Apple’s new iPad Pro and MacBook leaks: everything rumored so far

In August, an iOS 12 developer beta seemed to confirm rumors that the next iPad Pro would ship with ultra-thin bezels, and without a home button. Now, a new icon spotted by 9to5Mac seems to further confirm the redesign.

This new icon, which 9to5Mac says is found within iOS, provides a much better look at the upcoming device, showing off thin bezels, rounded corners, no notch, and no home button. The icon also shows off a the volume buttons on the side, with a sleep/wake button on the top. The site notes that the screen doesn’t appear to be edge-to-edge, but speculates that the bezels could be slightly larger due to how the icon itself is constructed.

Apple may have announced a whole slew of new hardware in September, but the Cupertino company isn’t done yet: Apple has a second event on Tuesday, October 30th, where it’s expected to announce new iPad Pros, an updated MacBook Air, and more.

Here’s everything we’re expecting to see:

Apple plans to announce updated iPad Pros with USB-C ports, a 13-inch laptop meant to replace the MacBook Air, and long-awaited updates to the Mac Mini during its event Tuesday morning, according to Bloomberg. Just about all of this has been rumored before, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is usually the definitive name when it comes to nailing exactly what we’ll see on event day, and with a few days to go, we now have those answers.

Gurman confirms rumors that the iPad Pro — seemingly both sizes of it — will be getting a redesign, giving it a nearly edge-to-edge display, Face ID, and a USB-C port. That’ll be a huge deal, as it’ll mark the first time that Apple has traded out its exclusive Lightning port in favor of the increasingly universal USB-C standard. The new iPads will lack a home button, according to the report, and they’ll gain an Apple-made graphics chip, something that’s never been in an iPad before.

Apple News has reached 90 million regular readers, three years after the app launched on iPhones and iPads. The stat comes out of a story this morning in The New York Times, which got to go behind the scenes with the Apple News team to see how it works. The Times also furthers reports that Apple is close to launching a subscription service inside the app.

There are already rumors that Apple plans to turn its News app into a bigger venture, and the Times backs those up. Its story says that Apple plans to “bundle access to dozens of magazines” for a monthly fee, much like Netflix does for TV shows and movies. Newspapers could be included in the bundle, too.

We’re only a few days away from Apple’s upcoming fall event, and while it’s a little less clear what will be announced compared to the September iPhone event, the star of the show is expected to be an updated iPad Pro, which will see the flagship tablet get updated with a new design — including a slimmed down, bezel-less display with Face ID.

Can’t wait for October 30th? We’ve rounded up the five biggest rumors about Apple’s new iPads here:

Apple’s second fall event is rapidly approaching, but noted TF International Securities supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has some predictions of what won’t be at the event: an updated fifth-generation iPad Mini, which Kuo says won’t be coming until sometime in 2019, via 9to5Mac.

When it does arrive, though, Kuo says that the new iPad Mini will get “an upgraded processor and a lower-cost panel,” which would seem to position it as a smaller option for those considering Apple’s entry-level iPad model rather than a miniature version of the iPad Pro. An iPad Mini update has been a long time coming — Apple last updated the device with the iPad Mini 4 back in 2015.

Apple’s upcoming refresh to the iPad Pro line has been fairly extensively leaked already, and a new report at 9to5Mac from noted code trawler and developer Guilherme Rambo has revealed further information. The iPad Pros will indeed have a USB-C port, according to Rambo, and it’ll be capable of outputting 4K HDR video to compatible external displays. There’s no word on any other specific functionality, nor whether the Lightning port will be preserved.

Rambo also confirms that Face ID will replace Touch ID, but unlike on iPhones it’ll be possible to use the system in both portrait and landscape mode, and there won’t be a notch for the face-scanning depth camera. Elsewhere, the report says that a new version of the Apple Pencil with AirPods-style proximity-based pairing is on the way, while there’ll be a redesigned magnetic connector for accessories like the Smart Keyboard located on the rear of the iPad.

Apple’s recently released iOS 12.1 beta contains code that suggests a new iPad is coming this fall. The string “iPad2018fall” was discovered by Guilherme Rambo, reporting for 9to5Mac. This, along with the numerous other leaks, suggests that we should expect a new iPad to be announced before the end of the year, possibly a new iPad Pro with Face ID and an edge-to-edge notched display.

Although we’ve already seen a new model of the standard iPad released in 2018 (which mostly delivered iterative improvements outside of Apple Pencil support), rumors suggest this upcoming iPad Pro will be a much bigger step forward.

Overheating, communication, and interference issues are still plaguing the development of Apple’s AirPower wireless charging pad, according to a pair of reports citing multiple sources close to the matter. The issues contributed to the AirPower’s absence at last week’s iPhone announcement.

AirPower was first teased over a year ago at the same event that Apple used to announce the iPhone X, the company’s first handset to support wireless charging. AirPower was to be the firm’s debut wireless charger, capable of charging your AirPods (with compatible case), Apple Watch, and iPhone simultaneously. The consensus seems to be that Apple has bitten off much more than it can chew with the ambitious device.

Aside from slimming down its display bezels and adding Face ID, Apple’s next iPad Pro could be making a major I/O change. As noted by 9to5Mac, reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that the next high-end version of the tablet will switch over to USB Type-C.

Now, it seems pretty hard to believe that Apple would already start moving away from its own Lightning connector in 2018; my first instinct was that this report simply means they’ll be including a Lightning-to-USB-C cable and USB-C charger in the box. Frankly, that’s what I’d still bet on. We’re getting closer to this device’s announcement and this move to USB-C hasn’t been reported previously. But Kuo specifies that it’s the entire I/O that’s changing, and his reputation speaks for itself.

Apple is nearing the release of a long-awaited, completely redesigned successor to its MacBook Air laptop, according to Bloomberg. The new “low-cost” model reportedly features slimmer bezels and a high-resolution Retina display. It will otherwise “look similar to the current MacBook Air,” though port selection is anyone’s guess.

The once-revered MacBook Air has languished in update limbo ever since Apple shifted its focus to the MacBook Pro and 12-inch MacBook. Some viewed the latter’s introduction as Apple moving on from the Air. But its starting price is hundreds of dollars more expensive, which has led the company to keep the $1,000 Air around — with its low-res screen and outdated specs — for customers on a budget and for the education market.

An icon found in iOS 12 developer beta 5 seems to have confirmed key details about Apple’s upcoming next-gen iPad Pro: the new tablet will have ultra-thin bezels, just like the iPhone X, but no notch. As reported by 9to5Mac, the tiny blue iOS 12 icon shows a tablet with thinner, more uniform border lines and a home row of apps at the bottom. The existing iPad icon does show a home button and a front-facing camera at the top.

Last year, an accidental HomePod firmware release revealed the front-facing design of the iPhone X in very similar fashion, so it’s likely this icon, though not part of any leak, is a legitimate look at the front-facing design of the next iPad Pro. We’ve also heard rumors of Apple going with a bezel-less design for its higher-end tablet, so it makes sense.

Apple has registered several new iPad and Mac models with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), as reported by 9to5Mac and MacRumors. In previous instances, these filings have come just a few weeks before new product announcements — but not always. Apple is expected to introduce an iPad Pro with Face ID, slim bezels, and no home button, plus several new MacBooks over the next few months. Apple’s filings in the Eurasian database cover five new iPads and five Macs.

9to5Mac has a good rundown on how much stock you should put in the EEC when it comes to hinting at future products.

Apple might be upgrading its headphone lineup in a big way next year with a new, high-end version of its wireless AirPods headphones with noise cancellation and water resistant technology and a (previously rumored) over-ear model, according to a report from Bloomberg.

An earlier report from Barclays analysts claimed that Apple would add the noise-cancellation feature to its AirPods sometime in 2019. Bloomberg’s report does indicate a delay for the over-ear models, though, which were originally rumored to be released before the end of 2018 back in March.

iOS developer Guilherme Rambo has been poking around the new iOS 12 beta, and code contained within appears to confirm something that has been rumored multiple times: Face ID is coming to the iPad. Videos and screenshots tweeted by Rambo show that iOS 12 contains hidden references to Face ID on the iPad, including the setup UI and relevant section of the settings menu.

It's possible that these references could pertain to a feature that lets you unlock an iPad with an iPhone X, like how you can unlock a Mac with an Apple Watch, but that seems unlikely. The inclusion of the setup UI suggests it's for a device actually equipped with the Face ID sensors, which is something that has been credibly reported as planned for this year, so it seems safe to say an iPad with Face ID is on the way.

In a major shift that carries big implications for both companies, Apple will reportedly replace Intel’s processors with the company’s own chips in Mac computers as soon as 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The changeover is likely to begin with laptops such as the 12-inch MacBook. Intel’s stock price took a hit soon after the report was published; Bloomberg estimates that Apple provides approximately 5 percent of the chipmaker’s annual revenue. Aside from the processors in its Macs, Apple also uses Intel’s modem chips in some iPhones.

Apple’s last major Mac processor transition of this scope occurred when it moved away from IBM’s PowerPC chips in favor of Intel’s. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs announced the move in 2005 and it was completed by the end of the following year. As in that earlier example, Bloomberg notes this would require a “multi-step transition.” Intel chips will almost certainly remain in Apple’s top-end machines like the iMac Pro and forthcoming Mac Pro revision until the company can produce in-house chips that are capable of meeting the demands of professional Mac users.

An influx of rumors suggest that we should expect cheaper iPads and MacBooks this year. First, we know that the MacBook Air may be getting a less-expensive refresh, as hinted by multiple reports. The latest comes from DigiTimes, which today reported that Apple will launch a new 13.3-inch “entry-level” MacBook late in Q2 this year.

While the report refers to the new device as a “MacBook,” its screen size suggests it may be an updated version of the Air, since the MacBook only comes with a 12-inch display. The timeline also matches with WWDC in June. DigiTimes indicates that the MacBook will have a Retina Display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution.