Malcolm Owen
Apple's OLED update for the iPad Pro and M3 MacBook Air models are being manufactured ready for a release at the end of March, a report claims.
Major changes are expected for the iPad lineup as part of its 2024 updates, after not receiveing a single change in 2023. Those changes could arrive within a few months, with an end-of-March hardware launch speculated to occur.
In Sunday's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman expects that the iPad Pro, iPad Air, a larger iPad Air, and M3 versions of the 13-inch MacBook Air and 15-inch MacBook Air are on the way.
A source told him that the models are "likely to come out around the end of March." The same source also said the iPad Pro updates and the 13-inch MacBook Air are "already deep in production overseas."
Along with the main hardware, the first beta of iOS 17.4 apparently includes clues of accessories that will arrive at the same time, including Magic Keyboards and Apple Pencils. Furthermore, there is the claim that the iPad Pros could benefit from a landscape Face ID camera.
The rumor is fairly believable, given previous reporting on Apple's hardware changes, such as the M3 iPad Pro's probability of a price rise and a new version of the iPad Air with a larger display.
There's also Apple's tendency to launch new hardware in March, which fits in with the report's timing for launch.
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12 Comments
At the current price point, OLEDs would be a welcome edition. If they will increase the price, I'm not sold on it. Stick with the micro-LEDs.
I was looking for an iPad in the run up to Christmas but backed off completely when I saw prices were high and nothing new had been released in 2023. I spent the money on something else.
Finally will replace my iPP10.5 with an iPP12.9.
I’ll be losing some mobility and handling qualities with a 13” display, and maybe not being able to use it in bed. In trade, hopefully, Stage Manager gets more updates to increase the number of app views per Stage.
I really can’t justify an iPad Air or Pro based on my uses for a tablet, and I desperately need to replace my iPad Gen 5. But the Gen 9 and Gen 10 iPads are just deficient in enough areas to not be desirable to me. Apple seems to limit some features on these basic iPads (no USB-C, or compatible with Apple Pencil 1, keyboard limitations, display resolution, etc.) that I am really hoping that the Gen 11 iPad will have all of the essentials that I seek in order to replace my Gen 5 iPad and last me for another 5-6 years.
Staying with iPad Air 5 and M1 MacBook Air for now. No compelling reason to upgrade in my use case.