“According to respected and generally reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities, Apple’s long-awaited 12.9-inch iPad Pro [2732 x 2048 resolution display] will feature Force Touch stylus support,” Cam Bunton reports for 9to5Mac.
“He expects the larger tablet to go in to production between September and October and that the stylus will be able to take advantage of the new iPad’s Force Touch-enabled screen,” Bunton reports. “It’s being imagined as a feature which could help users more easily navigate the larger display of the iPad Pro.”
“KGI’s analyst suggests Apple could sell up to as many as 5.5 million units of the 12.9-inch iPad this year, and under 1 million accompanying styluses,” Bunton reports. “Apple is expected to announce the larger tablet at an event later this year…”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Perhaps our next primary road machines! Much testing required first to see if it can at least match the 12-inch MacBook for our needs on-the-go.
With years and years of work on smart styli, it certainly seems like Apple’s getting all of their ducks in order for the 12.9-inch “iPad Pro,” at least, where it might make the most sense – as opposed to a 3.5-inch (or even a 5.5-inch) iPhone:
Who wants a stylus? You have to get ’em and put ’em away and you lose them. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus, so let’s not use a stylus. – Steve Jobs, January 9, 2007
SEE ALSO:
Apple has been working on iPad smart stylus prototypes for years – August 7, 2015
Apple patent application reveals smart stylus with texture sensing capabilities, 3D image generation, and more – July 30, 2015
Apple advances their future iPen with a continuous handwriting UI and processor system – July 9, 2015
Warning: Apple’s mythical iPad Pro may replace your enterprise PCs – May 14, 2015
Why Apple’s ‘iPad Pro’ will flop or something – May 11, 2015
Hands-on with alleged ‘iPad Pro’ case gives shows comparison to Apple’s iPad Air – May 1, 2015
Apple’s 12.9-inch ‘iPad Pro’ to feature oxide LCD display; mass production in Q315, sources say – March 5, 2015
Is a larger ‘iPad Pro’ an absurd idea? – January 22, 2015
Analyst: Apple likely to launch simple stylus with 12.9-inch iPad Pro; advanced 3D stylus due later – January 18, 2015
Apple granted another smart pen patent for capturing digital copies of notes and drawings – December 30, 2014
Apple files their 10th ‘Smart Pen’ patent of the year – December 6, 2014
iPen: Apple patent applications reveal advanced modular smart-pen – February 2, 2014
iPen? Apple secretly files three dynamic smart-pen patents in Europe – February 28, 2013
Apple patent application reveals advanced ‘active stylus’ for iOS devices – December 31, 2012
Apple patent application reveals more about their optical iPen and graphics program – May 24, 2012
Apple patent app details smart, heated ‘iPen’ stylus for iPad and iPhone – July 7, 2011
Apple patent application details new type of stylus for iPad – February 3, 2011
Steve was right. The iPhone worked/works WAY better without a stylus. An iPad is different, though. With the large screen real estate and the comparatively complex tasks one might do on what is essentially a living sheet of paper, the right stylus is a great choice.
Look for it to be magnetically connected with crazy strong rare earth magnets that make it virtually impossible to lose.
“virtually impossible to lose,”
You don’t know my wife.
or me.
Or me. If the stylus gives me the same delicacy as a simple Bic fine liner, I’ll be waiting in line.
the stylus for me has one objective: Precision!
Fingers just dont cut it as a precision pointing device for pro level work !
Curious resolution. A third more pixels in each direction.
Perhaps Apple scaled to roughly maintain the iPad retina ppi?
The biggest challenge is stopping false inputs as you rest your hand on the screen for precision stylus use. I wonder if the new large iPad will be “stylus aware” so when you use it it ignores all other input? Many questions….
A “pro” iPad should have built-in support for a stylus. It will spur adoption by artists, for both “pro” and hobby. A pressure-sensitive stylus on a “tablet” surface is not even a new thing. Drawing tablets (as accessories to computers) have had pressure-sensitive features for a LONG time.
The given pixel counts and diagonal measure yield a pixel density of ~265 ppi, corresponding to the resolution of current iPad Air models. If this is so, then the x/y dimensions of the display area will be 10.3 x 7.72 in. But what does this mean?
Viewing this screen in landscape mode, the height of the display will be the same as an iPad in portrait mode, and nearly twice the width. The overall size, including what I assume will be minimized bezels, around 11 x 8.75 in., i.e. almost exactly US-letter-sized.
Force Touch may add a bit of thickness, and the increase in battery space will be needed to maintain display brightness, but unless they allow a bit more heft, don’t expect the battery life to be much better than current-gen models. As always, increasing CPU and battery voodoo at Apple could prove this wrong.
At first, I could not find a good use case for such a device. As the applications, the CPU and GPU have all gotten better, and as the mobile environment and cloud services have matured, I now believe this may be the most successful iPad yet.
Whether Apple threw this into the grapevine or not, I’m surprised the androids who design SameSong’s products haven’t already spewed forth an UltraNoteTab S-6000 Curve.
Cheers!
dmz
WACOM have been making graphics tablets for years. Including the expensive screen based variants. Therefore an iPad based version isnt going to be a revolutionary input device and using a stylus, as Steve said, isn’t for most people a necessary addition.
A large tablet made by Apple wil no doubt sell millions but wheter it will generate millionsofadditional stylus sles will be interesting andprobably dependent upon price point as much as anything else.
Wacom fineline stylus is working great with Penultimate. It has a really nice feature that lets you write while the paper scrolls underneath your pen. You don’t have to move your hand. It is a really nice way to take notes on the iPad. I really can’t wait for Apple to introduce a stylus made specifically for use with iPad.
Once again….
DOUBLE SCREEN MacPad would be BETTER.
Top screen used as normal, Bottom part could be a keyboard, but also, could be used as editing control, color correction, equalizer, etc.
That’s BETTER THAN, having an “on-screen keyboard”.
NO doubt…. BETTER !!!
They already have a 12″ Macbook ,13″ & 15″ MBP, 11″ & 13: Air, they have a iPad at 9.7″. Now why the hell would they want to release a 12.9″ iPad pro. You want a device with stylus then convert one of the product lines into that instead of having a device every 1/2″ starting from 4″.