen, allowing for more real estate when browsing web pages, navigating applications and more. Therefore, this is something the iPad Pro is likely to change over the iPad Air. Rumours are suggesting that the iPad Pro will come with a 12.9″ screen, making it 2 inches bigger than the current iPad Air 2’s screen. It is said that this 12.9″ display will have a resolution of 2732×2048. This will keep it in line with the current iPad Air 2’s pixel density, meaning the screen on the iPad Pro is likely to be just as beautiful.

Other suggestions towards this rumour as the fact that Apple announced split-screen multitasking in iOS9 for the latest iPad Air 2. This would work brilliantly on a larger screen, hopefully adapting and allowing for more view within each app than even the iPad Air 2 offers.

The Hardware

Of course, with it being a model that is expected to be worth close to double the price of the current iPad Air 2, we are expecting to see quite a few extra nice touches along with the device. For example, Apple’s new Force Touch is something we are very likely to see introduced to their new line up of devices in the fall. How they’ll implement the technology, we don’t know, but we are almost sure that the new iPad Pro will feature the technology.

The new iPad Pro is also rumoured to use USB-Type C as well as Apple will be marketing it as more of a computer than a tablet and therefore it will have the latest industry standard USB coverage. On the outside, there have also been rumours of the iPad Pro receiving a massive speaker upgrade over it’s younger brothers. Apparently, the iPad Pro could come with four speakers, based on 3d cut-outs, the iPd pro could have two speakers at the top of the display and two at the bottom, offering a much better stereo sound audio than previous options. This would make sense with Apple’s recent release of Apple Music and their use of Beats’ audio experience.

Finally, we also expect that the iPad Pro may come with a stylus, similar to the Surface Pro 3’s incredible stylus that comes with that. This would likely open up even more applications to the use of a stylus and Apple are likely to improve upon their screen technology to allow for palm recognition and such to avoid any miswritten words.

iOS9 Suggests…

As aforementioned, a lot of things announced about iOS9 suggest the iPad is being made more productive and useful than ever. For example, two iOS applications side-by-side is now a thing in iOS9. This feature is very similar to Window’s 8’s take on multi-window support. Also iOS9 introduced better hardware keyboard support and an improved Quick Type software keyboard which makes the latest update seem primed for an iPad Pro launch.

However, arguably the biggest confirmation that the iPad pro exists and that it will feature a larger display is in the very recent iOS9 Beta 3 build. Within the code of the latest build, there is a larger keyboard built in, similar to the one found on the Macbooks. A larger keyboard thought would only fit a larger display, too big for the current iPad Air 2’s 9.7″ display.

Conclusion

So that’s what we’re expecting from Apple’s new iPad Pro which is almost certainly going to be announced this Fall along with the new lineup of iPhones and potentially some new Macbooks. It’s definitely an intriguing piece of hardware and we’re interested to see 1. How Apple will advertise the product to the public and 2. Pricing options and whether it will be a better choice than the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.