While there has been some speculation that Apple will break the mold this year and release an iPhone model earlier than usual, a new report from Taiwan’s Economic Daily News suggests that new iPads will be the only smart devices unveiled before the second half of 2018. According to the report, Apple fans can expect to see both an updated 12.9-inch iPad Pro and a brand-new 11-inch iPad Pro at WWDC 2018 in June this year.
Sources claim that the two new iPad Pros will have thinner bezels than previous models, will feature A11X processors and will support Face ID, which could spell the end of the home button for the iPad. Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang said as much in a note last week, which the report from Economic Daily News happens to mention.
It is somewhat difficult to determine which parts of the translated report are meant to be news, but the highlight of the article appears to be the confirmation that Apple will not release a new iPhone at WWDC. Rumors have been swirling about a potential update for the iPhone SE to be unveiled at WWDC this summer, but the site’s sources believe that Apple will wait until the second half of the year to show off new phones, as it has in previous years.
That’s not to say that a more affordable iPhone model with some of the same design updates as the iPhone X is out of the question, but it seems unlikely that it will arrive before the next fall media event. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo cast doubt on the iPhone SE revival back in January, saying it would require too many resources.
After all, Apple is said to be planning two new OLED iPhone models for this fall alongside a 6.1-inch LCD model. With three new phone models already in the pipeline, a fourth would probably be overkill for 2018.
