It’s the odd one out in this lineup.
They seem to be restructuring the IPad model lines. “Ipad Air” is now basically a slightly down-positioned last year’s 11 pro with cap on storage capacity. That’s their midrange value tablet, following the pact couple years in which they positioned the basic IPad as SuperValus low end product.
I predict for 2021:
- they are moving to consolidate 11 Pro and 12.9 pro with a single 12” wide aspect ratio model. Which they release this year (2021) with the Micro LED and FaceID + Powerbutton ID. This will have 256-512-1TB capacities. And a jacked up price “pro” point.
- They don’t revise any new 11 Pro and 12.9 pro models this year - they just keep selling the current “2020” ones for one more transition year. Then they cut them from lineup next year (2022).
You might be on to something here, and I would love for it to be true that a 12” is coming, pretty much every reviewer all say the same thing...
11” is excellent as a tablet but suffers when doing real work on it due to lack of screen real estate for multitasking etc...
12.9” is excellent as a laptop replacement but is too big as a tablet...
I think Apple releasing an 11” in 2021 probably will not be enough for the extra £190 on top of the Air... the only benefits even when the 11” comes with what’s rumoured is:
120hz screen
Better A14X
Better Speakers / Mics
5G
Face ID
I just think the Air is that high spec right now that the 11” Pro is either going down the pan or as you say is getting replaced with a 12” (which in my opinion is probably the best size ever the pro could come in, best of both worlds).
The iPad Pro’s at the moment remind me of when the watch first came out in 38mm and 42mm... for me the 38mm was too small and the 42mm was too big and were soon replaced with the 40mm and 44mm we have today... now the 40mm is perfect for me that took 4 generations for that to eventually happen.
I feel that the 2018 and 2020 pros are in the same boat here... a 12” would be perfect for pretty much everyone... and then launching a 14” later in the year for those that need more screen real estate