iOS 12.1 beta suggests that a new iPad arrives this fall

While exploring the Setup application in iOS 12, 9to5Mac discovered an identifier referring to an iPad titled "iPad2018Fall". The identifier has also been added to a host of evidence and reports suggesting that a new iPad Pro model is imminent.

This is not the only clue about the new iPads in the beta of iOS 12.1. First of all, 9to5Mac found a daemon running under iOS 12.1 that seems to suggest support for Memojis syncing on iOS devices. While some people have multiple iPhones, few do, and synchronization like this one helps users most often to keep the same squares between an iPhone and an iPad. The iPads of today do not support Memojis, but the power of tomorrow.

In addition, developer Steve Troughton-Smith noted on Twitter this iOS 12.1 seems to include support for face recognition in landscape orientation. This would not be possible with existing iPhone hardware, suggesting that this could happen in an iPad future with Face ID. He also pointed out an option for a virtualized 4K external display for the iPad Pro in the iOS simulator of Apple. This gives support to an analyst report that the iPad Pro would use USB-C, not Lightning, as the main port. It's still a long way from being certain, though.

Add to all this a report from Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg citing sources familiar with Apple's plans, saying that a new iPad Pro is coming this year with an edge-to-edge display and the TrueDepth sensor network to power Face ID, and the earlier discovery of an artistic tool in the beta of iOS 12 which represented an iPad with reduced glasses.

It's also worth noting that iOS 12 has moved critical information from the iPad's status bar to the most remote corners, leaving a vacuum similar to that of the TrueDepth's sensor array. iPhone X and its successors. It is possible, however, that Apple has simply made this change to make the iOS experience more uniform across all devices.

The iPad Pro was last updated in June 2017 and the standard iPad was updated earlier this year. This year's iPad model has received Apple Pencil support, but not much; It was meant to be affordable for educational organizations, competing with Chromebooks. Apple is trying to position the iPad Pro as a heavy, creative productivity machine, but it faces fierce competition from Microsoft and its competitors.