Icon found in iOS 12 beta shows an unreleased iPad with thin bezels, no Home button, or notch
We've been expecting an update to the iPad Pro line for later this year. Rumors suggest that the new version will have no home button, Face ID and thinner bezels, following the design trend introduced by Apple with iPhone X.
Context & Ripple Effects
This icon find is the third breadcrumb in a year-long trail: Bloomberg reported back in November 2017 that Apple was building a high-end iPad with Face ID, slimmer bezels, and no home button, and September's iOS 12.1 beta code snippets pointed to a fall announcement. An asset buried in the iOS 12 beta itself now shows the hardware Apple intends to ship.
What makes the leak credible rather than speculative is that it matches the established arc — Apple porting the iPhone X's edge-to-edge, biometric design language to the tablet line — and the related coverage shows the story landing exactly there with October's iPad Pro unveiling.
First-order effects
- Apple's next iPad Pro drops the home button and Touch ID for Face ID and gesture navigation, forcing every iPad app developer to support the new aspect ratio and interaction model.
Second-order effects
- Accessory makers built around the old iPad Pro chassis face a redesign cycle, and the October launch confirms they also have to move from Lightning to USB-C while adapting to a new Pencil with proximity pairing.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the iPhone X template — thin bezels, notch-or-no-notch Face ID hardware, no home button — becomes the default design language across Apple's entire device lineup, making Face ID the company-wide authentication standard rather than a phone feature.
The trend: Apple is systematically extending the iPhone X's bezel-free, Face ID-first design language from phones to tablets, with software betas repeatedly leaking each step before announcement.