The 12.9-inch iPad Pro will boast an impressive 2,048-pixel x 2,732-pixel display, come with Force Touch technology, and be here by Christmas, according to new reports.
For those who are worried that the device will turn its back on Steve Jobs’ “no stylus” rule by coming with a pen-shaped accessory, have no fear: the iPad Pro’s rumored stylus is also said to be a completely optional add-on.
To begin with, the 2,048-pixel x 2,732-pixel display was “confirmed” by analytics firm Appsee, which analyzes data logs of in-app user behavior. Appsee found that a new device nicknamed the “iPad6,8” is currently being tested — and its 2,048-pixel x 2,732-pixel display is considerably larger than the 2,048-pixel x 1,536-pixels found in current iPads.
At that resolution, it would mean the iPad Pro will have a 264 PPI density based on Apple’s 2X high-resolution modifier.
These numbers back up findings revealed in June when eagle-eyed iPad users combed through the iOS 9 code for hints of Apple’s super-sized tablet.
The other details come courtesy of a new report from regular KGI Securities Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo says that mass production of the Force Touch-based iPad Pro will begin in September and October, meaning that it likely won’t be on show at Apple’s September 9 event, unless the company plans to have a long lead-time between announcement and shipping.
It should, however, by with customers by the holiday season. Given that Apple is planning on this device revitalizing its falling tablet sales, it would also make perfect sense for the iPad Pro to have its own event.
Kuo says that the company Cheng Uei will be Apple’s only supplier of the much-discussed stylus. He suggests that Apple will ship around a million of these styluses — representing slightly over a quarter of the 3.5 million iPad Pros it plans to ship.
Finally, Kuo claims that the Forcet-Touch stylus will be “compatible with iPad models other than the 12.9-inch version, but it depends on the support of software.”
Via: AI
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
13 responses to “iPad Pro to pack Force Touch, plenty of pixels, optional stylus”
I’d like to see the new iPad Pro running a full version of OS X, with the option of an on-screen keyboard as in iOS or the ability to use a Bluetooth or connected physical keyboard. It would then be a true replacement for a laptop.
Won’t happen (at least not in the short term horizon). Not only is OS X not built for touch, but it flies in the face of the simplicity that Apple is trying to go with.
If Apple can manage to redevelop OS X into a touch interface, then, of course, desktop/laptop users would complain about the “simplification” of OS X.
Are you saying a new Apple made Surface? Not gonna happen and should not happen!
I would like an iPad Pro with the style to be a decent replacement for a Wacom Graphics Tablet
I hope that they continue to evolve iOS to allow for more sophisticated uses. There are certain interface things even in iOS 9 that are unclear and ass backwards. I understand some of the problems that they are trying to solve. However, I don’t believe that they’ve got the right solution yet. This hardware looks great though.
Such as? Just curious as what the more sophisticated uses you want it to evolve to and what interface things are unclear and backwards.
I’m not in the mood for a full reply but the backwards stuff I’m talking about has to do with the simple handling of files. While iCloud drive is a step back to the good old days of iDisk, file handling is still weird. I need Apple to do a job here where I can explain it to human beings. Right now I’m getting Cyberdog flashbacks…
Interesting. I have heard people complain about a lack of ability to handle files themselves, but I never understood that. I think of the concept of “files”, like the Desktop and the Start Menu, to be outdated, anachronistic metaphors that we shouldn’t have to deal with. Personally, I don’t want to think of things as files (or be worried about ‘formats’) – I just want to edit my photos and work on my docs. The cloud (small C) does that for me nicely, especially with iPhoto in iCloud and Office stuff with OneDrive. I don’t have to care about shuffling files, I just know that I open PowerPoint to work on that presentation.
As a (hobbyist) programmer, I have to worry about files and formats, but as a user I just want to work with my content and not worry about what folder I stored it in or what format it’s in. PowerPoint is for presentations, Word is for word processing. I like “Send to…” But the routing still needs a little more work.
If you’re not concerned about the folder you put it in, how will you ever find it? Are you being realistic in thinking you could just do a search to find files? Or do you have something else in mind? By the time you have thousands of files like I do, or for that matter anyone does who has been storing files for any length of time, I question how realistic it is to work without some sort of systematic folder arrangement. Things will get very chaotic in a hurry without it, unless you don’t care if you ever see your files again, in which case things will still be very chaotic, but invisible to you, the pie in the sky user.
That’s why although I love my iPad, and use it every day for everything, I long ago gave up on using Pages, Numbers, etc., because of the lack of a decent folder system. I believe that a one folder deep folder system is no system at all. I use Word and Excel, as well as Readdle’s apps along with Box, (by far my favorite), for my folder system. I use other cloud services, but stick with Box. With it, I have my folder system, accessible on and offline. I acquiesce to use Onedrive only because it sort of works with Word & Excel, but not nearly as well as does Box.
Richard I’ll be honest with you, I think both solutions suck. One thing I DO enjoy is how Pages and Numbers are so connected to the user. As those are small files, that’s no huge achievement. However, small files are important and often get lost in a creative person’s endless assortment of digital life. I just hate that iOS is ONLY sufficient currently at handling one type of problem and not both. I don’t want the iPad to be a novelty in creative creation. It should be the first tool I want to use for it and it’s being held back by a lack of vision and initiative. Find a way to allow me to store more. I don’t care what that way is. I just need to have it in content creation. I need to be able to access projects and have the ability to dig to the guts sometimes and separate files from projects not because it’s an old way of thinking, but because I want to connect things in ways that they were never intended because I had a whim. Because I had a hard on for a certain idea and I want to reach out and touch it and make it real. Because I want to be creative. I’m rambling a bit but trying to get a point across. Does it make sense at all? Let me know. Thanks.
I’m hoping this will really make the new features in OS9 more useful due to the screen size. I’m guessing this device is going to make me reshuffle/prioritize the use of my 12″ Macbook, iPad Air 2, and iPhone 6+.
That said I wonder if this will fit in any of my 12″ Macbook Retina cases?
A higher resolution doesn’t necessarily mean a bigger display.
I like the idea of the stylus working with other iPad models, but that would also mean it’s probably not the Surface-style stylus we were hoping for.
Let’s try this.