Apple Announcing 9.7-inch iPad Pro 2 Next Week, Analysts Claim

Apple’s plan of releasing new iPads is no secret anymore, but whether or not the Cupertino giant is debuting them this month remains up in the air. If Japanese analysts are to be asked, however, they believe Tim Cook’s company will be unveiling the 9.7-inch iPad Pro 2 as early as next week.

Just this Wednesday, Japanese blog Mac Otakara published a report about Apple’s alleged plan for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro successor. The blog, citing local analysts’ predictions, stated that Apple could be launching the new tablet next week. This prediction seems suspicious, however, because the analysts did not provide the reason. Also, there hasn’t been any information confirming that Samsung’s biggest rival has scheduled a media event for the said week.

Mac Otakara’s report was its response to MacRumors’ previous story about a research firm’s statement concerning the launch of the new Apple products. The well-known firm reportedly claimed that Cook’s company is announcing new products in the week that starts on March 20. However, the firm did not mention which products would these be.

MacRumors has already published an updated story and this time it is saying that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will likely be announced via a press release and not at a formal launch event. Backing up this new claim, the Apple-centric news site said there isn’t a need to hold a press event for something that’s just an iterative upgrade. After all, the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro 2 is very similar to the original one save for the inclusion of a faster Apple A10x chip and the addition of quad microphones.

In addition to the 9.7-inch model, Apple is also believed to be introducing a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a new line of iPads with 10.5-inch displays. For the 10.5-inch model, it is being speculated to have the same form factor as the 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The only noticeable difference is the reduced size of the bezels to accommodate the larger screen, as per Apple Insider.

There are also rumblings that Apple is preparing to launch a red iPhone 7, a 128GB iPhone SE and new models of the Apple Watch smartwatch. Whether these three will be introduced alongside the 9.7-inch iPad Pro 2 via a press release or not is still unknown. What’s certain is that Apple will unlikely wait for WWDC 2017 in June to announce them.