- Apple’s iPad event is on May 7.
- We expect to see new iPads, and new Apple Pencil.
- This will be the first update to any iPad in over a year.
On May 7, we’re finally going to see the next generation of iPads—but is there anything else?
“Pencil us in for May 7!” wrote Tim Cook on Twitter, posting a video clip showing a cartoon Apple Pencil and a bunch of hand-drawn and painted versions of the Apple logo. This is a pretty clear hint that we’ll see a new Apple Pencil. Between that, various leaks from beta versions of iPadOS, and the ever-churning rumor mill, this looks like it will be one major iPad event. So, what do we want to see?
“I’m hoping for an iPad Mini Pro. I find the Mini form factor easier to carry around, but having the performance display and LiDAR of the Pro line would make it sooo much better,” Benjamin Nelan, a video maker, graphic designer and web developer, said on Mastodon.
iPad Air
The iPad Air started out as the premium iPad until the Pro came along, and since then, it has always been almost good enough, a model that is close enough to the Pro to be just a little bit confusing. Right now, for example, the only differences between the Air and the same-sized Pro are the screen tech (the Pro has a faster 120Hz maximum refresh rate), worse speakers, and Touch ID instead of Face ID.
Next month, the iPad Air will get a new, larger version with the same screen as the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro (yes, the exact same screen) and may, according to unofficial Apple publicist John Gruber, get Face ID.
For many, that’s enough to make the Pro pointless, especially if you only use it with AirPods and never use the inferior speakers. And now that you don’t need to go pro just to get a bigger screen, what’s left for Apple’s fanciest, most expensive iPad?
iPad Pro
The big news at this event will probably be the iPad Pro, which the tea leaves say is getting revamped with an OLED screen and a new keyboard case, and it will probably move the FaceID camera to the long side of the screen to make landscape video calls more practical.
The thing is, with the Air snapping so closely at the iPad Pro’s unibody aluminum heels, there needs to be more. Yes, the OLED screen is nice, but the improved Apple Pencil that Tim Cook hints at in his Tweet will surely work with all iPads.
Let’s combine some wishful thinking with the evidence of Apple’s other big recent Pro-level renaissance, the M-series MacBook Pro. For years, the MacBook Pro languished, differentiated from the cheaper models only by a slightly more powerful processor and a slightly bigger screen. Plus, it has the Touch Bar, which was a bonus or a hindrance, depending on your point of view.
But with the Apple Silicon MacBook Pro, the Mac was suddenly back. It got a full complement of ports, a beautiful screen, incredible speakers, and the return of the MagSafe charger. It was unashamedly chunky instead of sacrificing power and flexibility for skinniness.
Could the same happen to the iPad Pro? We certainly hope so. The iPad Pro, like all iPads, has a single, solitary port for everything, from charging to expansion. Just adding in a few more USB-C/Thunderbolt ports would be good enough, but why stop there? How about the return of the headphone jack? Or an SD card slot? Even a microSD slot would do.
Other than that, what the iPad Pro really needs is better software. Despite all its incredible hardware power, the iPad is still just a big iPhone. Its Files app is rudimentary and barely works, and its multi-window implementation is janky and hard to understand.
Faced with these criticisms, some folks might say that you should just buy a Mac. But until Apple makes a touch-screen Mac, perhaps with a detachable keyboard, then wanting a more Pro experience from Apple’s Pro iPad, a device that already costs more than a MacBook Air even before you spring for the Magic Keyboard case, is a legit request.
And while we’re wishing (there’s a reason this post is called “what we want to see,” and not “what we expect to see at the iPad event”), how about an even bigger iPad? No, it would not be practical to carry around, but then neither is the iMac or the Mac Pro. An iPad Studio could be huge, designed to be used by artists, cartoonists, graphic designers, photographers, and musicians.
I’m hoping for an iPad Mini Pro… having the performance display and LiDAR of the Pro line would make it sooo much better.
“I have a maxed out m2 iPad, I think the only thing that could entice me to upgrade is a bigger screen,” says iPad user and Apple enthusiast Anthony13 in a MacRumors forum thread participated in by Lifewire.
And yes, why not a mini Pro? The iPad mini is fantastically portable, almost better than an iPhone for many things, but its screen is one of the worst on any Apple mobile device, its speakers are just fine, and the cameras are just as lackluster. If the Air can get a big-screen version, then why can’t the Pro get a mini version?
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Thanks for letting us know!
News Summary:
- What We Would Love to See at Apple's 'Let Loose' Extravaganza
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