IT Blog

Rumor has it that Apple will turn the iPad into more of a direct laptop replacement this year by selling a keyboard with a trackpad built in.

Reporting for The Information, Wayne Ma writes that Apple could ship the new keyboard-trackpad combo alongside a new iPad Pro later this year. Apple has reportedly been experimenting with the idea for years, one of Ma’s sources said.

Releasing the hardware might be the easy part, though. While the iPad already supports mice and trackpads today, it’s through an accessibility feature that emulates finger presses. Having used this feature with a mouse, I can say that it’s nowhere close to the kind of support you’d expect from a laptop or desktop computer. I’d personally love for Apple to expand trackpad support to broader audience—with hardware to match—but it’ll have to do a lot of work on the software side first.

Here’s a short list of everything iOS trackpad support is missing:

A proper cursor

As if to drive home the idea that…