Code buried in iOS 12.1 heavily implies that new iPads are coming this year

iOS 12 may have just been released, but iFans are already scouring the iOS 12.1 beta for any hints at Apple’s plans for the future. Enthusiasts at 9to5Mac may have stumbled onto something big. The site is reporting that code buried in the iOS 12.1 Setup app references a device labeled “iPad2018Fall,” which likely means a new iPad or iPad Pro is slated for release this year.

The Setup app, which runs when a new device is activated, has to detect which device it’s running on in order to properly guide users in setting up that device. In other words, if the app runs on an iPhone XR, it will detect that the user is setting up a Fall 2018 iPhone and execute appropriate code. The fact that the Setup app in iOS 12.1 has a string dedicated to a 2018 Fall iPad all but means the app will run on a new tablet released this fall.

Apple has a history of releasing new iPads (specifically iPad Pros) in October or November. There have been other reports that support an iPad release, including rumors of landscape Face ID (which would make sense on a tablet) and a new Memoji sync feature that would allow users to share Memoji between devices they own. Again, this would make sense for users that create Memoji on their iPhone X and want to use it on an iPad or iPad Pro and vice versa. Current iPads don’t support Memoji, so a new iPad would need to be released for users to create Memoji on the tablet.

Source(s)