If you want to see how those impressive benchmark scores translate into real-life usage, this brief Mashable video compares start-up, shut-down, web-browsing and video on all five generations of iPad.
As always in the run up to a launch event, the Apple Store has been taken offline for updates ahead of today’s iPad-focused event. Apple has also taken down iWork for iCloud, promising that it will be back in a few hours with “great new features.”
Additionally, Apple has updated its homepage with a promo for the event …
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Apple will be live streaming today’s launch event, first revealed by the Apple Events channel returning to Apple TV, the icon displaying the theme for the event and a message saying “tune in at 10 am for the live stream.”
The event will also be streamed on the web when it begins at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern. As usual, live streaming requires Safari 4 or later on OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.
Details below of what we’re expecting to see …
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Independent reports from CTechCn and 2014 News claim that Touch ID, which debuted last month in the iPhone 5s, will make its way to the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2. The new Apple tablets are scheduled to be announced this upcoming Tuesday at Apple’s media event.
Apple has announced that it will be holding its next media event on October 22nd, which is in line with expectations. The event will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern Time at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California.
The event will likely showcase new versions of the iPad, including a redesigned full-sized model that looks like a larger iPad mini and a new iPad mini that boasts a Retina display.
Also in Apple’s pipeline are new iWork suites, a new version of the Apple TV, new MacBook Pros with faster chipsets, OS X Mavericks, and the new Mac Pro. It’s unclear which of the aforementioned products will actually get stage time this time around, but the new Mac Pro, MacBook Pros, and OS X Mavericks are the most likely to appear in addition to the tablets…
(via ctechcn.com)
While we take this particular image with a very large grain of salt, CtechCN.com has posted what it claims to be an iPad 5 featuring Touch ID, the fingerprint recognition system Apple introduced last month with the iPhone 5s. The site previously posted leaked iPhone 5c internals ahead of its debut, but otherwise has little track record to judge, and this particular photo offers little evidence of authenticity.
The photo is also sketchy in that the metal ring on the Home button seems to be larger and more noticeable than on the iPhone. It’s unclear if Apple’s Home button design would need to differ on the iPad from the iPhone if Touch ID were to be integrated. Here’s the photo with some enhanced lighting:
The company is set to announce the next update to its iPad lineup next Tuesday at a press event, but it’s still unclear if either the iPad or iPad mini will sport the same Touch ID system as the iPhone 5s. It would be desired for Apple to bring feature parity to the tablet, but there are reasons to still be skeptical without more evidence at this point.
Apple debuted the Touch ID fingerprint scanner at its September iPhone event with the iPhone 5s, but notably left the Touch ID feature out of the cheaper iPhone 5c.
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If you’re impatiently waiting to see the new iPad 5 in the Apple Store, your wait is over – virtually, anyway. Martin Hajek has created some new renders that show the new slimmer-bezel iPad 5 in an Apple Store setting.
The iPad 5 is expected to have the same slim bezel design as the current iPad Mini, to be thinner and lighter than the current model, available in the same colors as the iPhone 5s, be powered by the same A7 chip and to have a larger-aperture 8MP rear camera. It’s not yet clear whether or not it will have a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It is due to be announced on 22nd October.
Rest of the renders below:
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New iPad figures from Gazelle suggest that owners of iPad 2 and iPad 3 models may be preparing to upgrade to the iPad 5. Gazelle told me that they are seeing five times as many iPad trade-ins as last year, with the trade-in rate increasing as the month progresses. Apple is due to launch the iPad 5 on 22nd October. Over half of all iPads being traded-in this year are the iPad 2 and 3 models.
The A7-powered iPad 5 expected to be announced next week will accelerate the trend of people using tablets instead of PCs, argues an investment note from Deutsche Bank Equity Research.
We…expect growing [desktop] virtualization and iPad deployments in the enterprise to pressure corporate PC sales through 2014-15…We expect AAPL’s [Apple’s] iPad refresh to include 64 bit architecture, which should enable a greater array of enterprise App development and facilitate greater enterprise penetration over time.
Deutsche Bank had previously forecast that PC shipments would decline by 8 percent in 2013 and 6 percent in 2014, but has now lopped two points of each to predict -10 and -8 percent.
Apple is expected to unveil the new iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 at a media event on October 15th. With the iPads, OS X Mavericks, the Mac Pro, Haswell-powered MacBook Pros, Haswell Mac Minis and more, the event could be a crowded one.
Via CNET
With the announcement of the new iPads approaching later this month, rumors surrounding the new full-sized iPad have centered around a thinner, lighter design, but it’s been unclear if the new tablet will sport the Touch ID fingerprint authentication system from the iPhone 5s. I’ve heard that Apple’s most recent internal next-generation iPad prototypes have lacked Touch ID sensors, so it’s unclear if it will make the cut for this year. There are a few reasons why Touch ID wouldn’t make sense on an iPad this year:
On the other hand, bringing Touch ID to the iPad this year would create consistency for Apple’s fall 2013 iOS Device line. Apple’s iPhone 5s internal test units did not gain Touch ID until late into testing, so there isn’t conclusive evidence right now for either direction…
With Apple’s rumored next-generation iPads expected to be launching as early as this month, often reliable KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is sharing some new details on the expected iPad 5 and second generation iPad mini. Kuo is still expecting both products to launch later this year sometime in 4Q13, but in his latest report claims that Apple is prepping a camera upgrade for the new iPads that would include a bump up from the current 5 megapixel iSight camera to 8 megapixels along with other improvements:
Apple could upgrade the camera as a selling point for the new iPad in a bid to increase competitiveness.
We expect the upgrade will include 8MP rear camera, up from 5MP, and larger aperture. Lens module ASP will rise 10-20% on this optics spec upgrade.
As a reminder, the new iPhone 5s includes a new five-element lens designed by Apple that also includes a larger a F2.2 aperture with an 8 megapixel sensor. The device also brings a sensor with a 15 percent larger active area, auto stabilization, and bigger 1.5 micron pixels.
That would indeed be a nice camera to put on iPads.
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Chinese site DoNews has posted two photos of what it claims is a champagne-colored iPad Mini 2 with Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
Concept photos and outright hoaxes are commonplace in the run-up to an anticipated product launch (we debunked one of these just yesterday), so there is no telling whether or not these are the real deal, but it’s obviously logical to expect Apple to release both the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 in the same colour schemes as the iPhone 5s. It’s also pretty likely that both will be fitted with the Touch ID fingerprint sensor (shown below the fold), though we have heard some whispers that it doesn’t …
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Update: These look to be fake…
Leading up to Apple’s rumored October iPad event, Youtube user UnboxTherapy has posted what he claims to be the next generation Smart Cover for the upcoming iPad 5.
French site NWE has a photo of what it believes to be a Space Gray casing for the iPad Mini expected to be announced next month – on 15th October, according to another French site.
NWE has a decent track-record in leaked parts, and it seems likely that Apple would adopt the same colors for the new iPads as for the iPhone 5s. If you were wondering what the iPad Mini might look like in Apple’s new champagne color, Martin Hajek has created some renders. I’m not taken with the look myself – let us know your thoughts in the comments.
More photos below …
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Only a few weeks after comparing iPhone 5s components to the iPhone 5, TLDToday is back at it again, tearing down an iPad 4 to compare its components to that of the upcoming iPad 5. The results are rather interesting, and show just how dramatic of a redesign the iPad 5 will be.
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An analyst note from a usually reliable Ming-Chi Kuo (郭明錤) seemingly confirms our expectation that Apple will not announce new iPads on September 10th, but at a separate event later in the year.
The note makes supply chain forecasts suggesting that assembly production of the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 will start with low-volume production this month, and enter mass-production in the final quarter. If the tablets were to be announced on September 10th, we would expect them to be much further along the production cycle by now.
As expected, both iPad models are said to use the A7X processor, which should see be a particularly noticeable improvement on the existing A5-based Mini.
There were a couple of surprises in the note …
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YouTube user UnboxTherapy has posted a new video detailing the dimensions of what looks to be the shell for the second generation iPad mini. The shell of the iPad mini appears to remain largely unchanged, but when compared to the casing for the upcoming 5th generation iPad, we can see that the two appear to be the same thickness.
Unbox Therapy looks at what the iPad 5 with its significantly smaller side bezels will look and feel like in this video. There really isn’t anything new in the video as we’ve expected this form factor since January, but it is interesting to see how the new iPad will fit in one (medium/large) hand and take after the Mini in design. For instance, the speaker on the bottom will improve sound when being played laying flat.
The new iPad isn’t expected at next week’s event but instead should probably be announced in October in time for the holidays.
After Sonny Dickson posted credible photos of an iPad 5 front panel yesterday, he’s now got hold of the claimed rear casing (which we first showed you back in January) and put the two together. Now all he needs is a screen, a touch-panel, a few buttons, a battery, some circuit boards …
More photos below …
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Sonny Dickson has posted decent-sized photos of what is claimed to be the front panel of the iPad 5.
The photos are consistent with what we’re all expecting: essentially a scaled-up iPad Mini, with thinner bezels on the sides. The refresh is also expected to use the same film-based touch panel as the Mini, replacing the glass layer in previous full-size iPads, reducing both thickness and weight. We posted photos of what is believed to be the rear casing back in January and the display panel earlier this month.
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Image: nexcesscdn.net
The WSJ seems to have confirmed what we were all expecting: the next iPad will essentially be a scaled-up iPad Mini.
The same touch-panel technology that made the iPad mini thin and light will likely feature in the next iPad, which is currently being produced by Apple Inc.’s Asian suppliers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
We’d previously expected the iPad 5 to have the same thin bezel design as the Mini, and now the WSJ reports that it will also use the same film-based touch panel, replacing the glass touch panels used in current full-sized iPads. The switch from glass to film touch layer was one of the ways that Apple was able to reduce the thickness and weight of the iPad Mini, and demonstrated its ability to overcome the main drawback of film-based touch panels …
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According to a report by AllThingsD, Apple will debut its latest iPhone lineup during a special event on September 10th, just a month from today. The report doesn’t specify as to which models will be announced at the event, but if rumors are to be believed, we may see the highly anticipated iPhone 5S as well as a new, low-cost iPhone 5C.
There’s been much speculation as to when exactly Apple will unveil its latest lineup as the company has been unusually quiet about new products over the last year. Many are also wondering whether or not Apple will break its traditional iPhone lineup (introducing a new iPhone and shuffling older models down to lower price points) or if it will in fact produce a cheaper, plastic iPhone to cater to demands for Apple to enter new, lower-cost markets.
We’re excited to see what the company has in store for this event as well as what they’ve been planning for new product categories. While the report doesn’t postulate the appearance of an entirely new product category, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has expressed a deep interest in both wearable technologies, given credibility to the rumored iWatch, as well as the television.
This morning, a pair photos claiming to depict the backplate for Apple’s rumored upcoming low-cost iPhone have appeared on the WeiPhone forums. The backplate, which is unverified to be legitimate, appears to be made of a plastic material and is shown in a green color. The overall design of the purported part lines up with past reports suggesting that Apple is developing a low-cost iPhone with a plastic-like-casing in a number of colors.
NowhereElse found two more including red, yellow and green variants.
Update: We just got our hands on the iPad 5 cases. A couple images above and a full gallery is after the break.
This certainly isn’t the first time that an iOS accessory maker made a bet on making cases for an unreleased Apple product. In fact, it has become somewhat the norm for CEO of case maker Gumdrop, Tim Hickman, who for many recent Apple products decided to make an investment and start accepting orders for cases of yet to be released products. It’s not always a losing game– Gumdrop sent over its iPad mini case the day before the iPad mini was even announced and, when we finally got out hands on the device, it fit perfect. However, this time around, there is a good possibility Gumdrop is betting on a rumored product that won’t be announced any time soon: the iPad 5.
https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/342633623834468353
We spoke with CEO of Gumdrop Tim Hickman about the bet he’s making on seeing an iPad 5 next week at WWDC and just how far into production the company is. We also got our hands on the first images of the three new cases the company is launching today for iPad 5, including: the Drop Tech Series, the Drop Tech Designer Series, and the Bounce Skin, all of which include the rumored slimmed down iPad mini-like design that is rumored for the iPad 5.
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