Amber Neely
A new pending report claims that Apple may be working on a 12.9-inch iPad Air, expanding the lineup similarly to that of the iPad Pro.
Apple's iPad Air has long sat in the space between the budget-friendly base iPad and Apple's professional-geared iPad Pro. A new rumor suggests that Apple may be gearing up to expand the iPad Air with an additional size factor.
In a full report expected on Friday previewed with a headline, DigiTimes claims that a new iPad Air is in the works, this time boasting a 12.9-inch display, much like the larger iPad Pro. However, unlike the iPad Pro, the rumored iPad Air will not feature a mini-LED display.
Currently, there is no speculated release date for the sixth-generation iPad Air 6, let alone any potential size expansions to the lineup.
Another rumor has previously suggested that there could be up to four iPad Air models on the way. However the source for that report hedges by saying that some may only exist for testing purposes.
There's reason to be skeptical about this rumor, given the overlap between iPad models postulated in a lineup already over-stuffed at price points and sizes. The iPad lineup already has a strong pricing ladder, however, there is an appreciable gap. The 10.9-inch iPad, 11-inch iPad Air, and 11-inch iPad Pro run the gamut from $449 to $799, however, there's only one option for the 12.9-inch iPad starting at $1,099 and escalating from there, based on storage.
DigiTimes has decent sources inside Apple's supply chain. It is notably worse at predicting what Apple will do based on those sources. Thursday's preview doesn't the whole tale, obviously, but at a glance it appears to be more the latter than the former.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
9 Comments
Mini. iPad. Pro.
$299, $349, $599 to knock-yerself-out.
Done.
Differentiate by size and power.
Not 1/10 of an inch difference between the 9, 10 and air... No more air.
They're in Performa-land with this now.
Too many iPad SKUs. All the iPads run the same software at relatively the same speed, so there is no real difference between the base model and a Pro as far as the software and apps you run on it. The M processor is wasted in the iPad because of iPadOS and apps are incapable of taking full advantage of the chip. The base model iPad runs all the same software that the Pro model does. Too many Macs too, and some have been neglected for years without an update.
I hope it’s true — that’s what I want my next iPad to be. Big screen, but no need for fancy camera or fancy pixels.