When do we think the Seventh Generation iPad will be released and what kind of design will it have?

[Yebubbleman]

The title sort of says it all. Do we think it will come out in March as per the fifth and sixth generation models? Or do we think it will come out later? Do we think it'll retain its current design or will it get the same Home Button-less, curved corners treatment that the 2018 iPad Pro line got? Or do we think that it will keep its home button, continue to lack the true-depth camera system for FaceID, and adopt a new design that hasn't been seen before?

This is one prediction question that I don't have a prediction for. I feel like the iPad product line as a whole has been so inconsistent and unpredictable over more than two generations at a time that it could go in any direction from here. What say you?

 

[Seanm87]

Where is the option for there won’t be an update next year? Because I don’t think there will be.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

It's really tough to say as Apple has gotten somewhat unpredictable with their releases sans the iPhone. I recently bought a 6th Gen from Amazon because it's the current model and it was $249 with 6 month zero interest financing. It's also a tough call whether they will remove the Home Button on the budget iPad as that's now a selling point for the Premium iPad's. Plus if they did remove the Home Button they'd have to switch to a new front glass. Since the budget iPad is just that, I don't know if Apple is willing to throw money and a design change for these bargain iPad's.

 

[profets]

I don't see much changing for the current iPad. Maybe a SoC upgrade to the A11? I dunno.

If anything (what would really be nice) is an upgrade to a laminated display, like the Air 2 and 9.7" Pro had so it matches those form factors. But I think they're trying to keep the price low and margins as big as possible.

 

[spacebro]

Maybe they'll do their first zero-port qi charging device and upgrade the cpu.

 

[bodonnell202]

I don't see much coming to the non pro iPad line besides a CPU bump this year. They'll want to keep the Face ID minimal bezel design to the Pro line as an up sell for now.

 

[anthony13]

If they're still selling the 10.5 pro at over 500, theres' no way they redesign the 9.7 to somehow fit in that pricing scheme but also have reduced bezels.

 

[44267547]

Where is the option for there won’t be an update next year? Because I don’t think there will be.

And realistically, there doesn’t need to be an update in 2019 for the Pro Line. One thing to consider, and it exists, is consumer exhaustion, especially with the prices that are considerably higher for the iPad. Plus, even if a 2019 iPad did launch, would it would be that much of an upgrade, I don’t believe it would be in great lengths.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Where is the option for there won’t be an update next year? Because I don’t think there will be.

I'd lump it in with a "Later in the year" option. I think I even typed it out that way thinking that, but I didn't say it for some reason. Apologies. Will see if I can modify it to include that. I might be character limited though.

I don't see much changing for the current iPad. Maybe a SoC upgrade to the A11? I dunno.

If anything (what would really be nice) is an upgrade to a laminated display, like the Air 2 and 9.7" Pro had so it matches those form factors. But I think they're trying to keep the price low and margins as big as possible.

The SoC upgrade, while (in my opinion, at least) being enough to warrant a new generation, it probably won't be.

I'm in the minority camp on the laminated display camp. The original iPad Pro and iPad mini 4 models didn't have issues, but I had a series of iPad Air 2 units that all had that LCD ripple effect that happens when you press an LCD screen too hard, leading me to believe that either the displays were too structurally weak or that the glass used in the iPad Air 2 was weak. Either way, I ditched the Air 2 and haven't looked back since (and was kind of happy to see that the 2017/18 iPads didn't have the laminated display). Though, I'd imagine that they also fixed this on the 9.7" and 10.5" iPad Pros too, making this a non-issue for anything but the iPad Air 2.

 

[Starship67]

Pros in September and non pros in march.