Apple reveals redesigned iPad Pro tablets with USB-C and no home button

Apple’s new iPad Pro tablets are here.  Apple today unveiled two new iPad Pros during a press event in Brooklyn, New York.

It’s the first time Apple has updated the iPad Pro lineup since June 2017, and the new tablets are much more than a simple refresh — it’s a total redesign.

The new iPad Pro comes in both 11-inch model and 12.9-inch variations. But, thanks to barely-there bezels bezels, both tablets are much smaller than their predecessors. The tablets are also significantly thinner and have rounded cameras.

The new set of iPad Pros are Apple’s first tablets to ditch the home button in favor of FaceID, much like the iPhone X line. This means the tablets have a similar edge-to-edge display as the recent iPhones though, notably, there isn’t a display notch.

They’re also the first iPads to use USB-C ports instead of Apple’s lightning connector. While this means that, yes, you’ll have to ditch your old chargers and accessories, USB-C comes with a few advantages as well. It enables rapid charging, for one, and it allows for faster data transfers.

Whether a switch to USB-C in the iPad Pro line signals a bigger shift at Apple, however, remains to be seen. There have been reports the company plans to switch up the connectors in its iPhones in 2019, though it’s still too far out to give too much credence to those rumors. At the very least, though, the change to the iPad Pro shows that Apple is willing to make the change in some cases. 

The new iPad Pro models also come with a redesigned Apple Pencil stylus that now charges wirelessly.

This story is developing…