For reasons not publicly known, Apple has reportedly delayed the date of its next media event, at which the 4-inch iPhone SE, a new 9.7-inch iPad and new Apple Watch bands will all be announced, from the previously reported March 15 to almost a week later on March 21.
BuzzFeed News writer John Paczkowski reports “sources in position to know” claiming that Apple has chosen March 21 as the “final date” for the event. Intriguingly, this date is only one day before Apple’s showdown with the US government in the long-running public dispute over iPhone encryption.
While Paczkowski corroborates various previous claims about the iPhone SE, including its inclusion of a faster chip and Apple Pay support, it has only recently emerged, thanks to 9to5Mac, that the upcoming 9.7-inch iPad will officially share the iPad Pro moniker with its 12.9-inch counterpart.
This is contrary to the previous assumption that the iPad would be formally dubbed the iPad Air 3. However, the iPad Pro name seems a sensible choice, given 9to5Mac’s further reporting that the 9.7-inch tablet will get the same A9X processor, 4GB of RAM and Apple Pencil support as the larger model.