According to a new report on Bloomberg today, Apple is planning to launch a new high-end iPad based on some of the iPhone X’s most exciting features as soon as 2018.
Bloomberg’s sources say that Apple is set to release at least one new iPad with a similar screen size to the current 10.5-inch iPad Pro, which will feature Face ID instead of Touch ID, just as the new iPhone X does. However, the source does not think that Apple will be adding an OLED display to this new high-end iPad. This is because OLED displays are more difficult to manufacture in large quantities than standard displays, and Samsung is currently still the only company capable of handling such demands, but the source says that financial and technical issues are getting in the way of that happening.
The new iPad will apparently also have a faster processor, as you might expect, and a custom Apple graphics processing chip, as well as a new version of the Apple Pencil and new software tools for the pencil.
Just as it has done with the iPhone X, Apple intends to greatly reduce the top and bottom bezels on the new iPad once the Home button is removed. This would represent the first major iPad design revamp since the iPad Pro first appeared in 2015.
Although iPad sales, and tablet sales in general have declined over the last few years, it looks like the iPad is on the up again, with Apple reporting last week that iPad revenue increased by 14% to $4.8 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter, with an 11% increase in number of units sold.
Source: Apple Is Working on 2018 iPad Redesign With Facial Recognition
