iPad Pro Release Date, News, and Rumors: New Tablet Boasts Larger Screen, Better Resolution
The iPad Pro will be Apple's latest tablet. It will sport a larger 12.9" screen and fall in between the current iPad lineup and the MacBook Air. There may be two different display types for the Pro: a slightly higher than 1080p display and a nearly 4K, 2732 by 2048 resolution model.
A 4K display on the new iPad would make sense because it's a great marketing buzzword and help increase sales. Also, for practical reasons a 4K display makes sense because it would help differentiate the feature set of the current flagship iPad Air and with the incoming Pro. 4K content is also becoming increasingly available thanks to outlets like Netflix and Amazon so the 4K Display could actually get some media content to playback. It looks like the Pro is primed to become the first tablet to be fully capable of replacing a small 11" laptop.
Murkier predictions suggest an aggressive Spring 2014 launch for the iPad Pro. That would mean that the one-month-old iPad Air would already be out of style less then 9 months after it first became available. But it wouldn't be an unprecedented move for Apple. The iPad 3 was replaced by the iPad 4 only months after it first shipped and thus making many customers very angry.
Taiwan-based Quanta Computer will reportedly manufacture the iPad Pro. Quanta is the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world and will be able to mass produce the iPad Pro without a hitch. The release date looks to be around October of 2014, which falls in line with Apple's past device launches. Quanta may also be producing a 13.3" panel for Apple engineers to play around with.
The iPad Pro will be "targeting North America's educational market," though will surely be available for purchase internationally as well. However, such a close-minded focus could hurt Apple's bottom line. Look no further than the botched LA County Unified School District iPad program. $1 billion was spent on iPad hardware as well as infrastructure improvements, yet students were able to bypass security features and play video games in class. The iPad Pro looks promising, but it's going to have to do a lot more then just be a next-generation textbook.
No other features for the iPad Pro will be announced. Could we see an octo-core processor like some Android phones and tablets are using? It will surely have improved wireless AC available, right? Whatever the feature set, it's certain the new iPad will be the most powerful mobile device Apple has ever sold.
Would you be interested in buying an iPad Pro? Let us know in the comments section below.