...
With that being said, I feel it could make room for a larger 15” or 16” iPad Pro with bigger Magic Keyboard.
This would similarly match Apples MacBook lineup:
- Macbook 12” (if it returns) = iPad (8th Gen)
- Macbook Air 13” = iPad Air (4th Gen)
- Macbook Pro 13”/14” = iPad Pro 12.9”
- Macbook Pro 16” = *new* iPad Pro 15”/16”
So just like how theres a MacBook for everyone, there would be an iPad for everyone.
The pragmatically of the 16" iPad Pro is what? 12.9" is already somewhat unwieldy to handle standing up with one hand. Two hands marginal . 16" is only going to increase the weight and make it even harder to handle with one hand for a larger group of the population.
If it is so big and heavy that have to put it onto a desktop to use it then it would really more so be a laptop (without a keyboard) than a tablet. If the projected intent that 70+ % of the folks who buy one also buy a "even bigger keyboard". That is even more in the range of it really being a laptop rather than tablet.
This is kind of a "monkey see , monkey do" track of pairing up iPad screens to Mac laptop screens. They are not meant to cover the same workloads. Yes, more than very high overlap in mainstream tasks ( browsing , email , messaging , video watching , writing documents , basic spreadsheets , basic photo editing, etc.) , but different.
If Apple wanted to do a iPad OS powered laptop then just bring back the "iBook" and just boot into iPad OS instead of macOS. They could use the same basic chassis (which would get you matching screens ).
Far more likely that the 10.2 mini led being projected here is a 'curve ball' thrown by Apple to either track rumor leaks or to do a prototype or a bit of both. Especially after the iPad Air moved up to 10.9. The only thing close to 10.2" now is the "super discount edu" iPad. Unlikely Apple is going to be pushing the iPad Pro toward that chassis restrictions.
Pretty decent chance that Apple won't get rid of the mainstream LED MacBook and iPad Pro models. Depending upon costs Apple could kick out a 'XDR' ( or perhaps less hyped 'HDR' ) line up of even more expensive alternatives. Similar to how Apple rolled out the "Retina" screens at first where bulk volume was regular and a subset of users paid a very healthy premium to move to "Retina" screens. A Pro Mini , Pro 11" , Pro 12.9" is track where Apple could crank up average system selling cost along the full iPad line up but not have to do very high volume manufacturing of mini-LEDs to it.
Same thing with the MBP. 14" ( still 13" hanging around for those on a budget) and extra-deluxe 16". Throw the 27" mini-LED at the iMac Pro to "segmentation gap" it from the iMacs.