For years, Apple has updated its base-model iPad every September. With fall coming up, that means the company’s highly-anticipated media event is coming soon. Now, MySmartPrice published alleged schematics of the new iPad, which could indicate that this tablet could finally borrow the modern design that’s been featured on the rest of the models. You can take a look at the concept image by @aaple_lab.
This alleged design would bring the flat edges that we’ve seen on other Apple products, but it would retain the iconic front design of the current iPad with the forehead and chin bezels, along with a Touch ID home button.
Interestingly, the back camera module will have a new design that’s similar to older dual-camera iPhones. This design protrudes from the back in a round-rect shape. Both the camera and the microphone are in this module. This contrasts with other iPad models where the protruding camera and microphone are separate from each other. With that said, this could mean that the back sensor would finally get upgraded from the 8MP camera that the iPad has had for years.
The current iPad measures at 250mm x 174mm x 7.50mm. Based on the leaked schematics, this next-generation iPad measures at 248mm x 179mm x 6.98 mm. Because of the thinner profile, we could finally see a laminated display, making that feature standard on all iPads that Apple sells.
Last, but not least, we expect this iPad to feature USB-C for the first time. Because of this new design that would replace Lightning with USB-C, we can also expect that this iPad would also work with other accessories for the higher-end iPads, most notably, the Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard. However, this design does away with the headphone jack as with the rest of the newer iPad models. Based on the placement of the speaker holes, this new iPad could adopt an upgraded speaker system that supports landscape stereo.Â
As with other products that introduced a new design, their starting prices tend to increase. Therefore, it wouldn’t come as a surprise if this model started above $329. We could set a starting price around $349-$399. Apple could keep the current iPad around at the same $329. However, selling that model along with the newer one could make the lineup even more complicated than it needs to be. We just have to wait and see how Apple would position this new tablet.
As always, upcoming designs based on early CAD schematics should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it’s safe to say that the upcoming 10th generation iPad might be the biggest leap for the base iPad. It will finally standardize many features that customers can expect from an iPad such as a modern design and USB-C. It might be the most interesting iPad that Apple has introduced in years.
