For months, the 2020 iPad Pro release had been a given for March. A new report, however, is some reason to think we might be waiting a whole lot longer for Apple's high end tablet.
As you might expect, the delay is being attributed to concerns around coronavirus, which have knocked out everything from MWC to SXSW and even E3. It starts with Cult of Mac reporting that the unannounced (but rumored) Apple March 2020 event is now cancelled.
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The event, which was also to reveal the iPhone 9, was called off because of Apple execs growing "concerned" about throwing a hoopla with 1,000 or so media folks from around the world. It was to be held at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. Their concern is quite reasonable, as media events typically cluster those hundreds of reporters into an auditorium, practically elbow-to-elbow.
This led our sister site TechRadar to speculate that an event for the iPad Pro and iPhone 9 could come even later this year, in the Q4 (Oct. to Dec.) window. Their logic? Apple would want to keep with tradition and not get in the way of its expected iPhone 12 launch event, as its flagship iPhone event has kept a lock on the month of September.
Why the 2020 iPad Pro could still drop on time
But I wouldn't bet on that being Apple's definite, guaranteed path going forward. While coronavirus concerns will have a wide-rippling impact on the company's calendar — I don't expect a traditional WWDC this year — Apple doesn't need to have in-person events for hardware.
Just look back to the AirPods Pro, one of Apple's biggest hits in recent years. Apple announced these buds in an Oct. 28 press release, and then sent them out to reviewers and stores, completely foregoing any in-person event. The 16-inch MacBook Pro also dropped without such an event.
If the 2020 iPad Pro's updates are a three-lens camera that's just like the iPhone 11 Pro's, 5G connectivity and a new Apple processor, it doesn't have much public education necessary for the new iPad, as we're already familiar with these concepts.
