In a research note sent to clients, TF International Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo recently revealed to clients that Apple intends to launch two new iPad Pro versions with “upgraded processors” this year. The list also includes an upgraded iPad Mini.
Apple has released no upgrades for the Mini since it announced the Mini 4 in 2015.
The company’s “low-cost” 9.7-inch iPad, which was launched two years ago, will most likely now be 10.2 inches – closer to the 2017 iPad Pro. The 2018 model introduced support for the Apple Pencil, but featured Touch ID in the place of Face ID, and Lightning but no USB-C support. Its performance also disappointed and it lacked technologies such as True Tone and ProMotion.
The Apple Watch will get a ceramic casing design in 2019, and ECG support will be expanded to additional countries. Apple dropped ceramic from the Apple Watch as an option last autumn. This could have been because of production issues, lacklustre sales or some other reason.
Kuo’s memo also mentions new hardware such as three new iPhones, a 16 to 16.5-inch MacBook Pro, second-generation AirPods and a 31.6-inch monitor.
In other Apple news, a professor from New York has Apple fans excited after he uploaded pictures of his 1983 Apple IIe computer to Twitter over the weekend.
John Pfaff rediscovered the computer in his parents’ attic – and, to his total surprise, it still worked when he turned it on.
He tweeted: “Put in an old game disk. Asks if I want to restore a saved game. And finds one! It must be 30 years old. I’m 10 years old again.”
The IIe was released in 1983 and boasted “advanced” features such as fully functional Caps Lock and Shift keys as well as the ability to use both lower and upper-case letters.