Apple's iPad is not really doing very well and has seen declining sales in the last few years. The company has refreshed the iPad with slightly new design and introduced better hardware and features. However, there has not been a radical design change yet.
A new report suggests that there will be three new iPad models next year and one of them would be a 10.9-inch iPad that is the same size as the current 9.7-inch iPad Air and Pro. This new model could be what Apple needs to see improvement in tablet sales.
10.9-Inch iPad
A larger model makes sense, as less and less people are interested in the smaller iPad mini. The iPad Air and the latest iPad Pro have 9.7-inch displays. There is also an iPad Pro with a 12.9-inch display and consumers are interested in a tablet that does what a laptop can do.
Therefore, a bigger display makes perfect sense. According to MacRumors, the 10.9-inch iPad would feature an edge-to-edge display. This means that the new iPad would have the same size as the current 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
Barclays Research analysts Blayne Curtis, Christopher Hemmelgarn, Thomas O'Malley and Jerry Zhang published a research note citing sources from Apple's supply chain. An edge-to-edge display without bezels would also mean that the new iPad will not sport a Home Button. Instead, Apple might add a capacitive Home Button that is a part of the display.
This is not the first report to suggest that Apple is working on an iPad in the 10-inch range. As per BGR, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, believes that tablets are the future of mobile computing.
Release Date
A release date for the reported 10.9-inch iPad is not available yet. However, it is believed that Apple will most likely announce this new iPad during a special event in March 2017.
