Rumor: Apple To Release 10.9-Inch Bezel-Less iPad Pro Model In 2017

While everyone is seemingly very much preoccupied with the Mac right now, following the announcement of new MacBook Pros recently, Apple is said to be quietly working on getting a trio of new iPads ready for release early next year.

A new research note issued by Barclays Research analysts Blayne Curtis, Christopher Hemmelgarn, Thomas O’Malley, and Jerry Zhang, has new iPad Pro devices shipping as soon as March of next year.

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Rumors of new iPads have been sparse of late with the furore over the Mac lineup taking attention away from Apple’s tablets and the release of the iPhone 7 keeping everyone busy in the mobile space, but it stands to reason that Apple must have new devices in the works, ready for an announcement sooner or later.

Apple’s current lineup of iPad Pros have proven popular amongst those who bought them without ever truly taking the market by storm, but Apple’s continued push towards the iPad Pro and away from the iPad Air and iPad mini lines looks set to continue, according to the report.

Specifically, the research note claims that three new models will debut in March, including refreshed 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch models and an all-new, bezel-less 10.9-inch model. That new 10.9-inch model is without a doubt the most interesting of the trio, as it has been suggested that despite having a larger screen than the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, its physical footprint will be the same. The only way that is possible, as far as we can tell, is if Apple has managed to come up with an edge-to-edge iPad display perhaps via the removal of the Home button. We will reserve judgement on that for now, though.

Thankfully, it would appear that all iPads will retain the 3.5mm headphone jack that the iPhone 7 famously ditched, and a four microphones per device are also said to be part of the equation. It’s not all good news for the iPad lineup, however, with the iPad mini unlikely to be refreshed at all. That leaves the iPad mini 4, released in September 2015, as the current model.

Cue disappointment as our favorite iPad languishes. Is this what it feels like to be a Mac Pro owner?

(Source: MacRumors)

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