2018 iPad Pro Is Straight Up Courageous?

We’re only a few days away from the official launch of the Microsoft Surface Go, but perhaps you’re much more interested in the higher end tablet experience. Or maybe you prefer iOS. In either case, it probably won’t be long before we’re introduced to the 2018 iPad Pro. And it looks we’re in for at least a few major changes.

Some leaked information by way of a “supplier” has made its way over to Japanese tech blog Macotakara. The first couple of tidbits probably won’t surprise anyone.

You know how the iPhone X tried to get rid of its bezels? The 2018 iPad Pro will be doing the same while retaining the same 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch screen sizes. The net result is a tablet that’s got the same size screen in a smaller package. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro will go from 250.6 x 174.1 x 6.1 mm to 247.5 x 178.7 x 6 mm; the 12.9-inch model will shrink from 305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9 mm to 280 x 215 x 6.4 mm.

Because of the shrinking bezels, the physical home button will be removed. With it, Touch ID will also be replaced with Face ID instead. But here’s where things get a little weird. Apparently, Face ID will only work in portrait mode with the 2018 iPad Pro. This leads to another change where the smart connector is moving from the side to the bottom.

What this means is that the Smart Keyboard for the 2018 iPad Pro will also need to be redesigned such that the iPad Pro will dock in portrait mode rather than landscape mode. That could make for a much more cramped experience, not to mention that you’ll be typing on a vertically-oriented screen now too. That’s… courageous? Maybe?

And speaking of courage, the 2018 iPad Pro will reportedly lose the headphone jack too. Because that’s just how everything is going these days.

Chalk all of this up to rumor for now. The new iPad Pro for 2018 should be announced in the next couple of months or so with the launch to follow some time in the fall.