If you see a stylus, they blew it," Steve Jobs famously said in 2010 after the iPad launched.
Jobs was referring to how the iPad was unlike any tablet that had been released before because it didn't rely on a stylus to control input. So we're not sure how he'd react if rumors of an iPad Pro with stylus support turn out to be true.
In recent weeks, we've started to see some real smoke regarding the rumored 12.9-inch iPad, including multiple reports of leaked schematics and cases.
According to AppleInsider's sources, the bigger tablet will also boast built-in NFC for easy accessory pairing. NFC could also allow the device to "serve as a payment receiving terminal for Apple Pay."
The screen, which is said to have Force Touch, Apple's pressure-sensitive input technology that was first introduced on the Apple Watch, will reportedly work with a Bluetooth stylus. Like the Force Touch Apple Watch display and new MacBook trackpad, the iPad Pro will presumably detect how hard your finger presses it.
A stylus and pressure-sensitive touchscreen could put the iPad Pro on equal footing with Microsoft's Surface.
The report also claims the iPad Pro will have a USB-C port, the new reversible port capable of receiving power, outputting video and transferring data. If a USB-C port does make it onto the iPad Pro, it would mark the first time Apple's included a secondary port on an iPad. Microsoft's Surface tablets have included a full-sized USB port since the beginning, but a USB-C port would be smaller and more elegant.
A larger iPad with a bigger screen and more productivity features aimed at professionals could change the downward momentum.
Apple typically refreshes its iPad hardware in the fall. It's all still Rumour and speculation, but you know the old saying: Where there's smoke, there's fire.