This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: Apple’s new “pro” iPad apps, iPhone 18 Pro design and camera rumors, and more. Here are this week’s Apple rumors. Apple’s new “Pro” iPad apps MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered evidence this week that Apple is preparing iPad versions of four “pro” apps currently exclusive to Mac. Pixelmator Pro MainStage Motion Compressor Perris uncovered “new App Store IDs” for these four apps, which indicates a launch could be coming soon. My takeaways The type evidence for these iPad apps—App Store IDs—is pretty hard to refute. But it’s an odd discovery that I otherwise wouldn’t be inclined to believe. Pixelmator Pro is the one app in the bunch that seems highly likely to be in the works. But the other three apps are companions to Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, and I might normally expect Apple to just bake their functionality into the Final Cut and Logic iPad apps rather than debuting standalone apps. Additionally, it seems very odd that these apps might have so closely missed the M5 iPad Pro launch. If they’re coming any time soon, I would have expected a mention in the iPad press release at minimum. iPhone 18 Pro design, cameras, more Leaker Digital Chat Station shared that the iPhone 18 Pro has the exact same full-width camera plateau design as this year’s iPhone 17 Pro. DCS has also previously indicated the glass cutout on the rear of the device might change slightly, but otherwise it sounds like a very similar look overall. He also corroborated reporting that a variable aperture lens system is coming next year. He specifically mentions iPhone 18 Pro Max gaining the feature, though other reports have included the smaller iPhone 18 Pro. My takeaways It’s no surprise that the iPhone 17 Pro’s bold new design will continue for at least another year. Though I don’t expect to see an orange model again, it’s pretty standard for Apple to keep hardware designs consistent for at least a couple generations. It’s unclear how big an upgrade the variable aperture lens might be. I suspect my colleague Ben is right to be cautious about getting too excited. But it would certainly be strange if a major new camera feature was absent from the $2,000+ foldable iPhone. OLED display upgrades coming to MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPad Air Mark Gurman reported this week that OLED displays are coming to several new products in the years ahead. While prior reporting had already indicated next year’s M6 MacBook Pro would feature OLED, Gurman says the technology is also coming to: iPad mini MacBook Air iPad Air The iPad mini is expected to be the first of the trio to gain OLED, with a launch in 2026 and possibly an accompanying price increase. The MacBook Air with OLED isn’t likely until 2028, and the iPad Air isn’t expected before 2027 at the earliest. My takeaways I love the thought of an OLED-equipped iPad mini, but am concerned by the thought of a price increase. $499 is already a bit high-end for the iPad mini, since the base iPad starts at just $349. I’m also wondering if the iPad mini will have much of a future when foldable iPhones start arriving. Certainly some people will still want a standalone small iPad, but the mini is already a niche product, and I’d bet the iPhone Fold will make it even more so. My only other takeaway is that I hope the MacBook Air gets some other display upgrade before 2028. I’m fine if OLED takes a while, but shipping the current iffy display for another three years would be rough. M6 iPad Pro to gain vapor chamber cooling This weekend in his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported on a feature in development for the next iPad Pro. The M6 iPad Pro will reportedly come with a vapor chamber cooling system, similar to what debuted in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max this fall. Gurman doesn’t expect the M6 model to arrive until early 2027. My takeaways The more powerful our devices become, especially with rising demands from AI, cooling is going to be increasingly important. Though details are sparse, I love the thought of an iPad powerful enough that it needs a special cooling system. ‘iPhone 20’ dropping physical buttons for solid-state with haptics Leaker Instant Digital says that the 20th anniversary iPhone model in 2027—‘iPhone 20’—will not use any mechanical buttons, shifting instead to solid-state buttons with haptic feedback. He says that functional verification has been completed for this switch, which will apply to volume buttons, Action button, Camera Control, and more. My takeaways We’ve heard rumors for years about Apple’s intent to shift away from mechanical buttons on the iPhone. None have come to fruition, and in fact the company has debuted even more physical buttons over time. However, it makes a lot of sense for a change like this to debut on an iPhone like the 20th anniversary model. Similar to the iPhone X, the iPhone 20’s design is expected to introduce several innovations, and I completely buy the idea of Apple switching to solid-state buttons as one of those changes. What are your takeaways from this week’s Apple rumors? Let us know in the comments. Best iPhone accessories