The latest, ninth-generation version of the ‘standard’ iPad has plenty to offer musicians - a reasonably powerful A13 Bionic chip and a minimum of 64GB of storage, for example - but there’s no denying that its design looks somewhat dated.
It looks like the 2022 model, though - predicted to be announced at some point in September - could change all that by taking some design cues from the Pro, Air and Mini iPads.
Supposedly leaked CAD renders published by mysmartprice indicate that the new iPad will inherit the flat-edged design of its more expensive siblings, though the presence of some chunky bezels round the display indicate that it won’t be an ‘all-screen’ affair up top. The Home button is predicted to remain, too.
The same report suggests that Apple could be set to ditch the Lightning port on the iPad 2022 and replace it with a USB-C socket, and the tablet is tipped to get an A14 chipset.
Given that the 2021 iPad Mini (sixth generation) has an A15 chip inside it, this would be a bit of a disappointment, but probably not a dealbreaker on an entry-level tablet.
More notably, it seems that this iPad could mark the end of the 3.5mm headphone jack, so you may need an adapter or an audio interface if you want to go down the ‘wired’ route with your cans when you’re making music (as you almost certainly will).
Of course, Apple hasn’t commented on any of the above, so you can take all these rumours with the usual pinch of salt. We’re guessing that all will become clear in just over a month from now.
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