With Apple’s new iPad Pros launched last year, Apple finally brought Face ID technology to its iPads. We expect that this trend will continue this year, but unfortunately it won’t be for the iPad or iPad mini refresh that we have been hearing about. This is according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith who discovered references made to new iPads in the iOS 12.2 beta.
The references made in the iOS beta mention a variety of iPads which includes both the cellular and WiFi models, but there were no references made to Face ID. This means that the iPad and iPad mini will continue to use Touch ID as its preferred method of security. This actually doesn’t come as a surprise since both tablets are supposed to be the “budget” variants.
The budget iPad was launched in the early part of 2018 where it actually featured hardware from the previous generation. However this was more than forgivable given its price point, and the fact that it plays nice with the Apple Pencil which lets students and artists experience the Apple Pencil without having to pay for the iPad Pro.
The iPad mini is also expected to be a small refresh and won’t be anything too drastic, and as such will probably be positioned as another affordable and smaller iPad. We have to wonder if it will feature Apple Pencil support as well, but that remains to be seen. Apple does sometimes launch new tablets in the early part of the year, so we might be able to expect it in the coming months.
In theory, iOS 12.2 references four new iPads in WiFi & Cellular variants (perhaps mini, and 9.7"?), all without Face ID, and a (seventh-gen?) iPod touch with no Touch ID nor Face ID pic.twitter.com/xiJN6kmmTe
— Steve Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith) January 25, 2019
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