NEW YORK: Rumours about a larger iPad that the tech press has been referring to as the iPad pro have been swirling for almost a year, but now, we have confirmation: Apple’s actually doing it.
9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman, whose scoops about Apple, are, by now, almost always accurate, reported today that not only will Apple debut a larger iPad at its September 9 event, it will, actually, be called iPad Pro.
Gurman says that the larger tablet will go on sale in November with pre-orders starting in October. Apple traditionally launches new iPads at a separate event in October, so the company might just change its mind and push the grand unveiling to October, but Gurman seems pretty sure we’ll at least see a glimpse of the Pro next week.
The iPad Pro will not only be a larger version of the current iPad Air 2, it will also support a Force Touch-based stylus (Force Touch is a technology that Apple introduced with the Apple Watch that allows the screen to detect pressure in addition to plain touch). It will also include two stereoi speakers on the sides to boost audio quality. Gurman says that the iPad pro will run iOS 9.1, which will be aimed at business and power users with tweaks to Siri and Notification Centre interfaces.
An iPad Pro at this point in the iPad’s lifecycle will be significant. Tablet sales have been stagnating in the last couple of years and Apple needs another breakthrough hit (besides the iPhone) to please Wall Street. Also notable are Apple’s recent announcements about enterprise collaborations with Cisco and IBM to push iPads and other Apple products in businesses, which have traditionally stuck to offerings from Microsoft.
