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: a curious M5 iPad Pro rumor, iOS 27 and the iPhone Fold, HomePod Touch, and more. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.
M5 iPad Pro rumor says two front-facing cameras coming
Last year the M4 iPad Pro moved its front-facing camera from the portrait side of the device to the landscape side instead. But it seems Apple has another camera-related change coming to the M5 model.
Per Mark Gurman, this fall’s M5 iPad Pro will come with not one, but two front-facing cameras. One camera will remain on the landscape side, while the second camera is added to the portrait side. Gurman says this is “presumably so FaceTimers and selfie fans can use the device equally well in either orientation.”
My takeaways
I wrote earlier this week about how this rumor may have more to it than it appears.
It’s always possible that Gurman’s guess is correct, and Apple is making this change solely to provide a consistent video calling experience in any orientation. I have a hard time believing that’s the only reason, though.
Instead, what I suspect is that some of iPhone 17 Pro’s rumored multi-cam recording features will be available on the M5 iPad Pro too. A good candidate is something like the Mac’s Desk View feature, which has expanded significantly in the past year.
These features would provide more reason to include an extra camera, and be very consistent with iPadOS 26’s trend of adding Mac-inspired productivity features.
iOS 27 will bring special features designed for iPhone Fold
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