The latest iPad Pro is the thinnest product Apple has ever made, thinner than the iPod nano. A new report says that this move to thinner gadgets will come to other products, including the iPhone—though likely not until next year.
Will future iPhones be thinner than the current iPhone 15 series?
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter, the precedent has been set by the new iPad Pro. Gurman says, “Apple’s new iPad Pro sets the stage for thinner iPhones and other devices. Over the past several years, Apple appeared to be shifting away from making devices as thin and light as possible.”
Gurman says that the new iPad Pro, released in April, “marked a return to form.” The new device delivered something much thinner without compromising battery life and it seems that will be the template for Apple’s future raft of products. As well as the iPhone, Gurman believes this will make for thinner laptops and watches.
Well, those products have been getting thicker, for example with the Apple Watch Ultra and recent MacBook Pro models, and bigger batteries have been a part of that.
But now that Apple has proved it can do it with the iPad Pro, it will do it in other devices. Gurman says, “The plan is for the latest iPad Pro to be the beginning of a new class of Apple devices that should be the thinnest and lightest products in their categories across the whole tech industry.”
The super-slim Apple iPad Pro and Apple Pencil Pro.
In other words, Apple’s success with a svelte iPad Pro means “Apple has figured out how make its devices thinner again while still adding major new features.”
That’s true: the reason the latest iPad Pro has the same battery life of 10 hours as the original iPad and Apple’s tablets in between is that Apple has made this a priority. And this is no mean accomplishment when new features have been added that draw more power.
But you need to be patient: this super-thin design is not coming just yet. “I’m told that Apple is now focused on developing a significantly skinnier phone in time for the iPhone 17 line in 2025,” Gurman says, though he doesn’t specify a date for a thinner Apple Watch and MacBook Pro.
Which leaves the question: would you like a slimmer iPhone with the same battery life as now, or would you, as I suspect many would, be happy with a device the same thickness as now, but with increased battery life?