iPad Pro 2 Release Date 2017, Rumors, Specs and Apple Pencil Updates

By Edwin Kee
Apple news
The Apple Store is seen in Santa Monica, California, United States, February 23, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Is there anything up with the iPad Pro 2? Perhaps. Apple has just announced their iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus earlier this month, but this does not mean that the Cupertino-based technology giant has run out of tricks. In fact, here we are with the latest updates and news on what the iPad Pro 2 could deliver when it finally hits the market. In other words, 2016 looks set to be a big year for Apple, with more devices from their stable being lined up. The thing is, the iPad Pro 2 does not look as though it is ready for a debut by the end of this year, so March 2017 is a more realistic timeframe based on current rumors.

Ming Chi-Kuo, a household name by now among those who are always on the lookout for the latest whispers concerning Apple devices, is an analyst at KGI Securities. Ming has more or less set the tone for what the Apple iPad Pro 2 will come with next year, where among them include upgrades concerning the device's display technology.

Ming Chi-Kuo did drop a hint concerning an upgrade arriving for the Apple Pencil. The original Apple Pencil was released in November last year after its September announcement, functioning as a digital stylus pen in order to help the iPad Pro gain another input device advantage apart from the finger. If there is going to be a new iPad Pro 2 in the pipeline, surely it would be in Apple’s best interest for a new Apple Pencil to accompany the tablet as well.

With rumors of three different models of the iPad circling around, we are looking at the possibility of a 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2, a 10.5-inch model of iPad Pro and a 9.7-inch iPad that will cater to the entry level market. Apart from that, do expect some "revolutionary changes" where the upcoming iPad models are concerned in a couple of years’ time, according to Kuo.

It looks like display and design technology might make a seismic shift to AMOLED display, which would be easier on the eyes -- and perhaps offer a different and higher resolution? We will not really know for sure at this point in time, but there are indicators that could head in such a direction.

However, high expectations of a new iPad Pro 2 model in 2017 or 2018 should be tempered by a decline in tablet shipments, as the general direction of the tablet market happens to be heading south -- high end and flagship models included. With the Apple iPad Pro 2, it might be suited to professionals, with the Apple Pencil living up to its name literally by doubling up as a pencil as well.

If that is the case, then one should certainly take note that this is one of the most basic “tech” (if you can call a bit of pencil lead as that) incorporated into a high end peripheral in recent memory. Why not throw in a refillable ink canister for the iPad Pro 3’s stylus which can then be known as the iPad Pen? One thing does seem certain, however: it seems that Apple intends to make the all-new Apple Pencil as the focal point in the Apple iPad Pro 2 when it comes to interacting with iOS 10.

The alleged inclusion of an AMOLED display in the Apple iPad Pro 2 should also accommodate speedier zooming, panning and scrolling features, in addition to a new A10X processor. Like all other rumors, we will sit tight and take it with a pinch of salt until something official comes about.

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