Shooting photographs and videos with an iPad isn’t the most practical – after all, it’s nowhere near as convenient as quickly pulling your iPhone out of your pocket to bag a shot, and it will definitely cause some disgruntled grumbling if you’re filming a gig with a tablet – but it’s surprisingly common.
In response, Apple has been slowly upgrading the camera set-ups found on its iPad range. With the iPad Pro, the company went as far as to include the same primary wide-angle camera found on the flagship iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR on the tablet.
However, it stopped short of adding the secondary telephoto lens to allow Portrait Mode and two-times optical zoom.
Based on the latest leak around the new iPad Pro – that looks set to change.
Apple is purportedly looking to add the same triple-camera system found on its priciest iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max to the tablet. That means you’ll be able to take advantage of all the same photography tricks as the new flagships.
As such, iPad Pro owners will now be able to take Portrait Mode shots – with an adjustable, artificial bokeh-style blur behind the subject of the shot – from the rear-camera.
Until now, the iPad Pro has restricted Portrait Mode to the front-facing camera, which enables the effect with the same sensors used for the Face ID unlock system.
And that’s not all.
Just like the new iPhone 11 Pro series, iPad Pro will also be able to shoot ultra-wide shots to cram-in skyscrapers or big group shots that would otherwise leave buildings (or treasured friends and family members) cut out of the frame.
The telephoto lens will also enable two-times losses optical zoom, so you won’t have to get as close to your subject to get the perfect shot.
It’s rumoured the new camera set-up will also help with Augmented Reality (AR) features, which places digital objects in the real-world where you can interact with them through the viewfinder.
But it’s not all about photographs. On the iPhone 11 Pro series, Apple enables 4K Ultra HD video to be recorded from all three of the cameras.
Not only that, but the pixel-packed footage can be shot at 60 frames-per-second, too.
The triple-camera design was revealed by reliable tipster Sonny Dickson, who shared the image online ahead of the iPad Pro refresh, which is tipped to be announced at a forthcoming October hardware event.
According to Dickson, the iPad Pro shown in the photo is a “final design mockup.”
The leakster has a solid track record when it comes to unannounced Apple hardware and revealed a number of iPhone 11 case renders earlier this year.
The leaked iPad Pro photo doesn’t appear to have the same curved glass cover over the square camera set-up seen on the iPhone 11 Pro, but Dickson claims this could be change closer to the event to match the iPhone 11 Pro as it’s likely to be “a minor omission in a device intended to showcase the final physical form of the device”.
Ahead of the rumoured iPad Pro reveal next month, Apple will launch iOS 13 for iPhone and iPod Touch owners at the end of the week, as well as its all-new iPadOS upgrade to tablet owners at the end of the month.