Apple announced the 2022 line of iPads last week, but it seems like the lineup could have been a lot more interesting if the company went through with the plastic-backed version that it was reportedly developing but ultimately scrapped. Apparently, Apple was working on a budget iPad made primarily with plastic that included a detachable keyboard in-box for under $500. If that’s truly the case, then Apple might have scrapped an incredible device that may now never see the light of day.
According to Bloomberg, the canceled iPad would have used a plastic back instead of the aluminum one that all editions of the tablet sport. As big of a shakeup as that may have been, the publication says that the idea has been “seemingly abandoned” in favor of the company’s current offerings. The inclusion of a plastic keyboard, which may have been another new product separate from the other iPad keyboards that Apple currently offers, is also notable as the company doesn’t sell any iPads with keyboards in-box.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman speculates that the canceled device’s budget price and bundled plastic keyboard suggest that Apple may have been looking to compete with the ever-popular Chromebooks that have become commonplace in schools over iPads. Since the device is no longer being pursued by Apple, however, Gurman believes that the company has given up any “real hope of ever giving Chromebooks a run for their money in most schools.”
Because there isn’t much in terms of concrete information about the plastic iPad, there’s really no way of knowing how it would fare against the likes of other budget Apple tablets like the iPad Mini. That said, Apple typically does a solid job of outfitting its devices properly for their prices, and the inclusion of a keyboard in-box would have been a big moment for the company’s tablet offerings — especially since iPadOS 16’s big focus is on slimming the line between iPads and Macs.
Regardless of what the plastic iPad could have been, the unfortunate thing is that it doesn’t exist currently. For now, iPad fans will have to be satisfied with Apple’s current roster of tablets and accept that the plastic version might simply be “the one that got away.”
Affinity’s new all-in-one creative app is finally coming to the iPad, nearly a year after Canva launched the redesigned desktop version for Mac and Windows. Creatives have been asking for the iPad release ever since, especially because files created in the new Affinity app cannot be opened in the older V2 iPad apps.
Affinity already has Photo, Designer, and Publisher apps on iPad, but the new release combines those tools into the same unified app that Canva launched on desktop last year.
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).
Apple has just launched its latest iPad mini with a notable set of upgrades, including an OLED screen, improved speakers, and a more resilient build. It also gets a new chip, and the whole package costs $200 more than its predecessor. But if you look closely at Apple’s online store, you’ll realize that $699 isn’t enough to get you the most powerful version of the A20 Pro chip inside this tablet. In fact, even if you pay $800 for the 256GB model, you still won’t get the beefiest variant. Only when you jump to the 512GB trim, which costs an absurd $999, do you get the most powerful flavor of the A20 Pro.
The $999 model gets more than extra storage