With the odd exception of 2019, Apple has released a new iPad Pro every year since its top-end tablet debuted in 2015 — which is no mean feat considering the supply chain restrictions of the past two years.
It sounds like Apple is planning to continue this with the release of a 2022 iPad Pro as well, and although rumors are somewhat thin on the ground, we are beginning to get a feel for the kind of changes Apple may be working on for its next generation of pro tablet.
Here’s everything we know about the iPad Pro 2022 so far, as well as a wishlist on the off chance Apple is in a listening mood.
iPad Pro 2022 design
While Apple is rumored to be working on a ginormous 15-inch iPad to take on larger smart screens, this larger panel is said to be at least a couple of years away, and the 2022 iPad Pro range is, once again, expected to come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes.
But that doesn’t mean subtle design changes aren’t afoot, and we’ve heard of two so far.
The first is one that could well prove divisive. Like the rumored Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and, indeed, the 2021 MacBook Pro, it looks like Apple will be adding a notch to the iPad Pro’s design.
Arguably it makes a bit more sense here than on the company’s high-end laptops, as the iPad Pro uses FaceID for authentication, which makes for a sizable camera footprint. All the same, it’s likely to prove unpopular even if it does result in even thinner bezels.
The second design tweak we’ve heard talk of, via Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is a glass back for the possible introduction of wireless charging. While this has long been a feature of Apple’s non-SE iPhones, there’s talk that this will go a step further with reverse-wireless charging, meaning it will be able to top up the battery of other devices such as your iPhone, Apple Watch or AirPods. That sounds like a further step on the rumored long-term goal for devices to charge each other over the air (though that’s years away).
iPad Pro 2022 specs
Very little has been revealed, or even speculated upon, in terms of the 2022 iPad Pro’s specs. However, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the smaller 11-inch tablet will adopt mini-LED screen tech this time around. The feature isn’t entirely new, having debuted in 2021, but it was exclusive to the 12.9-inch models, which cost significantly more. This will hopefully allow more buyers to enjoy the deeper blacks and higher brightness that independently lit pixels provide.
It would be astonishing if the 2022 iPad Pro weren’t faster than the very speedy previous generation, but there’s nothing definitive about how much faster yet. One possibility is that the new tablet benefits from chips manufactured to the 3nm process, but it’s equally plausible that they’ll just adopt the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips from the MacBook Pro, given the current version uses the M1.
iPad Pro 2022 possible release date and price
Unlike non-SE iPhones, which almost always arrive in September, there’s no rhyme or reason to the iPad Pro’s schedule which has, in the past, been announced in March, April, June, September and October. Even the usually reliable tipsters are unhelpful here, with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo just predicting the tablet will emerge in 2022.
Spring is plausible. Not only is March the most common month for the iPad Pro (2016 and 2020) and nearly a year after the previous launch (April 2021), but the leaker AppleLeaksPro has previously suggested Apple has something in mind for then — though it could just be the new MacBook Air or iMac Pro. The paucity of leaks at the moment may make summer a safer bet, however.
As for price, you can expect another premium product — and we imagine that the 11-inch model will get at least the same $100 price hike as the 12.9-inch one did last year, if the rumored mini-LED display is introduced.
That would make the tablet start at $899 for the 11-inch model and $1,099 for the 12.9-inch version. That, of course, is just the entry-level price, with the cost currently rising all the way to $2,199 if you want a 2TB 12.9-inch model with 5G connectivity.
iPad Pro 2022: What we’d like to see
To be perfectly honest, the iPad Pro is already an excellent product and we’re hard pushed to name any serious weaknesses that need urgent improvement. Nonetheless, we do have a modest wishlist.
To be clear, the 2021 iPad Pro has perfectly respectable battery life, but it’s noticeable that the 12.9-inch model ‘only’ managed ten hours and 48 minutes in our web browsing test, while the 11-inch version achieved 13:42. If that’s a sign that the mini-LED screen is more power hungry than the IPS panel and both are indeed adopting the former this time around, then hopefully there will be larger cells to compensate.
The iPad Pro currently comes in two colors: space grey and silver, so not a great deal of choice there. Recently, Apple has been experimenting with a wider range of colors for both the iPhone 13 and 24-inch iMac, and it would be nice if consumers had the option for a more colorful iPad Pro too.
Okay, this is getting into seriously unlikely territory at this point, but the iPad Pro is at its best when accompanied by two first-party accessories: the Apple Pencil for doodling and the Smart Keyboard to make it into a surrogate laptop. Given the amount Apple makes from selling these optional accessories separately, it’s unlikely to change any time soon, but we can dream…