Breaking news suggests that Apple is looking to create a new iPad with a keyboard and a trackpad set to debut later this year.
This throwback design, which would greatly increase the manual accessibility of the iPad as a device, would probably come out around the same time as a new iPad Pro.
However, in covering this likely offering, CNet writer Sean Keane specifically names Foxconn as a “main manufacturer” of this new design.
At the same time, worsening problems with the new global coronavirus are leading Apple to reassess their numbers for iPhone production over the next year.
Foxconn itself, under pressure from the coronavirus epicenter, has going to great lengths, such as consulting health experts and looking at protective gear for coronavirus protection. It’s highly possible that resources from manufacturers like Foxconn could be diverted to respond to the coronavirus threat.
Although the new innovation is planned for later this year, Keane notes that the company “did not respond to requests for comment.”
If the company in question was Foxconn, this makes sense, since the company is probably very busy addressing coronavirus issues right now.
Even Apple would be hard-pressed to provide concrete predictions for the rest of 2020 given the emergence of this potential pandemic.
We’ll have to wait and see and take new plans with a grain of salt until it’s clear how the coronavirus resolves.
