Next week on September 9th, Apple is set to unveil two new iPhone models and the reimagined Apple TV. The resulting ethereal shockwave will glaze tech websites across the internet with coverage of the new shinies, allowing the Californian corporation to dominate the tubes for a few heady weeks. Apple aren’t content to stop there, though. According to an eleventh-hour report by 9to5Mac, Apple will also use the event to debut a new member of their tablet family: the iPad Pro. Here’s what to expect – beyond the collective insanity of the tech blog-o-sphere.
The iPad Pro is a larger iPad, measuring 12 or 13 inches along the diagonal, compared to the 10 of the iPad Air and the 8 inches of the iPad Mini. As the name suggests, the Pro will be aimed towards content creators and power users. That means powerful hardware inside to match the larger, higher resolution screen. The Pro will run iOS 9 from launch, allowing users to have two apps on screen at once, and also allowing the same subtle optimisations that Apple made for the larger iPhone 6 Plus.
The iPad Pro will also come with a stylus which utilises the Force Touch screen technology that debuted with the Apple Watch, allowing access to additional controls or faster video scrubbing when the screen is pressed down hard. The inclusion of a stylus famously goes against the Jobsian “if you see a stylus, they blew it!”, but you can expect the saying to be swept under the rug or humourously referenced during Apple’s presentation. Whichever happens, its inclusion will be largely seen as a good thing.
The iPad Pro will be another Apple overture towards enterprise customers, alongside recent partnerships with business giants Cisco and IBM. The Pro might also find favour as an educational device, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple dedicate some of their event time accordingly.
So – a larger iPad, with specialised software and impressive hardware… and a stylus. It should be an interesting part of a packed Apple event; it’s no surprise that the company saw fit to hold the announcements in a much larger facility than has been used in the past. Tune in on September 9th at 6PM BST (10AM EST), and bear witness to the coming storm.