Is the iPad a vertical or horizontal device? As for the use, we can give it, it seems obvious that 90% of the time we get more out of a horizontal screen, however, several elements of its design reveal that it has been designed as a vertical device. Something that, at first, was not so clear.
A prototype of the original iPad shows how Apple considered a dual connector for horizontal use
Giulio Zompetti has posted on Twitter some photos of an alleged prototype of the original iPad in which we see two thirty-pin connectors. On one side, next to the speaker, we find the lower connector that we all know, while, on the other, on the left side of the iPad appears another one.
This dual system, which has now been replaced by the SmartConnector on the back, would have allowed this first iPad to be placed in a Dock or stand regardless of the position in which we wanted to use it. According to Zompetti, this double connector was eliminated at the design validation stage.
The truth is that, although this double connector could indicate that the iPad is both horizontal and vertical, there are other indicators, especially the apple logo, that reveal its design approach. A design that could well change in future generations of the iPad, such as the one we expect for this spring. An iPad Pro that, with all its vocation to replace the computer in certain tasks, benefits greatly from horizontal use. So much so that the apple logo during system startup is now able to be displayed horizontally.
The truth is that beyond the curiosity of seeing an iPad with two connectors, this prototype tells a rather curious story about how Apple approached the original iPad. An approach that has evolved a lot since then and of which, if all goes well, we will see its maximum exponent, the iPad Pro (2021), soon.
