Apple’s iPad Keyboard Might Finally Get a Trackpad

Apple advertises its iPad Pro as a computer, but believe it or not, the device does not yet have a first-party keyboard with a built-in trackpad.

That might be changing soon, as Apple is apparently planning to introduce a new iPad Smart Keyboard keyboard with a built-in trackpad, according to a new report from The Information.

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The new Smart Keyboard could launch along with Apple’s next-generation of the iPad Pro. The report claims that the built-in trackpad on the upcoming iPad accessory is part of Apple’s effort to position the iPad Pro as an alternative to laptops.

Apple’s head of software Craig Federighi recently teased some upcoming iPadOS updates, and that could obviously include support for the new built-in trackpad on the iPad keyboard. iPadOS already has support for mice, but it’s more of an accessibility feature. With a new update to iPadOS, it’s possible Apple could introduce much better support for using a mouse with an iPad.

In fact, Apple’s latest beta for iPadOS includes lots of keyboard-related updates that could potentially be for the new iPad keyboard:

https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/1232791363609145346

It’s not exactly clear when Apple is going to introduce the new iPad Pro, but current rumors point towards a March launch.