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Apple’s next iPad Pro will have tiny bezels, but no notch

Apple’s next iPad Pro will have tiny bezels, but no notch

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An iOS 12 icon leak inadvertently reveals the new tablet’s design

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iPad Pro 9.7-inch
Photo by James Bareham / The Verge

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.

Image: 9to5Mac

Though interestingly, rumors of the iPad Pro using Apple’s FaceID biometric authentication system — also seemingly confirmed through iOS 12 beta screens — raises some questions about the icon image’s lack of notch. In the similar iPhone X icon image, we can clearly see a cutout for the cameras and sensors that make up the TrueDepth module in the notch:

We’re not seeing that same cutout design on the iPad Pro icon. It’s a possibility the iPad icon shown here simply doesn’t include enough granular detail to make room for a notch. But there’s also a chance that new iPad Pro doesn’t have bezels quite as thin as the iPhone X, which may leave Apple engineers room to fit the module into the bezel itself.

Although, inevitably, the question we all have to ask now is whether the new iPad is going to have a 3.5mm headphone jack. The answer: probably not, as much as it hurts to say.