Design schematics for a new iPad have emerged online, which points to a new 10.8-inch iPad being in the works. This comes on the back of previous reports from noted Apple leaker Ming Chi Kuo about a new 10.8-inch iPad device being readied for launch sometime in the second half of 2020.
We are well into that time window, and the above leak comes just days of another leak wherein a manual believed to be that of the iPad Air 4 got leaked online. The manual was part of Apple’s Eurasian Economic Commission registration process, which carried some details of a new iPad device that likely is set to launch in the region sometime soon.
The leaked manual also revealed some details of the iPad, which include markedly reduced bezels made possible by the removal of the physical Home button. Also, with the home button gone, Touch ID has taken refuge in the side mounted power button.
Other details the manual revealed include USB Type-C ports instead of the Apple proprietary Lightning ports.
Smart Connector pins on the rear too have been perceptible, which points to the device likely being receptible to the Apple Magic Keyboard as well.
Meanwhile, the leaked schematics reveal iPad Air 4 details such as a twin speaker system along with four mics. There is a USB-C port too, as is a magnetic smart connector along with a single lens camera supported by an LED flash.
In an interesting twist, the leak claims the iPad to come with Face ID. That, however, seems less likely considering that integrating Face ID would make the device to cost more. Instead, Touch ID system built into the side power button seems more feasible and befitting of a device that experts believe is going to be the iPad Air 4 in reality.
Yet another explanation for the multiple leaks is that Apple may have several iPad devices in the pipeline for launch sometime soon.
Those can be a new low cost iPad as well as an iPad Air 4 that might share the same external build but will have a different internal setup.
Maybe we will get to the bottom of all this soon enough. A new iPad as well as the Apple Watch Series 6 is expected anytime now, given that both have cleared the European Economic Commission regulations.
