12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro' Rumored to Launch After Mid-November as Foxconn Prepares Components

[WhySoSerious]

Who cares? This is Apple we are talking about. Their "pro" version is to add more speaker grills....that's it. Ohhh, Ahhhhh, Woooow!

If the iPad Pro doesn't incorporate things that the Surface Pro does, why bother making it?

Kickstand, pen, OSX....to to name a few.

 

[mgipe]

You have 5 stylus' at the end of each arm. Very convenient.

I guess I need to figure out how to put one of these stylii in the pencil sharpener, because as it is now, it's too blunt to use for precision drawing.

 

[ipadpro]

i want bigger ipad - i am happy with this release and i going to get it -

love something new ,

 

[jmh600cbr]

maybe they were waiting for force touch, maybe it is never coming

 

[mgipe]

Wacom has been making a pressure sensitive stylus that works great with the iPad for a couple of years now.

I have one of these. It's horrible, completely useless. There is a huge offset between stylus and cursor (1/4 inch sometimes), and you can't draw a straight line with it. You get a wiggly line instead.

 

[Traverse]

There is going to be a lot of product overlap with an 11" notebook, 12" notebook, 13" notebook, and now a 13" iPad Pro.

They are different devices and they do each have their user base, but I wonder how Apple will differentiate it. More importantly, I wonder if they'll differentiate it by withholding features that would work fine on the 9.7" iPad.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

I'd love a 13" iPad. Great for sheet music.

Probably far too useful for Tim Cook's Apple to make these days. Just not fashionable and hip hop enough.

 

[Mr. Donahue]

Am I the only person that really wants an updated iPad Mini? ...

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm on the flip side. What's the point if it does run OS X? OS X would be awful on a touch interface, whereas iOS has some really great professional-level tools that take full advantage of what the iPad has to offer.

I expect this is the point when the two OSs will converge. There's a lot of code that's shared between the two OSs already - it's only a matter of time until they merge and become one.

 

[teslo]

Who cares? This is Apple we are talking about. Their "pro" version is to add more speaker grills....that's it. Ohhh, Ahhhhh, Woooow!

If the iPad Pro doesn't incorporate things that the Surface Pro does, why bother making it?

Kickstand, pen, OSX....to to name a few.

riiight.. and the mac pro is just a cylindrical macbook

 

[teslo]

I disagree. There are some fundamental differences between a touch enabled device and a mouse GUI; starting with the angle of use (vertical vs. horizontal), how you interact with on screen objects and even the use of screen space, for example how a keyboard takes up half of the screen. What is needed, IMHO, is a tight integration of OSX and iOS so a drawing app could be open on each and exchange info and allow the iPad to act as a tablet or ancillary tool. In addition, add the ability to use the iPad as a second monitor natively when connected via the thunderbolt port.

fine we can disagree - i'm just sitting here looking at OS X wishing i could tap it with a stylus tip a few mm wide, thinking it would be fantastic - especially considering the effects changing screen rez has on a mbpro (bigger or smaller icons/menu & list items). totally depends on your needs and intent i suppose. i just doubt apple would make a surface pro competitor with the same problems plaguing the surface, which may be exactly why it's been in R&D for so long. one can hope...

 

[2457282]

What's the point if it doesn't run OS X?

I'm on the flip side. What's the point if it does run OS X? OS X would be awful on a touch interface, whereas iOS has some really great professional-level tools that take full advantage of what the iPad has to offer.

We now have the 12" Macbook that is almost as thin as a ipad and actually thinner than an ipad with a keyboard cover. So there is significant crossover between the two platforms. With iOS 9, we finally get multi app support. So the differences between the two really is getting down to keyboard vs touch. I have a keyboard cover because I like to use keyboards for typing, and like to use touch for everything else. At the core these two operating systems are actually very similar. For me I would say that if they figure out how to implement a keyboard cover and continue to expand the capability of iOS/iPad (like adding memory to the ipad beyond 2Gig) I would stick with the iPad over a laptop. Actually, at this point my wife has the laptop, I had the iPad and the iMac. still use the iMac for photo editing as the main storage for all my photos, videos, and music. Don't yet trust putting everything in the cloud as a sole repository (I have almost everything in iCloud, but I also have everything on my iMac and on my time machine).

 

[DFZD]

I'm on the flip side. What's the point if it does run OS X? OS X would be awful on a touch interface, whereas iOS has some really great professional-level tools that take full advantage of what the iPad has to offer.

While I agree that iOS makes a lot more sense on a larger iPad as well, I'll have to strongly disagree on the availability of professional level apps. I think they're very scarce, at least for Developers. Although I believe once the iPad pro arrives with Force Touch, 4gb RAM, the developers will line in to make more worth apps.

 

[Pakaku]

i'd go a step further and say the cintiq is objectively useless without its stylus (even if they'd made it finger-touch sensitive). yet it's a multi-million dollar company. hmmm... could it be that many apple users and MR commenters know absolutely bupkis about what demographic this iPad pro would be courting?

we get it. you love jailbreaking. you love poring over the minute details of computers and devices. but you're in no way a person who would EVER need to draw or draft or animate something at a professional level. among all the other activities a stylus would lend itself nicely to. in fact, a stylus is what WOULD make OS X a viable touch0screen os. if it's roughly the size of a 13" macbook, how could you NOT imagine the joy of being able to click something on the screen?

hmmm. ipad. 'pro'. ipad. 'pro'.... "are you getting it yet?"

You seem to be implying that a Cintiq is the way for the iPad Pro to go. You'll be happy to know that's exactly what I was saying with the finger-paint analogy. Kudos for being observant.

Now the only problem with this iPad Pro is the non-Pro state of iOS as it currently is. Why should I have to put up with the limits of iOS and the App Store when OSX has plenty of capability? Why doesn't iOS even have basic firewall capabilities, for one? Why can't I install an adblocking extension for iOS Safari? Come the **** on, this isn't acceptable in 2015.

 

[UltimaKilo]

We now have the 12" Macbook that is almost as thin as a ipad and actually thinner than an ipad with a keyboard cover. So there is significant crossover between the two platforms. With iOS 9, we finally get multi app support. So the differences between the two really is getting down to keyboard vs touch. I have a keyboard cover because I like to use keyboards for typing, and like to use touch for everything else. At the core these two operating systems are actually very similar. For me I would say that if they figure out how to implement a keyboard cover and continue to expand the capability of iOS/iPad (like adding memory to the ipad beyond 2Gig) I would stick with the iPad over a laptop. Actually, at this point my wife has the laptop, I had the iPad and the iMac. still use the iMac for photo editing as the main storage for all my photos, videos, and music. Don't yet trust putting everything in the cloud as a sole repository (I have almost everything in iCloud, but I also have everything on my iMac and on my time machine).

Oye Papo, what you're looking for is probably still 3-5 years away.

 

[autrefois]

I think they were planning on the iPad Pro being launched alongside the new iPhones. But since they're expecting record sales of the latter, they pushed the new iPad back to November because they're afraid they'll run out of 16 GB flash drives. Worst case scenario, they will bump it down to 8 gigs -- after all, with the smaller OS, iCloud, and app thinning, who needs more than 8 gigs anyway?!...

 

[subjonas]

What's the point if it doesn't run OS X?

OS X and (more importantly) its applications are not designed for touch and won't be in any foreseeable future. Much more realistic (and better) to just make iOS and its apps more functional, which is what is slowly happening.
To me it's more like, what's the point if the iPad Pro doesn't have a pressure sensitive pen? (I am an artist)

Wacom has been making a pressure sensitive stylus that works great with the iPad for a couple of years now.

I realize "great" is a relative term. But to me, Wacom Cintiqs have a great pressure sensitive pen.

They do. It's called a cover or case. No need to ruin the back with some hinge and propping mechanism.

Covers and cases add a lot of bulk and can be clunky to use. Have you tried the Surface Pro kickstand? That thing is slick (and adds almost zero bulk). Might be worth it for Apple to create their own slick integrated kickstand solution for the iPad Pro, seeing as it will be used on a table much more than other iPads due to its size.

 

[2457282]

Oye Papo, what you're looking for is probably still 3-5 years away.

Chico, I think it's not that far off, but I would agree that a complete replacement of my desktop/laptop is not happening this year.

 

[jlc1978]

fine we can disagree - i'm just sitting here looking at OS X wishing i could tap it with a stylus tip a few mm wide, thinking it would be fantastic - especially considering the effects changing screen rez has on a mbpro (bigger or smaller icons/menu & list items). totally depends on your needs and intent i suppose. i just doubt apple would make a surface pro competitor with the same problems plaguing the surface, which may be exactly why it's been in R&D for so long. one can hope...

No worries. I've tried something similar using Duet on my iPad and while it works it is not that great. Essentially a touch sensitive mouse like you see on many kiosks. I agree if Apple does release something it will be better than the surface pro; I just don't see it being an OSX tablet.

 

[jlc1978]

Covers and cases add a lot of bulk and can be clunky to use. Have you tried the Surface Pro kickstand? That thing is slick (and adds almost zero bulk). Might be worth it for Apple to create their own slick integrated kickstand solution for the iPad Pro, seeing as it will be used on a table much more than other iPads due to its size.

Yes, and I prefer the clean back of the iPad and the original Apple case which adds only a fraction of an inch in thickness and looks better than the Srface Pro. YMMV

 

[mixel]

I would sell my Windows Laptop and iPad for one of these if the stylus support is right.

I really, really want to believe.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Great news! This may be a good time to start saving for the iPad Pro.

 

[sracer]

Wacom has been making a pressure sensitive stylus that works great with the iPad for a couple of years now.

"works" is open to interpretation. It only "works" with apps that have been programmed to be used with it. There is no universal iOS support for it.

 

[likwidplastik]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but...
My wife has a Surface Pro 3, and it's amazing. First thought was, if only Apple would make their version of this, I'd be all over it. That's what I'm hoping for with the iPad Pro. Adobe actually has touch versions of Illustrator and Photoshop (maybe others?). I used them on her Surface and it ran beautifully.

 

[MartiNZ]

I know I'm going to get flamed for this, but...
My wife has a Surface Pro 3, and it's amazing. First thought was, if only Apple would make their version of this, I'd be all over it. That's what I'm hoping for with the iPad Pro. Adobe actually has touch versions of Illustrator and Photoshop (maybe others?). I used them on her Surface and it ran beautifully.

Ha was about to post much the same. Surface is an incredible product, and not just the pro 3. But I don't even care if Apple doesn't optimise OS X for touch. If they could just make a Surface competitor for us to run Windows on, with touch, it would be awesome. But yeah, a touch OS X device would probably tempt me back. Windows 8 has been so amazing, but what they're doing with 10 really seems to suck for tablets, starting with turning off most "modern windows" apps ><. OS X hasn't been an acceptable option since Lion came out, but with touch I could excuse quite a bit.