12-inch iPad Pro rumoured for autumn 2015 launch

Large-scale Apple tablet to come with split-screen mode and take on Microsoft Surface

12-inch iPad Pro on course for autumn arrival (Flickr)

A 12-inch iPad looks set to be one of the stars of Apple’s traditional late year launch event after details of iOS 9 dropped ahead of the company World Wide Developer Conference in June.

WWDC is the time when Apple’s community of software creators get to meet the new operating systems and it’s possible that this so-called iPad Pro will be first demoed then along with an important split-screen feature engineered for multi-tasking in a dual-window view.

It’s thought that the side-by-side mode will allow for half-and-half orientations of open apps as well as breaking the display up into thirds. So, that might mean browsing in two separate Safari windows simultaneously, for example, or referencing spreadsheets and documents at the same time with the iWork products.

The split-screen view was initially supposed to arrive in 2014, according to 9to5Mac to match the productivity sector competition from Microsoft’s Surface tablets but was not considered to be a polished enough user experience.

The are two models of the iPad Pro expected - likely to be the 4G and Wi-Fi-only variants as found throughout the rest of Apple’s tablet range - but it is expected that older and smaller versions of the device will carry the multi-view feature too.