There has been little verifiable chatter on new iPad Pro models, and they are supposedly about six weeks from announcement. We have only seen rumblings of a "modern iPad" with FaceID, even though we have seen no case designs or really have no conception of how FaceID would work on an iPad designed to be held both in portrait and landscape mode.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Are we sure there will be updated iPad Pros at WWDC?
- Thread starter Adelphos33
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple has prosecuted many Apple employees that leaked out future projects and threaten component manufactures to do the same on their end on employee leaks too in the last 6 months. So no news!
No. This site is called macrumors, not macfacts 
I reeeeeaaaallllly wanted to keep the incredibly lovely (and expensive) 12.9” IPP and ASK that followed me home a couple weeks ago, but started thinking about how I’d feel in June if they updated it.
Within hours of owning it, I discovered an assembly flaw in the cellular antenna insulation (plastic was protruding enough to scratch my finger) that bothered me enough to take it back, regardless of possible pending updates. Once it was reset and returned to the store, I decided that that would be my opportunity to wait longer.
I’ll use my new bargain bin 2017 iPad for however long it takes until I can get an updated IPP at launch.
Within hours of owning it, I discovered an assembly flaw in the cellular antenna insulation (plastic was protruding enough to scratch my finger) that bothered me enough to take it back, regardless of possible pending updates. Once it was reset and returned to the store, I decided that that would be my opportunity to wait longer.
I’ll use my new bargain bin 2017 iPad for however long it takes until I can get an updated IPP at launch.
Last edited:
The “Modern iPad” is actually a red herring according to Steve Troughton-Smith:
Steve Troughton-Smith said:
Rumors that support an update in 2018 H1:
- MyDrivers (November 15, 2017): “the A11X Bionic chips for the new generation of iPad Pro will be tape-out and will be available at the end of the first quarter of next year or the beginning of the second quarter.”
- Rosenblatt (March 7, 2018): “‘the new iPad should be ready for mass production with a release date likely in late-Q2.’”
- Economic Daily News (March 12, 2018): “the second generation iPad Pro models were both released in June last year. Therefore, it is assumed that the third-generation iPad Pro is likely to be released in June this year.” (Seems like a guess, not from an inside source.)
- Bloomberg (November 8, 2017): “The updated tablet is expected to be released later next year, a little more than a year after the last major iPad Pro upgrade [June 2017]” “the new iPad model is about a year away from release”
- Bloomberg (January 29, 2018): “The new iPad, due to be released toward the end of the year, will probably also include the Apple-designed graphics engine and AI chip.”
- DigiTimes (March 11, 2018): “Apple is also preparing […] new iPad Pro models for the second half of the year.”
- Ming-Chi Kuo (March 23, 2018): “Apple will begin shipping new iPad Pro models with TrueDepth camera systems during the ‘around’ the third quarter of 2018”
So from the rumors, 2018 H2 was always a reasonable possibility for an iPad Pro update. Given that two reliable sources (Bloomberg and Kuo) are both predicting this timeframe, I’d say that 2018 H2 is most likely.
Within 2018 H2, the possibilities are more open as either September or October are plausible (Kuo's 2018 Q3 prediction refers to shipments).
Last edited:
There's lots of reasons to trust Kuo's predictions, but the simple fact is that a new iPad processor doesn't sync up with a Q3 launch. We don't get chips like A12 and A12X within a month of each other, just due to simply supply/demand requirements for the upcoming iPhones. Which always take supply-chain precedence over iPads. And if new iPad Pros were released around the same time as the fall iPhone event, it would also be strange for it to support A11X, while the shiny new iPhones get A12.
Leaving the most likely options to be June 2018 w/A11X (unlikely)
or
Early 2019 with A12X.
Yet we know so much about the upcoming 2018 iPhone models.
It comes down to money. Due to interest in iPhone, analysts pay much more for iPhone leaks rather than iPad.
This IS Apple we’re talking about. June 18 with the A11X and a spec bump to A12X next year is also likely.
iPad Pro will be using 7nm A11X.
This matches up exactly with TSMC's 7nm ramp in June 2018.
Q3 launch = July-September.
It matches exactly with the supply chain.
Hmm... OK. I forgot the X variant uses the smaller die size, so that make more sense for a July release.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
of course not. Apple has often taken 1.5 to 2 years to update the iPad line in the past few years (think iPad Air 2, iPad Pro 12.9 and iPad Pro 9.7). Point being nothing is certain. I doubt we'll see a full 2 year wait, but this fall/winter or even next spring would be reasonable. My highly unscientific wag at the odds would put WWDC around 50%, August-December around 35%, next Jan-May around 10%, and WWDC 2020 at 5%
With the brand new 7nm process, Apple runs a low-volume part through it first. In this case, it's A11X. Last year, it was 10nm A10X.
As a result, it's essentially guaranteed we'll see an updated iPad Pro before September.
All I see online is that TSMC is making 7nm chips A12 for iPhones.. do we have an article where it says/implies it is not the A12?
Please correct me if I’m wrong (I hope I’m wrong) but they might as well be making those 7nm proc. chips for iPhones and we might not see the iPads?
[doublepost=1524629785][/doublepost]
Actually the release dates are as follows:
iPad 1 : 3 April 2010
iPad 2 : 11 March 2011
iPad 3 : 16 March 2012
iPad 4 : 2 November 2012
iPad Air : 22 October 2013
iPad Air 2 : 16 October 2014
iPad Pro 12.9’ : 11 November 2015
iPad Pro 9.7’ : 21 March 2016
iPad Pro 12.9 (2) & 10.5’ : 13 June 2017
entry-level iPads
iPad 5th gen: 24 March 2017
iPad 6th gen : 27 March 2018
So my point is actually every year (sometimes less than that) we saw an update to the iPads.
The only inconsistency is the time between the iPad Pro 12.9 1st gen vs 2nd gen..Other than that iPad has a record of getting an update each year..
Both A11X and A12 are 7nm. But Apple will produce A11X for iPad Pro first to mitigate risk.
A12 is extremely important for Apple because it goes inside iPhone. To mitigate risk, Apple runs a low-volume part with a mature design (i.e. A11X) through the brand new 7nm process first. This gives Apple time to fix any 7nm process issues before September. If Apple launched A12 without testing 7nm A11X first, they would be putting all eggs in one basket.
Intel calls this strategy the "Tick-Tock" model. Apple did exactly the same thing last year with 10nm A10X and A11.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
By that logic the iPad has already seen an update this year
I separated entry-level iPads, to avoid this confusion.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Except for the fact that you didn't account for...
iPad Air 2 to iPad Pro 9.7" (apple's to apple's comparison) was 1.5 years.
iPad Pro 9.7" to iPad Pro 10.5" (more apples to apples) was 1.25 years.
And iPad Pro 12.9 to iPad Pro 12.9 (2nd gen) was 1.75 years.
That was my point. The last 3 "top of the line" iPad upgrades have averaged 1.5 years. So taking that most recent data is very difficult to assume with any level of certainty that the Pro line will see an upgrade right at the 1 year mark...
I see your point but I don’t think 9.7’ Pro is the successor of the Air 2. I think Air line lived and died. If we really want to talk about Air2’s succession; the upgraded version of Air 2 was 12.9’ and then they introduced another screen size to the Pro line with 9.7’ iPP.
And as I wrote on my previous post, I agree with you about the iPP 12.9’ timeline...
I agree with you that it is definitely not certain that it is going to be 1 year exact (as anything in life) with iPads but the history tells that every year (-/+ 3 months) there was a new iPad! (Again excluding the entry level iPads). So I think we have 90% chance that the new iPPs are going to be released [June-Sept]
Yet again, numbers or dates don’t mean anything... Mr. Cook can change his mind and mess with us ...