Rumor Claims iPad Pro With Horizontal Cameras and Landscape Apple Logo in the Works

[MrGimper]

Rather bizarrely, since upgrading from the 10.5 Pro to the 2021 12.9 Pro, I use it more in portrait, whereas I used the 10.5 in landscape.

 

[matrix07]

And how exactly that said “iPad is a laptop replacement”? If anything, it’s saying the opposite, that iPad is NOT a computer.

 

[alphaswift]

Tim should worry less about orientation and more about how sucky IpadOS is.

 

[Macropanda]

Air and mini for media consumption and games.

Both of which are mostly done in Horizontal. This should be on all of them.

 

[Macropanda]

I don't think this is really necessary..

its needed for sure. FaceTime calls look weird. All keyboard thats the iPads use are in landscape, most apps work and look better in landscape, all media is landscape.
Its a no brainer.

 

[Reggiebaldwin]

Hopefully there will be a software update so it does not appear like you are looking off screen to the left when FaceTiming in landscape mode. I usually just put it in vertical mode when using front facing camera but center stage works better in landscape.

 

[jonnysods]

When people have it in landscape mode the logo is usually covered up with a case or keyboard type contraption, so I don't see how this change makes much difference.

 

[Ubele]

Why don’t they get real ballsy and take logo off, like iMac.

Or make it a decal that you can peel off and stick in whichever orientation you're using at the moment.

 

[ElectricPotato]

Apples subtle way of saying "you're holding it wrong"?

 

[w5jck]

Apple in recent years has started to promote its higher-end iPad Pro as a near laptop replacement...

It is just marketing BS as usual. With iPadOS 15 they have shown absolutely no interest in turning the iPad Pro into a useable laptop replacement.

First you need a useable file system, not a Files app that is totally worthless. You need to be able to create folders on a real file system and give your own names to files, and have those files show what they are with extensions like .txt, .jpg,, .png, .pdf, etc. And you need to be able to open those files in your apps. Try putting an HTML file in that Files app and opening it. All you get is a stripped down viewer version. Try opening that HTML in FireFox or Google, and it fails because they can't interpret whatever the Files app is. So you also need for apps to have access to the file system in a useful way, which they don't. And you need to be able to transfer files to other computers without going through import and export crap that isn't necessary on real computers.

Apple is catering to the iPad fan club members who only care about entertainment, social media, and web browsing; the people who don't use computers in any meaningful way, the Gen Y and Gen Z crowd who are glued to their iPhones. Those folks will never want an iPad laptop replacement, they only want an iPad media toy. So forget all this BS about laptop replacement ever happening. Apple isn't likely to do that unless they decide to create a whole new iPad laptop replacement OS.

I hope Apple really does make the iPad Pro into a laptop replacement because I’ve wanted that for years, but I doubt they ever will. I wish they would either release such a product with a true file system or just shut the bleep up. I'm tired of the empty hype...

 

[anthogag]

I have iPad Pro 12.9" 4th generation. I use it in portrait mode with an Apple Pencil. Landscape mode is for watching shows and videos. I don't use the iPad with a keyboard.

A longer charging cord would be an improvement. I use the iPad when it is charging.

I don't care about charging an iPhone wirelessly using an iPad. It means I have to charge the iPad sooner.

Wireless charging for the iPad could be good. It could be a mat charger because I would like to use the iPad when it charges.

 

[bluespark]

Maybe, just maybe, put the camera and face-ID sensor on the top in landscape mode? It just looks so weird on videocalls otherwise...

That's the camera we're talking about.

 

[bluespark]

I've said this elsewhere, but the iPad Pro models (and maybe the iPad Air as well) need front cameras for *both* portrait and landscape orientations. Videoconferencing is here to stay, and the iPad could be an ideal platform for videoconferencing. For that to be the case, however, the user needs to be properly captured in either normal orientation.

Also, I think a portrait rear logo makes more sense, regardless of the fact that the iPad Pro is usually used in landscape mode. That's because the logo is almost always covered by a case when in landscape mode (for example, by the back of the magic keyboard case) but less likely to be covered when in portrait mode. The logo on the screen ideally would sense orientation and adjust, although I realize that's challenging in light of the iPad's boot-up sequence.

 

[Brien]

Lining up the cards for macOS dual boot? I hope!

 

[Kobra]

I don’t care whether or not Apple promotes the iPad as a laptop replacement, I know howe I’ve used my Ipads since 2010 😉 What I do care about is the front camera placement. It would be really useful and nice if they moved it to the long side -or better yet, added a second one to compliment the short sided one. The gyroscope sensor could be used to activate the proper one depending on how you hold the iPad. Centerstage would still enhance a horizontally placed camera.

Before you all knock this idea, please bear in mind that Apple considered to equip the first iPad with two dock connectors to facilitate the use of the keyboard dock

 

[transpo1]

I can see this for the Pro models only, M2 chips and landscape for workers would make it a real surface rival.

Air and mini for media consumption and games.

Only if they allow Apple Silicon compatible MacOS apps to run on it

 

[lddhtx]

This isn’t innovation obviously but it’s a welcoming change assuming they move the Face ID sensors and front camera too.

The real problem is iPadOS. Everybody knows this. At least give us a freaking close button in the multitasking menu

 

[Tagbert]

Maybe, just maybe, put the camera and face-ID sensor on the top in landscape mode? It just looks so weird on videocalls otherwise...

Putting it in the corner might give you the best compromise for both orientations.

 

[djstile]

        .:'
      __ :'__
   .'`__`-'__``.
  :__________.-'
  :_________:
   :_________`-;
    `.__.-.__.'

 '.__.-.__.` 
;-`_________: 
   :_________:
'-.__________:
.``__'-`__`'. 
   __': __   
     ':.

...and we think you're going to love it.

 

[darngooddesign]

Considering how Apple is pushing keyboards it wouldn’t be surpising if they made the Pros and Air landscape iPads. But wasn’t Apple supposed to be working on fake-centering our pupils to deal with the side camera effect?

 

[svish]

Quite possible. Landscape orientation should be the default for iPad.

 

[tennisproha]

This is such an oversight by Apple. I’ve used my iPad Pro in landscape 99.9% off the time. The buttons and camera placements are beyond frustrating.

For Apple claiming to use their own devices in their personal lives, it’s hard to imagine Tim Cook or other execs not having had similar frustrations.

 

[Tagbert]

Uh, according to Apple’s marketing it is? They said it, not me.

Sure, for some use cases iPads can already replace laptops. for other use cases, they can't.

Simple answers are more simple than answer.

 

[Tagbert]

Why? I pretty much always hold my iPad in portrait ... just feels more natural in the hand. If I'm watching something, I'll turn it, but the form follows the function, as it should be. One of the best parts of the iPad was always the ambiquitous nature with which you could use it. Trying to "force"' a user experience is the very definition of bad design.

People tend to fall into two camps.

Some, like you hold the iPad like a book and maybe use it mainly for reading.

The others either hold is horizontally (mainly for videos) or put it into a case/stand that likely has a keyboard. I'm in that latter group and my iPad is almost always landscape and attached to a keyboard. Holding it vertical feels odd to me.

There is speculation that, for iPad Pros, more people use them in landscape. For Minis, that they use them in portrait. The other iPads are probably a more balance mix of orientations.

 

[Tagbert]

Well i'm glad your anecdotal evidence of you and your elderly parents is all you need - I can counter that my elderey parents and my young girlfriend are both completely baffled by it. So we're even though.

I also think you'll find the multi billion pound tech company with more market research than you could imagine tends to know a lot more than either of us and it's been talked about A LOT with UX that file management is one of the most unintuitive things a new computer user has to manage - and this is coming from someone that loves it, I could never give up my Mac, but I understand why Apple are doing it.

If your use case mainly involves using a single application for work, then you can mostly ignore files and live with the app-centered world that iOS defaults to. If you tend to work on complex documents using multiple apps or with components from different apps, then you are more likely to need to deal with files. Neither approach is good or bad but neither approach will meet the needs of all users. The iPhone is very app-centric. The Mac is mostly filecentric. The iPad sits, rather uncomfortably in the middle.