Apple’s iPad ‘Let Loose’ event on Tuesday is expected to last just 35 minutes or so, but, hopefully, the company can get a lot done with its currently confusing iPad product category.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
Apple has a chance to kick off a new era for the iPad at its “Let Loose” launch event planned for Tuesday. The presentation, which is expected to be about 35 minutes, should set the product on a new path. It’s also an opportunity to clean up the confusing iPad lineup, which is currently made up of five different models.
Here’s how the iPad line will probably look after Tuesday:
• iPad (ninth generation), with a 10.2-inch screen and a home button.
• iPad (10th generation), with a 10.9-inch screen and no home button.
• iPad mini (sixth generation), with a 8.3-inch screen.
• iPad Air: 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, with M2 chips.
• iPad Pro: 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, with M4 chips.By next year, Apple plans to finish cleaning up the line. The ninth-generation iPad will be gone, replaced by a cheaper 10.9-inch model, and the iPad mini will have a faster chip. Altogether, Apple will have its least-cluttered iPad lineup in years.
Moreover, the top-end iPads will feel more like computers. The new aluminum Magic Keyboard is expected to be more durable, with a laptop-like aesthetic. And new software will take advantage of the hardware.
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MacDailyNews Take: As always, the software – specifically iPadOS 18 (to be unveiled in June at WWDC) – will be the key.
Apple should finally unleash the iPad (or at least let the iPad Pro run wild) once and for all – but, will they?
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It sounds like Apple’s upcoming “Let Loose” event is set to streamline their iPad lineup, which is great news. Shortening the event to 35 minutes suggests they’re focusing on efficiency. I’m particularly excited to see how the new hardware and software enhancements will elevate the iPad, especially the top-end models, closer to laptop functionality.
iPadOS will NEVER elevate the iPad closer to laptop functionality. That will happen once a touch-optimized MacOS is ported to the iPad, hopefully no later than next year with the rumored folding Mac/iPad. I can guarantee that iPad OS will be another incremental update this year, with some AI features, but nothing that will make you say “wow, I don’t need a Mac anymore”. If Apple ever truly intended that we would have seen it already. The hardware has been capable of it for years.