The end of the winter may herald hardware refreshes for Apple, with a new report from the industry's most prolific leaker predicting the long-rumored larger iPad Air and refreshed MacBook Air models will hit store shelves by the end of March 2024.
To combat sales doldrums for Mac and iPad, Apple is rumored to be prepping many new releases before the first calendar quarter of 2024 ends. On tap are allegedly a larger iPad Air, new iPad Pros with OLED screens, and a New MacBook Air model, presumably with M3 processor.
New iPad Air with larger screen
On tap for March 2024 is said to be a 12.9-inch iPad Air, matching the size of the current largest iPad Pro. As previously reported, four models are said to be in the works. Two models are for the existing size, and two for the larger 12.9-inch size.
The larger iPad Air rumor isn't new and has been hinted at for over a year. It was once expected to debut in October 2023, but that obviously didn't pan out.
iPad Pro with OLED
Perhaps the most common iPad Pro rumor is the shift to OLED displays. The new models are expected to arrive at the same time as the 12.9-inch iPad Air. They are expected to finally get that OLED screen and the M3 processor that came in October.
No size changes are expected. As with the two iPad Air sizes, four models are also being prepared.
In early 2023, rumors were indicating that Apple intended to update the iPad Pro lineup with new display technology. A report in July said that the production of the 11-inch and 13-inch OLED iPads, which mark the first use of OLED technology in the Apple iPad series, will start in the first quarter of 2024.
A new Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard is rumored to arrive at the same time as well. The new Magic Keyboard is rumored to be aluminum-clad versus the existing material.
MacBook Air with M3
There isn't much said about the new MacBook Air in Wednesday's report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. They are said to be codenamed J613 and J615 and come in the same design, with a boost from the M3 processor.
Later in 2024
The Apple Vision Pro is still on track for early 2024, but no date has yet been announced.
Touched on in Wednesday's report is a forthcoming Apple Watch with blood pressure sensing. Also rumored is a refresh to the iPad mini, a new low-end iPad, and non-Pro AirPods with USB-C charging.
11 Comments
My two big hopes for the next iPad Pro, neither of which seems unreasonable: front camera positioned for landscape orientation, as seen on the most recent new iPad model, and rounded edges, as seen on the most recent iPhones.
How they price the iPA13 will be interesting.
$600 iPA11 64GB M2 LCD
$800 iPA13 64GB M2 LCD
$900 iPP11 128GB M3 OLED
$1200 iPP13 128GB M3 OLED
The OLED has to be adding at least $100 to the prior iPP price tiers. Then there is the juxtasposition of the MBA13 w/M3 for $1100 and LCD. You could get an iPP with OLED for the same price as an MBA? Tough choice. If Apple enable unlimited multitasking, unlimited windows and Terminal.app on iPadOS, I could get by with an iPP13 as my work computer, but they aren't going to do that. So tough choice.
Then, the iPA models will surely be limited to 256GB or 512GB of storage. How many people upsell to the iPP models will determine how healthy the market of high end iPad users is. I think I'm all in on a 16GB RAM model, which probably means iPP13 1TB.
Wasn’t Apple to clean up and simplify tjebipad lineup? No? Ah, pity.