Apple’s renewed enthusiasm for the iPad will see it bring a number of the iPhone X’s headline features to the tablet range next year, according to reports.
Bloomberg’s sources claim the Face ID facial recognition feature, which allows users to login, authenticate payments and make Animojis, will appear on at least one model in 2018.
This will replace the Touch ID fingerprint sensor that has been present on all versions for the past few years. This, it is said, will free Apple up to reduce the edges and mimic the design of the iPhone X, which debuted last week.
The new iPad will obviously have updated components, including Apple’s GPU, but will reportedly not have an OLED display.
The iPad was once Apple’s second best-selling category but sales slowed in the mid-2010s in line with the rest of the tablet market which had been buoyed by first time buyers and cheap seven-inch devices.
However, sales are once again improving and Apple has been targeting the business market as well as consumers. Indeed, Apple sold 10.3 million iPads in the most recent quarter – an increase of 11 percent.
Rumours of the new iPad follow hot on the heels of speculation that Apple is preparing an augmented reality (AR) headset. The company introduced a range of AR features to iOS 11 and now believes a dedicated system that won’t require a paired smartphone is the next logical step.
It is claimed the device would have its own display and run on a dedicated chip and operating system.
However there is little chance of such a device appearing before 2020.
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I've been using Apple's FaceID for several days and it is a very impressive technology, almost invisible and very accurate in low light, with a hat, glasses, weekend stubble and multiple viewing angles. It is the future.