As Apple fans patiently await the forthcoming September 9 event in San Francisco, it is possible that the iPad Pro will be making an appearance. The high spec Apple tablet has been mooted for some time, and there are increasing numbers of pundits suggesting that it will finally make an appearance in Apple’s iPhone unveiling events.
Delivering desktop functionality with a tablet
The ethos behind the proposed iPad Pro is to provide a tablet computer that can deliver desktop functionality to an increasingly demanding tablet audience. Apple’s tablet sales have slumped significantly in recent years, despite the fact that the iPad remains by a considerable distance the market leader.
It is generally thought that’s the iPad Pro will attempt to breathe new life into the Apple tablet range by delivering such unique functionality as split-screen multitasking. This would make the tablet a much more flexible and powerful operator for businesses, ensuring that Apple could gain a boost from the iPad Pro being adopted more readily by commercial customers.
Although the iPad certainly remains the iconic device of the tablet niche, and indeed the name is often used as a shorthand for tablet computers in general, Apple still faces a serious competition from other tablet contenders. Both the Surface Pro 3 and Galaxy Note Pro will be going up against the iPad Pro when it is finally released, and Apple will be looking to deliver something outstanding in order to ensure that it remains out in front in this fertile niche.
Apple to build on partnerships with iPad Pro
It is expected that Apple will build upon its partnership with IBM, and recent collaboration with Cisco, when the iPad Pro is released. This will enable the consumer electronics giant to imbue the iPad Pro with the sort of outstanding functionality, features and spec list that consumers will be demanding. This will be the largest tablet computer that Apple has ever manufactured, the most powerful, and consequently the most expensive. So the onus is on Apple to deliver something that is somewhat out of the ordinary.
The iPad Pro can be considered one of the least well-kept secrets in the history of Apple, even though information about its product lines tends to seep out sooner or later. Certainly the Apple Watch was mooted by analysts several years before it actually appeared, and other Apple devices have been anticipated long before they have ever emerged into the public domain. So although Apple has yet to confirm the iPad Pro explicitly, it is certainly expected to emerge in the foreseeable future. The question remains whether we will actually see it being finally on sale at the September 9 event that Apple has planned.
Certainly 9to5Mac believes so, as the Apple-following publication has already indicated in its pages that Apple will make the iPad Pro official at this September 9 event. The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are almost certainties for this particular event as well, but it is also anticipated and rumored that both an upgrade to the Apple TV and a next generation iPad Mini 4 may debut at this conference.
Should 9to5Mac have this detail correct, then it is likely that the iPad Pro will be available for preorder at the end of October. Apple will be targeting a release in time for the critical Christmas marketplace, which would suggest that we might see the iPad Pro hit the stores early in November.
Considering that Apple is yet to confirm the existence of the iPad Pro, it is difficult to predict how much it is likely to retail for. However, given that the tablet has a display expected to be in the region of 13-inches, and also that it will be the highest spec tablet ever released by Apple, it is reasonable to assume that the iPad Pro will probably cost more than the iPad Air 2.
iPad Pro specs
It is also anticipated that the screen resolution of the iPad Pro will be superior to that of the existing iPad Air 2. Some analysts have suggested that Apple will opt for an almost 4K 3,840 x 2,160 resolution screen, while others claim it will feature a 2,560 x 1,440 QHD display. With regard to these rumors, it is notable that Apple released the world’s first 5K resolution desktop computer recently, while there have also been murmurings about a 4K 21.5-inch iMac on the horizon, and it seems to be placing a greater emphasis on delivering outstanding resolutions in its hardware generally.
Force Touch functionality is a certainty with this tablet, but it has also been predicted by analysts that a stylus could be included with the iPad Pro. This would be very much a tip of the hat to Samsung, which has always included this feature with the Galaxy Note series. But the combination between a stylus and Force Touch technology would enable a range of touch-sensitive features to be included in this tablet.
In order to accommodate the large screen size, the iPad Pro will undoubtedly be the largest tablet that Apple has ever produced. According to a leak from OnLeaks, it will measure 223 x 206 x 7.2mm. it will be interesting to see what sort of weight the iPad Pro represents, considering that manoeuverability is obviously a key aspect of tablet computers.
Apple is not expected to veer away from its A8X processor when the iPad Pro is released, but it is anticipated to arm the device with 2 GB of RAM. Consumers are likely to be offered a choice of 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB internal storage versions of the tablet, but it isn’t generally considered that Apple will embrace micro SD. However, some reports have suggested that Apple will include the lauded USB Type-C port that has been introduced in the company’s MacBook laptop range.
The iPad Pro will be an absolutely critical device for Apple when it is released, attempting to breathe new life into the stagnating tablet marketplace. Fans of the iPad will be hoping that it is one of the devices that Apple chooses to reveal when it goes live at its much anticipated event in San Francisco.
