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Apple tipped to announce new iPad Pro models with Thunderbolt and a mini LED display option in April; no March hardware event this year

New 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are due in April, according to Mark Gurman. (Image source: Henry Ascroft)
New 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models are due in April, according to Mark Gurman. (Image source: Henry Ascroft)
Apple will announce its next-generation iPad Pro tablets in April, not March, according to Mark Gurman. Jon Prosser has backtracked on his claim 'from a reliable source' that Apple would host a hardware event on March 23, too.

A new report by Bloomberg has revealed some exciting details about the successor to the current iPad Pro. According to Mark Gurman, Apple's latest prototypes have a USB Type-C port that supports Thunderbolt. Gurman surmises that the inclusion of a Thunderbolt connector would make it simpler for the next iPad Pro to connect to peripherals and external monitors. Having a Thunderbolt connector should provide this year's iPad Pro with faster wired transfer speeds, at any rate.

Gurman does not expect the iPad Pro's design to change much, as previous rumours have suggested. Correspondingly, we should see new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models this year. Gurman states that only the 12.9-inch model will have a mini LED display though, reiterating a rumour published by @FrontTron earlier this month. Having a mini LED display should provide the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a higher peak brightness and a richer contrast ratio compared to the 11-inch model.

Moreover, Gurman believes that this year's iPad Pro models will contain an SoC comparable in performance to the Apple M1 found in the Mac mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. However, Gurman asserts that Apple will announce the next iPad Pros in April, not March as Jon Prosser insisted on March 8. Funnily enough, while Prosser claimed to have received his information from 'a reliable source', he has changed his tune. According to Prosser:

The event was always in April. There was literally never a March event. 

Absolutely incredible how Apple managed to give the "March 23" date to myself, Kang (the highest rated source) and L0vetodream at almost the same time.

Huge thanks to the source helping with this

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 03 > Apple tipped to announce new iPad Pro models with Thunderbolt and a mini LED display option in April; no March hardware event this year
Alex Alderson, 2021-03-18 (Update: 2021-03-18)