A man uses an Apple Pencil on an Apple iPad Pro at the Apple Store in Palo Alto, California November 13, 2015.
A man uses an Apple Pencil on an Apple iPad Pro at the Apple Store in Palo Alto, California November 13, 2015. Reuters/Stephen Lam

All eyes are on the Worldwide Developers Conference slated to happen on June 5, with word that updated MacBook Pros will be introduced. However, experts believe that the Apple laptops will have to share the limelight with new iPad Pro variants.

IHS Markit’s Rhoda Alexander suggested via an email to Forbes that the 10.5- and 12.9-inch iPad Pros may be announced alongside the MacBook Pro 2017 variants. Such revises an earlier jab she made earlier this week. "They both are likely to be part of the launch with the MacBooks," she said after getting updated data from other IHS analysts.

The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is believed to be currently in production, same with the 12.9-inch variant. She Alexander added that the latter variant, targeted for commercial and education use, may come with a faster A10 processor.

Backing up Alexander’s belief is renowned KGI Security analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He hinted at a potential coming of the iPad Pro variants at WWDC 2017 earlier this month, which should make the June event pretty interesting.

For the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, the tablet will carry the same form-factor with a larger display. This was made possible with the bezels shrunk, atoning for a bigger display. Hence, it could look like the 9.7-inch version, that it will accommodate provisions for accessories such as a Smart Keyboard.

To get a better visual on what could possibly be coming at WWDC 2017, CAD images of dummy models from Benjamin Geskin were posted on Twitter. The designs were based on the cases for the said tablet. which is already in mass production.

If spot on, the illustrations provide a possible glimpse on where other features would be situated. That would include the volume buttons, 3.5mm headphone jack, speaker grilles, Lightning port, SIM card tray and the Smart Connector. Other potential specs for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro would include Pencil support and a quad speaker system, which should give aspirin buyers something to think about.

Before jumping to conclusions, these are all casings that may not be an indication of things to come. While sensible, there could be some things left off as far as the features of the next iPad Pro variants are concerned.

The WWDC 2017 is fast approaching, so the suspense will finally be over. Again, most of these are predictions from the experts, meaning most may want to take them lightly until they are actually seen up front.

RELATED STORIES