Apple hints it could change this classic iPad design feature

Apple has revealed that it could change a classic iPad design feature, rotating the traditional portrait orientation of the Apple logo to landscape.

Talking with French website Numerama, Apple designer Molly Anderson was asked about the orientation of the Apple logo on the back of the iPad. After all, while it makes sense on the iPhone – a device that’s predominantly used in portrait view – most iPad users tend to use it to view or manipulate landscape content.

This is doubly so since Apple first rolled out the Magic Keyboard, started packing in its advanced M-series chips, and split iPadOS off into a more productivity-focused platform. Essentially, the iPad has turned into a laptop, and laptops screens are invariably landscape.

Indeed, with the latest iPad Pro M4, Apple has taken a step further along this path and relocated the web cam for a landscape orientation. So what gives with the Apple logo?

“I think this could change, I don’t think it’s engraved in stone,” Anderson said. “We are thinking about it. The iPad has long been a product that is used in portrait mode, but we are increasingly using it in landscape mode. We can’t say it’s fixed.”

While another Apple designer issues the caveat that the iPad is a device that’s used in all directions, it seems clear that the company is pondering a change. Its tightly media-trained employees aren’t ones to make such concessions easily.