The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the long-awaited 12.9-inch iPad — or iPad Pro — is being delayed by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) from a first-quarter release to sometime in the second half of the year.
The delay in itself isn’t shocking.
However, some of the reasons suggested for the delay seem unlikely: AAPL may add USB 3.0 ports, it is considering adding ports for a mouse and keyboard, the bigger battery needed to power the larger iPad is taking too long to recharge, and Apple is considering a stylus.
Somehow, I seriously doubt those reasons.
Debunking the Reasons for the New iPad Delay
Let’s take these points one-by-one.
The larger capacity battery takes too long to recharge?
Recharging time shouldn’t be an issue for the enterprise and professional users this new iPad would be aimed at. With a higher capacity battery to offset the higher demands of the 12.9-inch iPad screen, battery life should stick around the Apple iPad average, which is 10 hours of heavy use (9 hours with a cellular connection).
10 hours of constant use is more than most typical workdays, and then the device is plugged in to recharge overnight. Why would anyone care if it takes four hours or six hours to fully recharge?
If Apple does want faster recharging in a new iPad, it’s not rocket science to upgrade the device to accept a higher wattage recharger, which would have been part of the early design process.
With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple upgraded the maximum wattage accepted from five watts to 12. It still includes a 5W adapter with these phones — it’s cheaper and more compact — but if you plug them into Apple’s optional 12W adapter, recharge time goes from 4-5 hours to just over two hours.
Adding USB 3.0 ports?
I don’t think so. Apple’s iOS lacks a file navigation system. With Windows (or OSX), you plug in an external hard drive, you can navigate around to the files you want and copy them over. In contrast, a core feature of iOS is that file transfer between devices is built around iCloud and iTunes.
Third-party manufacturers have tried iPad accessories that mimic external storage (via the Lightning port), but they have to provide apps for navigating the files and directing them into the destination apps on the iPad.
That’s really klunky and I can’t see AAPL adopting a similar scheme for the new iPad, or changing iOS up to act more like a traditional desktop operating system.
What I can see is Apple upgrading its Lightning port to the USB 3.0 standard. Right now it’s USB 2.0 and going to USB 3.0 would mean a tenfold increase in data transfer speed when an iOS device is connected to a PC or Mac and exchanging files via iTunes.
Apple was reportedly advertising for a USB 3.0 engineer and faster Lightning support is an all around win for iOS devices, so I could actually believe that.
Even if the Lightning port remains as is, with a supported router 802.11ac Wi-Fi lets the current iPad Air 2 transfer data wirelessly at twice the speed of a physical connection — roughly 30 seconds for a typical 1080p HD iTunes movie.
Ports for mouse and keyboard support?
Again, we’re talking USB ports. It makes no sense to add a port to the new iPad to physically connect a keyboard. Why add bulk with ports and have to deal with cables when wireless keyboards are just as good and go for months without needing to recharge?
As someone who frequently uses an iPad and keyboard case for mobile writing, I’ve long been an advocate for mouse support in iOS. I’d love to see it appear in iOS 9. But if Apple were to cave, just like the keyboard, there’s no reason to physically plug a mouse into an iPad.
Adding a stylus?
Sure, go for it. Supply a stylus with the new iPad. I actually have a handful of styluses from different companies I use with different tablets, including iPads. Some even replicate a paintbrush (complete with touch-capacitative bristles).
This isn’t the sort of accessory that delays a major product release by six months.
The Real Reason for the New iPad Delay
So why is the rumored new iPad for professional users being delayed?
I suspect that AAPL has been taking its time evaluating the market to ensure it hits the right notes. The last thing it wants is to repeat the mistake of BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) — assume it knows what enterprise users want and push out a tablet that fails to meet their needs and falling flat.
Apple does not like egg on its face.
It also would prefer to avoid the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) approach, which resulted in an excellent professional tablet in the Surface Pro 3 (read our review here) but required three iterations to get right and almost killed Microsoft’s tablet ambitions in the process.
Apple likes to get it right — or mostly right — the first time. So APPL may be sweating last-minute decisions like whether to go with the 12.9-inch display or the slightly smaller 12.2-inch version the new iPad was once expected to use.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the company was hard at work at implementing full USB 3.0 compatibility in its Lightning connector. That’s just a logical move that would benefit all iOS devices.
Finally, a new iPad with a big display targeting prosumer and professional users is going to have features and capabilities current Apple iPads lack. Multi-window support immediately comes to mind. That means a new version of the iOS operating system will be needed to enable the features and a new CPU (likely the A9) will be needed to power it.
Apple is consistent in releasing new versions of iOS and new CPU versions in the fall. It only makes sense that the new, larger iPad would arrive in the same timeframe that iOS 9 and the A9 processor are ready for release.
Ultimately, I suspect the delay in seeing this new iPad is less about technical hurdles than it is about avoiding disruption of the established iOS release cycle.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
