iPad Pro 2022 release date is reportedly ‘in a matter of days’; 11-inch model won’t have a mini-LED display

Apple is expected to launch its new range of iPad Pro soon. But the latest reports suggest there might not be significant changes from the 2021 lineup, especially in the 11-inch model.

The tech giant typically launches new iPad Pros in the earlier part of the year. This year’s premium tablets, however, have been several months late and are expected to enter the market roughly 18 months from the M1-powered iPad Pro tablets.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in the latest Power On newsletter that the announcement of the new iPad Pro lineup should happen “in a matter of days.” Apple is expected to update the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro with devices codenamed J617 and J620, respectively.

While Apple usually holds an event in October to announce new products, the 2022 iPad Pro series is expected to only launch through online announcements on the company’s website. The journalist suggested that the lack of a separate event for the new tablets may be due to the short list of significant upgrades coming to the new tablets. Gurman added that Apple might want to reserve bigger marketing efforts for the anticipated launch of its first AR/VR headset next year.

Gurman did not mention a launch date for the iPad Pro announcement, but the journalist reiterated that the iPadOS 16.1 is slated to go live in the week of Oct. 24. It would make sense for Apple to release the software update, along with the new tablets.

The new iPad Pro models will likely include the M2 chip, which first launched with the redesigned MacBook Air and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro earlier this year. M2 is the latest addition to Apple’s line of in-house system-on-chips that uses a next-gen 5nm technology.

The company said in a press release last June that the M2 chip is packed with a CPU faster by 18% than the baseline M1 SoC. While that is not a major leap from the last-gen processor, the power boost should still be a welcome upgrade, especially with the arrival of the Stage Manager functionality.

Apple fans have been speculating whether the company will also bring the mini-LED backlight solution to the 11-inch iPad. However, display industry analyst Ross Young reported that this is “not gonna happen” and he expects the smaller tablet to include the same display as its predecessor launched last year.

Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash