Here’s what an iPad Pro with an iPhone X-style, edge-to-edge display might look like. Concept designer Martin Hajek combined the rumored iOS tablet with the logo for Apple’s next developer conference. (That’s where we might get our first actual glimpse of the device.)
iPhone X was the first Apple phone to come without a Home button, and the first in many years without a fingerprint scanner. Instead, its small cutout — aka the notch — at the top of the display to make room for the front-facing cameras and facial-recognition sensors needed for the iPhone X’s Face ID feature.
The next iPad reportedly will follow suit. That means there no Home button or bezels to interfere with a design that’s practically all screen.
As Hajek’s concept design merges of the current iPad Pro and the iPhone X, he calls it the “iPad Pro X. Apple itself is unlikely to use that name.
It’s all the tablet buzz
This designer isn’t working in a vacuum. Starting last fall, industry analysts predicted the 2018 release of an iPad sporting the Face ID security system (and lacking a Home button). The debut is supposedly set for Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 4.
An iPad with an 11-inch screen appeared in recent rumors. If real, this device need be no larger than the current 10.5-inch iPad Pro if Apple employs an edge-to-edge design.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
More iPad Pro Rumors
Speculation also indicates that Apple will improve the processor and GPU in the 2018 iPads. That’s a safe bet. The company does that every year.
Last fall, sources claiming knowledge of Apple’s plans indicated that the next iPad will not gain the type of OLED display featured on the iPhone X. There’s reportedly just not enough tablet-size screens of this type available. OLED displays offer brighter colors, and make for easier reading outdoors, but cost more than LED screens.
Others speculate that Apple’s 2018 tablets will lack wireless charging, too, recent iPhones included the feature.
Hajek’s concept drawing includes dual cameras just like the iPhone X. This is a feature that hasn’t been in any rumors about the 2018 iPad Pro versions.
Those eager for an edge-to-edge iPad Pro will apparently need to wait until June, but a less-expensive iPad could be announced at Apple’s education conference next week.
