Rumors of a significant iPad Pro redesign have circulated all year, universally claiming that the classic Home button with Touch ID would be eliminated in favor of a TrueDepth camera system with Face ID. Now the new tablet’s front design appears to have leaked in an Apple iOS 12.1 beta, as discovered by 9to5Mac, and the look confirms both the feature changes and 2018’s dominant Apple industrial design theme.
Just like the iPhone X, XR, XS, XS Max, and Apple Watch Series 4, the new iPad Pro features a screen with newly rounded corners, surrounded by what’s likely to be the smallest bezel Apple could muster this year. Rather than a notch in the display, the icon suggests that there will be a uniform black frame around the screen approximately the same as the smaller bezels on earlier iPad Pros — a reduction that looks set to dramatically cut the height of Apple’s tablets.
Previously, the iPad Pro’s top and bottom bezels each required nearly three-quarters of an inch to accommodate Home buttons, a front-facing camera, and sensors, but the new design appears likely to trim that down to around one-quarter of an inch. The change could enable Apple to fill the old chassis with more screen, which appears unlikely from early screen resolution reports, or to shrink the enclosure. Leaks have suggested the new model’s shape will return for the first time to the flat-edged design used in the original iPad back in 2010, albeit in a dramatically lighter and thinner iteration.
In a separate tweet, the site’s iOS code dissector, Guilherme Rambo, said that “Apple Pencil 2, model B332, will support gestures. The user will be able to change stroke properties by sliding along the sides of the pencil.” While Rambo and fellow developer Steve Troughton-Smith went on to discuss whether the feature will be triggered by a button that can be held down, or just a swipable surface, Apple’s prior AirPods designs suggest the latter.
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Whether it’s called Apple Pencil 2 or something else, Apple’s second-generation stylus is expected to include a redesigned charging system compatible with the new iPad Pro. Apple is expected to replace both the Smart Connector port and Lightning port with updated connectors that will render the prior Apple Pencil incompatible for charging and pairing purposes. The new iPad Pro and Apple Pencil will likely be amongst the biggest announcements at tomorrow’s Apple media event in Brooklyn, New York.
Apple Pencil 2018:
– Design is even more minimalistic, the silver rail on top is now gone.
– Tap and Swipe gestures along the pencil.
– Magnetically attachable to the new iPad.
– New charging method. pic.twitter.com/tS1ptCWgnh— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) October 29, 2018
Updated at 9:50 a.m. Eastern: Leaker Ben Geskin has tweeted ahead of the event that the new Apple Pencil features an “even more minimalistic” design without the silver metal accent of the original, supports tap and swipe gestures on its sides, magnetically attaches to the new iPad, and has a new charging method. Though the image above is a render, and the new Pencil is expected to be shorter than what’s shown above, we believe that each of the other details is likely to be confirmed at tomorrow’s event.
