What you need to know
- We've been hearing rumors of a new iPad Pro for months.
- Now a new tablet computer has appeared in the Eurasian Economic Commission database.
- All products that support encryption in Russia and some other countries must be registered with the EEC.
A new iPad has popped up in the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) database, suggesting that we can expect an announcement pretty soon.
The entry doesn't say what the iPad is, simply listing it as device A2229 and that it runs iPadOS 13. That device doesn't yet exist which means it's a product that has yet to be announced.
The database entry was first spotted by AppleInsider and it's thought that it relates to an iPad Pro refresh that we've been expecting for a while. Rumors of an iPad Pro with a camera configuration similar to that of iPhone 11 Pro have been around for what feels like forever with far too much smoke to there be no fire. Eventually.
All products sold in Russia and select other countries must be registered with the EEC if they use encryption, which Apple's devices do.
There is obviously no suggestion when we can expect to see the new device announced, but the current consensus is that Apple's planned March event isn't going to happen, so it's likely we will see the device announced via press release. Unless Apple holds it back until WWDC, that is.
June is still a long way away, so my money would be on something happening much sooner than that. But with Apple Stores currently closed, will Apple want to launch a new product while it doesn't have anywhere to sell them beyond online orders?
Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.
Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.
