Reports of Apple working on a larger, 12.9-inch screen iPad go back many months – and, though the tablet that many news outlets have dubbed the ‘iPad Pro’ did not appear at the Worldwide Developers Conference this week, there were several subtle but crucial signs that Apple could indeed be preparing it.
For a start, there were the announcements of several new features for iOS 9 specifically intended to enhance the iPad experience. Among these features are the two split-screen functions that make multitasking easier and the ability to have a small video playing on the iPad while other apps are open and in use.
Quartz has pointed out that many of these features “only really become great on a big screen”, noting that the split-screen mode “begs for more screen real estate” than what the existing iPads, with their 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch screens, can provide. It remains to be seen whether that iPad Pro really will be shown off by Apple in the fall, but we reckon that the signs look decent.
