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Apple will reportedly unveil new iPad Pros and a 128GB iPhone SE next month

The back of the iPhone SE. The Apple logo is cast in stainless steel.
Image Credit: Jordan Novet / VentureBeat

Apple might show off a new four-inch iPhone SE with more storage and new iPad Pro tablets at an event next month, according to a new report.

In addition to refreshing its 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Apple will also reveal an iPad whose display will be larger than the former and smaller than the latter, at 10.5 inches, the Japanese blog Macotakara reported today, citing unnamed sources. Rumors of a 10-5-inch iPad Pro date to November.

Apple will also bolster the iPhone SE lineup with a 128GB model, Macotakara said. A year ago Apple announced 16GB and 64GB options for the phone. Demand for the phone exceeded supply in the quarter that ended on March 26 and the following one that ended on June 25. The iPhone’s average selling price in the June quarter also declined, pointing to the popularity of Apple’s low-end iPhone.

Adding another option to the lineup would suggest the device continues to be popular. An iPhone SE with more storage capacity might also be appealing in 2017, especially if it turns out that the iPhone 8 coming this fall will cost more than $1,000, as Fast Company recently reported. Macotakara did not provide estimates about the cost of a 64GB iPhone SE, although Apple’s pricing trends indicate that it could come out to $499 or $549.

Presumably the price of the 10.5-inch iPad Pro will be higher than the little one, which currently starts at $599, and less than the big one, which starts at $799 — a $699 starting price, $300 more than the entry-level iPad Air 2, might not be unreasonable.

“If I zoom out of the 90-day clock and look at it, we’ve got some exciting things coming on iPad. I still feel very optimistic about where we can take the product,” Apple chief executive Tim Cook told financial analysts in January. Even so, iPad revenue did decline by 19 percent in the quarter that ended on December 31.

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