Bloomberg: 2018 iPad Pro to feature Face ID, custom GPU, slimmer bezels & new Pencil

Bloomberg report today that Apple is working on a revamped 2018 iPad Pro featuring slimmer top and bottom bezels, a faster processor with a custom Apple GPU and no Home button or Touch ID.

Apple is also preparing a new version of its Apple Pencil stylus and new software tools for using the stylus, sources said. The next iPad Pro will also use the TrueDepth camera and Face ID, author Mark Gurman learned from sources familiar with the matter.

At least one new iPad model with a screen size similar to the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is planned to include Face ID for unlocking the device, making payments, and sending animated emojis. The feature would replace the iPad home button that has come with a fingerprint scanner since 2014, one of the people said.

By incorporating key iPhone X features such as slimmer edges, facial recognition and no Home button, Apple should be able to noticeably reduce the size of the edges on the top and bottom of the device.

An OLED display unlikely, which provides more vivid colors and sharper clarity, is unlikely to be adopted by the next iPad Pro, Gurman has learned.

Samsung Electronics Co., which supplies OLED panels for iPhones, would be the only display maker with the capacity to produce the new screens for iPads in 2018, but technical and financial constraints still make that unlikely, according to a person with knowledge of Samsung’s display operations.

Other suppliers like LG Display, Japan Display, Foxconn-owned Sharp and smaller Chinese firms like BOE Display and Tianma Microelectronics are also unlikely to have the ability to supply tablet-sized OLED screens to Apple next year.

The updated iPad Pro is reportedly about a year away from release.

The iPad Pro lineup has helped revitalize slowing iPad sales, with Apple’s most recent quarterly iPad revenue rising 14 percent to $4.8 billion and unit sales climbing 11 percent year over year.

What do you guys make of this?