Apple’s rumored project to redesign its iPad Pro with a glass back that could support MagSafe wireless charging with magnetic alignment has been reportedly scrapped.
- Apple reportedly still wants to build an iPad Pro with MagSafe for a 2022 release but has now ditched an all-glass design for a glass Apple logo on the backside
- The solution would enable the power to be transmitted through the glass logo
- Apple might also be looking to create iPads with notches
When will iPad Pro support wireless charging?
MagSafe charging is supported by iPhones, but not Apple’s larger-screened devices like iPads. Apple was supposed to deliver an iPad Pro this year with a glass back to support MagSafe wireless charging, smartphone leaker Steve McFly alleged back in December 2019. In June 2021, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said that the 2022 iPad Pro models would have a glass instead of aluminum back and support bi-directional wireless charging.
But now, 9to5Mac claims Apple has abandoned the planned redesign.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be an iPad Pro in 2022 with MagSafe. Quite the contrary, Apple reportedly hasn’t given up the idea of bringing MagSafe to the 2022 iPad Pro, but 9to5Mac has now learned that the rumored glass design may have been scrapped.
According to our sources, the company has developed iPad Pro prototypes with a larger Apple logo (similar to the one on the new MacBook Pro), but this one is made of glass. As a result, power would be transmitted through the glass logo. The prototype also has stronger magnets to prevent accidents, and it supports charges at faster speeds than MagSafe for iPhone.
At least one Twitter account said as much, but back in June 2021.
iPad Pro with glass back has been delayed indefinitely. You need better source
— Thom Pfeiffer (@PfeifferThom) June 5, 2021
And this from the 9to5Mac report:
We also learned that the company is considering changing the iPad’s visual identity with a notch on the display to make it similar to its other products, but these changes are only experimental and unlikely to show up in this year’s models.
That’s stretching it too far. Developing an iPad notch just for the sake of it doesn’t sound like Apple. The notch on iPhones serves the real purpose, it houses the TrueDepth camera parts. The same on the MacBook Pro. Apple won’t suddenly start carving cutouts in iPad displays just so they look “similar to its other products”.
Because why stop at iPad, let’s have notches across all Apple screens, right?
What features will the 2022 iPad Pro have?
Not much else is known at this point about the next iPad Pro.
The rumors have so far indicated the same or similar design as the current iPad Pro family and no screen size change. What you can definitely expect is Apple’s next-generation silicon (likely the upcoming M2 chip) in the 2022 iPad Pro. Other updates could include better cameras similar to the ones on the iPhone 13 family.
There could also be a larger battery as well.
9to5Mac’s sources have apparently corroborated a recent write-up by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman saying Apple could be researching future iPad models with displays larger than 12.9 inches, including a 15-inch OLED model.
From the Bloomberg report:
I’m told that Apple has engineers and designers exploring larger iPads that could hit stores a couple of years down the road at the earliest. They’re unlikely for next year—with Apple’s attention on a redesigned iPad Pro in the current sizes for 2022—and it’s possible they never come at all. But a big iPad would be the perfect device for many people, including me, and would continue to blur the lines between tablet and laptop.
No sources or publications have corroborated Gurman’s reporting.