After MacBook Pro, Apple to launch new iPads in March 2017

After the launch of its flagship notebook series, the MacBook Pro with Touch ID and Touch Bar, Cupertino-headquartered Apple is expected to come out with three new versions of its tablet family -- the iPad -- in March next year.

According to reports citing research analysts from Barclays, one of the versions of the iPad will have a bezel-less 10.9-inch edition instead of a 9.7-inch edition. Barclays researchers are making the claim citing Asia supply chain sources.

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Reports from KGI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo and Japanese blogger Macotakara also claim that the new iPads will ship in 2017. According to Macotakara, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will come with a 12-megapixel camera with dual-tone LED flash and a P3 display resolution. Interestingly, the new iPad Pro series will come with the 3.5mm headphone jack and quad-microphones.

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The Barclays report also claims that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be the low-cost version, while the iPad mini line won't get refreshed, but Apple will continue to sell iPad mini 4.

Other big changes to the iPad family might include new OLED displays, Kuo of KGI Securities said. According to him, the new iPads (to come in sizes of 10.9 and 12.9-inch) will come with Taiwan's TSMC-manufactured A10X chips. He also said that Apple could bring in the new flexible AMOLED displays as well but he warned that the downward trend in sales of Apple tablets will continue next year.

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Further, Apple is expected to see a slowdown in profits in the first two quarters of because of the slightly low margin on the iPhone 7 family. Kuo also pointed out that sales of its products are down across the board.

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However, with the increase in the screen sizes of smartphones, tablets are anyways being hit. But Apple has tried to keep its iPad sales going by launching enterprise editions of th tablets with better processors, bigger batteries and large displays. It also launched a new Apple Pencil with a new keyboard with its last Pro launch.