File photo: Tim Cook, CEO, holds an iPad Pro after his keynote address to Apple's annual world wide developer conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California, U.S. June 5, 2017. (REUTERS/Stephen Lam)
New device registrations by Apple discovered this week suggest that an iPad refresh is imminent, with March looking like the month an announcement and roll out will occur. We know this thanks to the way in which the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) regulates the sale of electronic products.
Different areas of the world have their own rules when it comes to selling goods. The EEC covers the sale of electronic goods across Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia, and as 9To5Mac reports, the EEC requires new products that use encryption be registered before release. Apple has done just that, registering two new products carrying the identifiers A1954 and A1893.
In the past, EEC registrations have revealed when new MacBooks were about to arrive, as well as when the iPhone 7 and AirPods appeared. Typically the registration happens the month before Apple officially announces them, which is why March seems the most likely launch window.
It is thought that Apple is planning an iPad Pro update in the second half of 2018 which will borrow some design elements from the iPhone X. With that in mind, it seems much more likely a new iPad in March will be a refresh for last year's iPad . If that's the case, we shouldn't expect much beyond a bit of a performance improvement and possibly a price change.
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Apple used a press release to announce last year's iPad launch, so we shouldn't expect anymore than that for this year's new model. However, if the iPad Pro is set to get an iPad X makeover later in the year, expect the usual Apple stage show and fanfare to happen.
This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
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