Apple is turning to Sharp to provide the displays for its upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro, according to a new report, claiming that the device will go into production by the end of this year’s third quarter — with mass production following shortly thereafter.
Sharp is said to be providing Open Cell LCD displays, while GIS will be responsible for the super-sized tablets’ touch modules, lamination and LCM assembly.
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.
Apple is expected to unveil its new lineup of iPads at a keynote event in early September, but according to a recent rumor mill, the iPad Air 3 might not make an appearance on stage.
Chinese-based tablet supply chain makers have supposedly received decreasing orders because Apple plans to be more conservative with its tablet product line, claims DigiTimes sources who say a replacement for the iPad Air 2 isn’t in the works yet.
This week: why we might be in for big iPad upgrades this year; our expectations for the iPhone 6C; the one feature we hope iPhone 6S will get (but probably won’t); Woz is worried about Skynet again; and… is Apple building a machine for time travel? You’ll have to press play to find out…
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Show notes ahead, and they’re excellent.
We’ve been reporting plenty about the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but so far there’s been next to nothing about the next-generation iPad Air, which most people are expecting this fall alongside a new iPad mini.
According to a new report, there’s a very good reason for that: The iPad Air 3 has been delayed until next year so that Apple’s manufacturers can instead focus on preparing the iPad Pro instead.
Apple has no problem placing massive orders for its upcoming iPhone 6s and 6s Plus units, but according to a new report the company is treading a bit more carefully when it comes to orders for the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Reportedly set to arrive in late November this year, sources in Apple’s supply chain say that Apple’s component orders for the giant-sized tablet have been lower than most people expected — although no specific numbers are mentioned.
Steve Jobs may have been adamant that the iPad would never ship with a stylus, but more and more evidence is mounting that the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro will do exactly that.
Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published an application from Apple for something called “Continuous Handwriting UI,” describing how a future iPad could be geared toward picking up and understanding handwriting.
Apple is turning to both long-time manufacturing partner Sharp and long-time “frenemy” Samsung to help build the displays for its eagerly-anticipated 12.9-inch giant-sized iPad Pro, according to a new report.
Sharp is said to have provided a small test batch of the enormous 264ppi, 2,732×2,048 displays in June, which met with Apple’s high production standards. However, Cupertino is also said to have given Samsung a back-up role building screen panels — suggesting that Apple is expecting big things with this next-gen device. Pun intended.
Hidden in the dense verbiage of Apple’s latest trademark filing for OS X El Capitan is an intriguing detail not previously seen in similar filings for OS X Mavericks or Yosemite — revealing that Apple’s next-gen OS X could possibly be on its way to the iPad.
The iPad Pro has pretty much been confirmed by a hidden keyboard in iOS 9, and more clues are popping in the first iOS 9 beta that may reveal the device will have the same pixel density as the iPad Air 2.
When iOS 9 rolls out to the public this fall, it’ll be iPad users that appreciate it most, thanks to the many improvements Apple has made to multitasking. One of the biggest is Split View, a feature that’s exclusive to the iPad Air 2, which lets you run two apps side-by-side — just like you would on your Mac.
Split View lets you read articles in Safari while composing an email in Mail, enjoy a novel in iBooks while taking notes in the Notes app, and talk to friends via iMessage while organizing your schedule in Calendar.
But is Split View as game-changing as it looks at first glance? You bet it is.
Apple’s giant iPad has been one of the rumor mill’s favorite products to gossip about for years, even though no one has seen so much as a chamfered edge of its supposed 12-inch display. However, some assets hidden inside iOS 9 indicate that the new tablet — often referred to as the “iPad Pro” — could make an appearance soon.
According to a developer who’s been digging through iOS 9, the new keyboard scales to a much larger screen size than we’ve seen so far. When the new keyboard is enlarged, it adds an extra row of keys, hinting that Apple’s monstrous new tablet could rear its head in the near future.
Check it out:
UPDATE: I added a short statement from stylus-maker Adonit below.
SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Ritchey is an expert in iPad styluses — the pressure-sensitive digital pens that draw with pinpoint accuracy on an iPad.
Ritchey works for Adonit, a company that makes a line of Bluetooth styli for the iPad. His job title is “OS architect.” He knows his stuff.
In the middle of a session at this week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, he heard something that prompted him to send a panicky note to his colleagues in Slack, the popular messaging system.
“Oh shit!” he said.
Steve Jobs famously pledged that Apple would never ship an iOS device with a stylus, but there’s mounting evidence that the company is working on a new and bigger work-oriented iPad that will come with a stylus.
A couple of big clues dropped this week at WWDC.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro could boast enhanced touch sensitivity while also incurring fewer production costs for Apple, according to a new report coming from the supply chain — suggesting that Apple is rethinking the material used for its tablet touch panel.
Using cases reportedly created for Apple’s rumored plus-size iPad Pro, Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy has put together a new video showing off just how massive the next-generation iPad might be.
At 12.9 inches, it’s definitely a significant step up from the current iPad Air 2 — but would it be enough to turn around Apple’s declining iPad business? Check out the video below.
Apple will apparently utilize oxide TFT displays for its next-generation iPad models, allowing the tablets to consume drastically less power.
In order to gain a bigger piece of the pie, manufacturer LG Display (aka the world’s largest LCD panel maker) is reportedly investing in the necessary P8-P9 production-line technology in its plants in Paju, South Korea, according to new reports coming out of Asia.
We still haven’t gotten a glimpse of Apple’s long-rumored 12-inch iPad Pro, but a new set of images of an alleged iPad Pro dummy unit show that the mythical giant tablet might actually be real.
Images of an alleged iPad Pro case posted to Weibo today could potentially reveal some of the new features Apple has in store for it’s enterprise-focused tablet, including a USB-C port in a very unexpected place.
Take a peek:
Two bits of news have emerged for anyone excited about Apple’s upcoming 12-inch-plus iPad Pro. Sources from the Chinese supply chain suggest the tablet will come equipped with Oxide LCD display technology, while a separate report from The Wall Street Journal (paywall) claims Apple is considering adding USB 3.0 ports (among others) to the devices.
What is unanimously agreed upon is that we are unlikely to see the plus-size iPad until the second half of the year, with a Digitimes report suggesting it may not even go into mass production until the third quarter of 2015.
If the rumors are anything to go by, it’ll be worth waiting for, though.
Apple really is making a giant iPad Pro, according to a new report from Bloomberg, but the Cupertino-based company is running into production issues that have delayed the long-rumored tablet’s release.
According to Bloomberg’s sources, production of the 12.9-inch iPad is now scheduled to start around September, after delays involving the supply of display panels pushed the project back.
We get slammed 24/7 with new Apple rumors. Some are accurate, most are not. To give you a clue about what’s really coming out of Cupertino in the future, we’re busting out our rumor debunker each week to blow up the nonsense.
This week the Apple Car rumors have revved into fourth gear as a tsunami of reports from various outlets have claimed that not only is the iCar project real, but Apple is trying to get it onto highways by the end of the decade. While everyone’s focusing on the iCar, don’t forget about Apple Watch though. The rumor mill spit out five juicy rumors this week covering everything from pricing to customization.
Take a look at this week’s electrifying Apple rumors see which one’s are destined to come true:
Everyone might be tripping over themselves to talk about the possible Apple Car, but there’s a much-more imminent Apple device rumored to be on the way: the 12-inch+ “iPad Pro” tablet.
Over the weekend, French Apple-watching website Nowhereelse.fr shared a handful of new pictures of the mythical plus-sized iPad, claiming to be photos of a third-party case for the device.
The photos give some indication of just how big the iPad Pro would look alongside today’s iPad Air 2. As with existing current iPad cases, the iPad Pro case features cutout sections for a Lightning connector, microphone, volume rocker, mute switch, rear-facing camera, and power button. It’s not clear from the picture whether the tablet will boast a 12.2-inch screen or a 12.9-inch one: both of which have been rumored so far.
Check out another picture — and additional information — after the jump.
The Rumor: Apple is negotiating with networks on a Sling-TV type of service.
The Verdict: Definitely. In fact, we've been hearing this same rumor for about two years now. It looks like the biggest hurdle for an Apple TV update is the company just doesn't have the relationships with content providers, like Dish and others do.
Five years ago today, Steve Jobs introduced the iPad. A giant screen with one button, the iPad represented possibly the purest distillation of Jobs’ tech dreams. Yet at the time it was met with derision. “I got about 800 messages in the last 24 hours,” Jobs told his biographer, Walter Isaacson. “Most of them are complaining…. It knocks you back a bit.”
Half a decade and multiple iterations on, the iPad is an established part of Apple’s ecosystem. While it’s had its ups and downs, nobody’s flooding Apple’s inbox with iPad-related hate mail anymore.
So what were people complaining about? We hopped in our time machine to take a look at the original criticisms — and what, if anything, Apple’s done about them in the years since.
Over the weekend, we showed you sexy new renders that showed the rumored new 12-inch MacBook Air and iPad Pro side-by-side. Designed by render artist extraordinaire Martin Hajek, it gave us our best look yet at what Apple’s next big products could look like.
But in the renders we saw, Hajek’s iPad Pro was missing at least one critical ingredient: the plus-size tablet’s rumored stylus accessory. Now Hajek’s back, giving us his notion of what a Jony Ive-designed stylus could look like.
The Apple Watch might be Cupertino’s most hotly anticipated product, but for my money, the two releases I’m most excited about this year are the 12-inch MacBook Air and the 12-inch iPad Pro. Outside of a few leaked images, though, we still have not seen either of these rumored devices in the flash.
Conceptual designer Martin Hajek is no stranger to turning rumors of upcoming Apple products into blisteringly sexy 3-D renders, and now he’s done it again with a series of renders showing the iPad Pro and 12-inch MacBook Air going head to head. Call it the battle of the 12-inchers, if you will!