Apple May Include USB 3.0 Ports on Upcoming 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'

[MacRumors]

Following up on a report from earlier today claiming Apple has pushed back its plans for the so-called "iPad Pro", asking suppliers to begin production in September rather than this quarter, The Wall Street Journal weighs in with its own claim that Apple is indeed now targeting the second half of this year for the mass production of the device.

Mockup of iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini​

Beyond timing, the report also claims Apple is still tweaking plans for the iPad Pro's design and feature set, with the company considering including USB 3.0 ports to accommodate data transfer and peripherals connectivity.

"Apple has continued to rework some of the features of the larger iPad. It is now considering the faster technology for data synchronization between the larger iPad and other computing devices," said the person. [..]

The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.

Apple is reportedly also looking into ways to speed up charging time for the iPad Pro, as the device will almost certainly come with an even higher-capacity battery than the iPad Air family.

Finally, The Wall Street Journal's sources indicate the iPad Pro's display does indeed measure 12.9 inches diagonally, marking a substantial increase over the iPad Air family's 9.7-inch display. Rumors have been split between 12.9 inches and 12.2 inches for the iPad Pro's display.

Article Link: Apple May Include USB 3.0 Ports on Upcoming 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'

 

[YahonMaizosz]

Sounds like a Surface Pro (minus stylus)..

 

[JoEw]

This intrigues me. I wonder how IOS will deal with USB connectivity. Perhaps they just mean a type-c port?

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Sounds like a Surface Pro (minus stylus)..

Good one.

 

[bb426]

Somehow, I really doubt this.

 

[retroneo]

Hopefully they ditch lightning soon, and move to the Type C cable on everything soon - replacing all ports and power adapters. A world without power bricks!

To accelerate the move, they should not stock any accessories that use a conventional power adapter.

 

[cosmicjoke]

Sounds like a Surface Pro (minus stylus)..

Not to mention Desktop OS, up to i7/ 512 SSD, typecover, kickstand...

I don't even care for M$ (aside from gaming rig)...

Just sayin'....

 

[BBCWatcher]

"Adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse?" What is this, 1995?

I agree with JoEw. More believable would be a pair of reversible Type-C USB 3.1 ports. If somebody wants to hook a keyboard or mouse to one or both of those ports, fine, but they'd be at least somewhat more generalized than that.

 

[ErikGrim]

"The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.”

That is literally the dumbest statement anyone in a world where wireless mice and keyboards have been the norm for more than a decade have made.

 

[illegalprelude]

Basically like most rumors, nobody has any idea what they're talking about. Only difference is that these guys can hide behind being an 'analyst.'

 

[TouchMint.com]

whaaaa.... but then msfts surface promos will be invalid.

 

[randyj]

That would be great to shoot tethered with the iPad.
It would also be great if it had an SD card slot too.

 

[Rudy69]

This intrigues me. I wonder how IOS will deal with USB connectivity. Perhaps they just mean a type-c port?

iOS has supported USB devices from the very beginning. If you really want to you can plug in a USB keyboard to your iPhone (using the camera connectivity kit)

 

[EightBitJoe]

The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.

That doesn't sound like something Apple would do, unless it's a proprietary keyboard connector a la Surface to piggyback on the iPad's power.

I would love Bluetooth mouse/trackpad support in iOS 9. Throw in those frameworks, please, Craig! (I know, I know. I won't hold my breath!)

 

[Silver78]

The past year i've had a dream of the apple watch, iphone and 12" ipad.

Felt that those 3 things would fit me perfectly. But that was last year.

Honestly now the idea of 12" ipad is not a "wow" idea anymore but more like "well why not" and i would propably go for a 12" if i decide to replace my ipad 4.
But im no longer knocked of my feet by the thought of 12" ipad. Larger internet surfing screen and movie watching but the rest .... An extra set of icons on screen, the appstore destroyed by freemium crap and no real news in apps.

All the talk about mac air still going with 1400x900 resolution and no Macpad is so disappointing.

"Apple you are loosing me" first with the mac mini and now you are stalling progress with possible devices comming out 2015 that should have been on the streets in 2014.
Look at how the competition are spraying out gorgeous full OS tablets... Us applefans are getting an extra row of icons!?
I allready went with the intel NUC and my last ipad upgrade was a windows tablet instead.
I really really want to stay in apple land but apple you are making it very difficult

 

[bushido]

iOS has supported USB devices from the very beginning. If you really want to you can plug in a USB keyboard to your iPhone (using the camera connectivity kit)

I guess he was taking about data transfer as iOS has no real access to the file system

 

[RamGuy]

This intrigues me. I wonder how IOS will deal with USB connectivity. Perhaps they just mean a type-c port?

----------



Good one.

iOS supports USB-already? And a move to USB 3.0 does not have to mean a move to a actually USB-port on the device. Lightning does fully support USB2.0 and that's precisely what you use when you connect your Lightning to USB port into your Mac or power-brick.

There are more than enough connectors on the Lightning cable already, all Apple really needs to do is adding USB3.0 in the USB-end of the Lightning cable and nothing else. Thus far it's been rather pointless due to the nature of the NAND flash in the devices with random read / write being lower than the transfer cap of USB2.0 so the benefit of going USB3.0 has yet to be present.


But as the next generation of iPhone's and iPad's will most likely make the move to UFS and this new SSD + eMMC combination we will properly start to see random read / write speeds shattering the maximum capabilities of USB2.0 so then it might be time to make the move towards USB3.0.


There is no real benefit for Apple to make the move from Lightning to USB Type-C on the devices itself. It does not offer anything the Lightning does not already support other than it being the new "universal standard" in the market in the next few years.

Lightning has only been available for a few years, making the move to yet another connector on Apple devices already seems like a stupid move. The Lightning connector was built to be future proof and we had the 30-pin connector for over 10 years. I highly doubt the Lightning connector is going anywhere any time soon.

 

[osaga]

The past year i've had a dream of the apple watch, iphone and 12" ipad.

Felt that those 3 things would fit me perfectly. But that was last year.

Honestly now the idea of 12" ipad is not a "wow" idea anymore but more like "well why not" and i would propably go for a 12" if i decide to replace my ipad 4.
But im no longer knocked of my feet by the thought of 12" ipad. Larger internet surfing screen and movie watching but the rest .... An extra set of icons on screen, the appstore destroyed by freemium crap and no real news in apps.

All the talk about mac air still going with 1400x900 resolution and no Macpad is so disappointing.

"Apple you are loosing me" first with the mac mini and now you are stalling progress with possible devices comming out 2015 that should have been on the streets in 2014.
Look at how the competition are spraying out gorgeous full OS tablets... Us applefans are getting an extra row of icons!?
I allready went with the intel NUC and my last ipad upgrade was a windows tablet instead.
I really really want to stay in apple land but apple you are making it very difficult

What is the benefit of having a full OS on a tablet? Typing, pointing, clicking, everything is faster and more precise on a proper computer. When I use my iphone to browse the internet it works well, but it still feels a little handicapped. Often I wait until I get home to my desktop to do anything serious.

 

[Silver78]

What is the benefit of having a full OS on a tablet? Typing, pointing, clicking, everything is faster and more precise on a proper computer. When I use my iphone to browse the internet it works well, but it still feels a little handicapped. Often I wait until I get home to my desktop to do anything serious.

Tablet, laptop, ultrabook ... All more or less the same apart from the OS.

Why not be able to something serious allways and not only waiting to get home?

An intel I5 cpu is an intel I5 cpu nomatter if it is in a tablet or ultrabook

I want the what windows users a served but just an apple device instead.. Not a bloated tablet.

Give me a full mac OS tablet with option of running Ios apps emulated (or like windows 8,1 just better and apple)

A 12" ipad for me is a Lamborgini put on trainrails.

Imagine taking your full Mac OS tablet out of dock at home (where wireless connected to mechanical keyboard of your own choice) slap on the screen protection cover with buildin keyboard (like the surface)
Using the full OS tablet as tablet on train on the way to work (full laptop/ultrabook on trains and busses etc. suck.) then connect to keyboard at work.
There is plenty of keyboards everywhere in the world so be forced to drag one with you?

Oh... As owner of sdcard and usb connection kit for ipad i can say ... its a disaster. Apple show no interrest in letting people connect anything via usb in fear of not selling overpriced memory on the ipad itself or the all or nothing plans on icloud.

The ipad is a damn sturdy device with no signs of planned obsolessence ...that is where the only 1 gig of ram comes in to the picture.

 

[Trey M]

Totally agree with a lot of what's been said above. "Adding ports for a mouse and keyboard". That is the most un-Apple move possible and it will never happen. That alone makes me seriously doubt this source and its credibility.

I also think it makes no sense for an iPad Pro to include USB 3.0 ports. If the rMBA really will have solely type c usb, then the usb c would be an obvious choice for the iPad Pro given Apple's obsession with smaller and smaller ports and consistency among product lines.

Apple knows it will get tons of bad PR initially (as a lot of their products have in the past at first) since the rMBA will, supposedly, be type c usb only. However if they brought this same standard to the iPad Pro, it would make the standard more familiar and acceptable as an option users would want (since the new accessory they bought will work with both their iPad and MacBook).

 

[Bevz]

Somehow, I really doubt this.

Exactly my thoughts. Thunderbolt at a push but even then i have my doubts, but definately not USB.

 

[69650]

USB Port? That's not going to happen. They'll just build a faster charger. I hope they're also working on an origami style Apple case so you can stand it up in both landscape and portrait. Amazon have done it with the new Kindle to avoid having to hold it for long periods while you're reading.

 

[brownpaw]

Even though they are apparently discounting a macpad... that's the only realistic reason I could see to add a full-size USB port to a 12" iPad. Yeah there are some niche reasons but unless this is solely targeted on a commercial level, I just don't see it happening.

I ditched my $600 iPad for a $120 7" Windows tablet last year and couldn't be happier, honestly. Yeah you trade-off a lot of the polish and UI but in the end you get way more functionality, IMHO, and the lower price point makes it even better. It also has a USB 3 port and microHDMI port built in. :-/

Dear God, Apple, give us a decent macpad.

 

[sound]

stylus

and a wacomISH stylus for the graphic working people

 

[JoEw]

iOS supports USB-already? And a move to USB 3.0 does not have to mean a move to a actually USB-port on the device. Lightning does fully support USB2.0 and that's precisely what you use when you connect your Lightning to USB port into your Mac or power-brick.

There are more than enough connectors on the Lightning cable already, all Apple really needs to do is adding USB3.0 in the USB-end of the Lightning cable and nothing else. Thus far it's been rather pointless due to the nature of the NAND flash in the devices with random read / write being lower than the transfer cap of USB2.0 so the benefit of going USB3.0 has yet to be present.


But as the next generation of iPhone's and iPad's will most likely make the move to UFS and this new SSD + eMMC combination we will properly start to see random read / write speeds shattering the maximum capabilities of USB2.0 so then it might be time to make the move towards USB3.0.


There is no real benefit for Apple to make the move from Lightning to USB Type-C on the devices itself. It does not offer anything the Lightning does not already support other than it being the new "universal standard" in the market in the next few years.

Lightning has only been available for a few years, making the move to yet another connector on Apple devices already seems like a stupid move. The Lightning connector was built to be future proof and we had the 30-pin connector for over 10 years. I highly doubt the Lightning connector is going anywhere any time soon.

I would argue the lightening connector has been a disaster for Apple, every lightening cable barely lasts 1 year.. Pins are exposed and get damaged.

I wouldn't be surprised to see lightening leave sooner than later.

----------

iOS has supported USB devices from the very beginning. If you really want to you can plug in a USB keyboard to your iPhone (using the camera connectivity kit)

No kidding? I didn't realize ios supported wired keyboard

 

[AlecZ]

Watch it have more ports than what the 12" MBA has

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"The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.”

That is literally the dumbest statement anyone in a world where wireless mice and keyboards have been the norm for more than a decade have made.

Wireless keyboards and mice with USB receiver dongles are the norm, but Bluetooth wireless ones are not. I can only ever find Apple-branded Bluetooth keyboards and mice. They always have issues pairing. The thing is, iOS already supports wired keyboards through Lightning.