neilm

The 12.9" size is pretty unwieldy for a handheld device. It may make some kind of sense for the Pro model due to its other capabilities, but I have a hard time seeing the attraction of a bigger screen Air. At that point I’m reaching for my laptop instead.

9secondkox2 said:

It’s been a question mark for some time. I can see a proprietary, Apple-secured wireless connection chip being developed and added to Applle’s SOCs. And why not? They’re in a unique position to do so. 

Apple has already done that with the TouchID version of their Magic Keyboard. The TouchID wireless communication with the host Mac is encrypted. Don’t know whether the normal key entry function is or not.

tyler82 said:

I hope they bring the Touch Bar back. I really like that feature on my 2017. It's minimalist and doesn't get in the way, and it is really useful for scrubbing videos, video editing, photo browsing, and emojis! 

Not going to happen. The TB never made its way from the MBP (and only some of those) to the rest of the range, and importantly not to the standalone keyboards. Support from third party software was spotty at best.

The TB was an interesting experiment, but it failed — end of.

The 12.9" iPad form factor is way too big to be held comfortably in the hand, and once you add a keyboard it just turns into an inferior pseudo-laptop. This is all the more true with iPadOS's poor multi-tasking and minimal file system.

If there's market demand for a 12.9" non-Pro iPad I'm sure not seeing it.

Because of course a synthetic — read “plastic” — band is sustainable compared to leather, an organic and renewable resource?