This March or as early as next week, Apple is reportedly staging an event that will introduce an upgraded iPhone SE, a 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a Red iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. The same occasion will officially kill the iPad Air and Mini brands, reports said.
In their stead, Apple will focus on the iPad Pro line as the tech giant will in fact unveil four new flavors of the iOS tablet. The iPad Air will be replaced by the second-gen 9.7-inch iPad Pro while the iPad Mini will be retired with the market debut of the 7.9-inch iPad Pro.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro will get a 2017 refresh as well but it is the rumored 10.5-inch iPad Pro that is generating the most attention, according to MacRumors. The device will boast of more powerful inside components - A10X chips and up to 4GB RAM provision - and redesigned body, which the report said will be implemented across the board.
All new iPad Pros will have slimmer screen bezels. And the imminent introduction is supposedly hinted by Apple's ongoing tests of the devices. According to iDownloadBlog.com, four new iPad models with cellular radio signals were being tested with hardware identifiers not connected with current iPad editions.
The same report can only assume that "iPad 7,1", "iPad 7,2", "iPad 7,3" and "iPad 7,4" all point to the new iPad Pro model mentioned above.
Aside from the iPads, also in the cards are the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus in Red color, which MacRumors said will be part of Apple's could become part of Apple's Product RED catalog.
Of note too is the possible addition of a new iPhone SE with 128GB of storage capacity. It's unclear if the handset will also gain new feature upgrades like 3D Touch on the screen and a more powerful front camera. But per the same MacRumors report, the 2017 iPhone SE model will be larger though it's yet to be confirmed if the upsize move involves the memory bump up or a larger screen. The SE has a 4-inch display.
If indeed Apple will take the stage next March and reveal new products in the process then the release date could immediately follow by early April. However, reports indicate that the 10.5-inch iPad Pro might not come out until May or June 2017.