The OLED iPad Pro was just the beginning of Apple’s return to thin devices

The iPad Pro OLED’s thickness is just the beginning of Apple’s renewed effort to make computers thinner and thinner, according to Bloomberg’Mark Gurman nowadays To connect News Bulletin. The company plans a “significantly thinner” iPhone 17 and is also working to reduce some of the thickness of the MacBook Pro and Apple Watch, he writes.

It’s not the first time we’ve heard about a new, extremely thin “iPhone 17 Slim,” like The information and several supply chain analysts have reported that this phone is on the way, possibly with a higher price tag than the existing iPhone 15 Pro Max. I haven’t seen any concrete rumors about just as it will be thin, but could have a 6.6-inch screen and a smaller Dynamic Island.

It’s not surprising that the company wants to return to the pursuit of thinness, but the main difference now – hopefully – is that the company no longer wants to do it seemingly at all costs. This drive created some of the company’s most impressive devices, but it may also have led to flexible iPhones, limited port selection, poor battery life, thermal throttling issues, bad keyboards, and lawsuits for Apple itself. The company has started to reverse this trend and today the iPhone 15 Pro phones and the MacBook Pro line are among the thickest in their respective categories that the company has released in recent years.

I welcome these changes, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes miss that futuristic feel of the old days. I have an iPhone SE on my desk, and every time I pick it up, I’m surprised by how pleasant it is to use, despite the small screen and heavy processor. I also look enviously at iPhone 12 or 13 Minis when I see them.

That time may be returning, and without the costs that were previously associated with it. The current MacBook Air is incredibly thin—even more so than the tiny fanless 12-inch MacBook—but it’s powerful and uses so much battery that I feel perfectly comfortable taking it out of the house without a charger most of the time. And I deduce from David Pierce Border analysis of the new iPad Pro which, as it is thinner than an iPod Nano, did not bring any major compromises that iPads did not already have.

These are encouraging signs that the company may have finally figured things out and, hopefully, won’t go back to skiing. Because after the last few years, I’m not interested in going back to being thin for the sake of being thin; robustness and all-day battery life are now non-negotiable.