With iPad Pro rumors flowing freely for months, an icon in the latest iOS 12 developers beta appears to confirm what we're expecting. Specifically, the next iPad Pro looks to feature no home button and a nearly-bezel-free design.
The art asset pulled from iOS 12 developer beta 5 is named HLSipad2, and a comparison from 9to5Mac shows that it's an update from a glyph named HLSipad, which had thicker bezels and a home button.
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This wouldn't be the first time that an iOS beta has tipped people off to Apple hardware decisions in advance of their release. Last year's iOS 11 beta, for example, included an icon of a phone with a notched display long before anyone had laid eyes on the iPhone X.
We've heard tell of Face ID coming to the iPad since January, when signs appeared in iOS 11.3 beta code, and as recently as a July report that posited that the new 11-inch iPad Pro would include Face ID. If the next iPad is without a home button, Face ID makes sense, as you'll need a new way to biometrically unlock the device without the Touch ID sensor in the home button.
Interestingly, the 'HLSipad2' icon doesn't show a notch, which may suggest the iPad will offer a more elegant way to hide its Face ID sensors.
This 11-inch iPad is to replace the 10.5-inch design, and launch alongside an updated 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Annoyingly, though the next iPad Pro may also drop the headphone jack, according to a supply-chain report published earlier this week.
