Apple's iPad line-up just got a major overhaul, with the new iPad Air 6 are iPad Pro M4 both available in 11in and 13in sizes. The new Air packs the M2 chipset, while the Pro is noticeably thinner, lighter, has a stunning OLED screen, and has more power on tap with the M4 chipset. Both tablets also support the all-new Apple Pencil Pro, and move the front-facing camera to the side. And another part of the iPad could follow this design change.
The next iPads released could change the orientation of the Apple logo on the rear panel to match that of the front-facing camera. French site Numerama interviewed three top Apple employees about the newest iPad Pro models. While they were mostly tight-lipped about future devices, one intriguing nugget slipped out. It seems Apple might rotate that iconic logo 90 degrees to suit the landscape orientation we all tend to favor.
Could the Apple logo turn sideways?
Currently, the back panel's Apple logo is positioned to look upright when you hold your iPad vertically. That’s fine and dandy if you’re a traditionalist clinging to portrait mode. But let’s face it, with more of us slapping on a keyboard and using the iPad like a makeshift laptop, the logo ends up looking like it’s having a bit of a lie-down.
Molly Anderson, one of Apple's product designers, hinted that a logo shift is on the cards. "I think it could change," she mused during the interview, which has been translated from French. "We are thinking about it. The iPad has long been a product that is used in portrait mode, but we are using it more and more in landscape mode." It would be the first orientation change to the rear Apple logo on any of the tech giant's products.
This wouldn’t be Apple’s first nod to landscape orientation. They already tweaked the software side of things with iPadOS 14.5, making the Apple logo appear in landscape mode when you boot up the device. Plus, the front-facing camera on all the latest iPad models has shifted to the side, starting with the 10th-gen iPad. Now the rest of the hardware might follow suit.
No official word yet on when we might see this change come to fruition, but keep your eyes peeled on future iPad releases. It’s a small tweak, but one that just makes sense in our keyboard-clad, Netflix-bingeing, work-from-couch world.
