Apple October Announcement: Leaks Hint at Potentially Unpopular iPad Change

With invites to a rumored October product release going out possibly this week, leaks and renders of would-be Apple products have been leaking in droves. Most of them have pertained to the soon-to-be overhauled iPad Pro, making it the frontrunner for a device update before the end of the year.

Update, October 18: Apple announces October 30, 2018 as date for event. Read more and get the details.

Two hardware rumors and a confirmed software update have given fans of the premium tablets a clear picture of the next generation of iPad devices. All signs have pointed to an iPad Pro with a Face ID feature, a new Apple Pencil, a slender redesign, and the ability to output 4K HDR content.

These early rumors have been borne out by subsequent leaks. But not all of the new iPad updates are guaranteed to be crowdpleasers.

iPad Pro Update: Reduced Thickness and No Headphone Jack

Earlier this month, a batch of computer-generated images alluded to the possibility that the 2018 iPad Pro could soon ditch its predecessors’ blocky bezels and become thinner than ever. Twitter user, CoinCoin, who has a brief but accurate track record of iPhone leaks alleges that the upcoming tablets will be 5.9-millimeters thick and will do away with the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Currently, iPad Pros are 6.1mm thick, meaning this change would make the line of devices slightly thinner than three nickels stacked together, enough to make it one of Apple’s thinnest products ever. This matches up almost identically with the renders posted on SlashLeaks that claimed the tablet would be 5.86mm come October. However, this improvement is accompanied by the possibility of a tweak that might tick off iPad Pro power users.

iPad Pro Update: No Headphone Jack

2018 might be the year when the iPad loses its headphone jack, much like the iPhone 7 did back in 2016. This is the latest we’ve heard about this change which makes sense given that AirPods and wearables devices have been such massive profit drivers as of this year’s second quarter.

This follows an earlier leak by Steve Hemmerstoffer that asserted the tablet would require users to use Bluetooth headphones or a Lightning dongle. So iPad Pro users could be destined for the same fate as the Apple handset users.

iPad Pro Update: Photoshop CC in 2019

A version of Photoshop, comparable to the desktop software, is coming to iOS. On Monday, Adobe confirmed it would be expanding its editing capabilities so that iPad users can now have access on their tablets.

Apple customers only had access to a fraction of what Photoshop is capable of by downloading the Sketch or Mix apps. But the iOS version demoed by Adobe on Monday showed off an interface that looks almost exactly like Photoshop on a laptop would.

One caveat? In its announcement Adobe stated that a private beta for the program will begin late in 2019, so when the iPad Pro refresh does indeed happen users will need to wait at least a year before a full version of Photoshop becomes available.