The iPad Air was last updated in March 2022 and rumors suggest that the arrival of a new model (or two!) The past three generations of iPad Air arrived about 18 months apart, so we are due an update. In fact, it is likely that 2023 will pass with not a single iPad update for the first time since Apple’s late CEO and founder Steve Jobs introduced the category in 2010. The general consensus among the most trusted Apple forecasters is that the next-gen iPad Air is in development, but the new models just aren’t ready yet. Perhaps the delay is due to focus on the new Apple Vision Pro, set to launch in early 2024. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had suggested (in a MacRumors Show podcast in early September) that a new iPad Air was “coming soonish” and that there could be a refresh in October, although probably not at an event.
He wrote: “While I reported in July that Apple was planning such a release this year, the latest indications are that it won’t happen this month.” Another reliable tipster, Ming-Chi Kuo, posted on X (formally Twitter) back in September that it was unlikely we’d see new iPads in 2023. Regarding the potential pricing of the iPad Air 6, we can look at the generations that have preceded it as a clue for what you’ll have to pay when it finally does arrive. This might be a case of Apple tightening up any leaks that were appearing in its production chain, or that any updates to the iPad Air will be minimal. This would allow Apple to raid its parts bin and move the M2 to the iPad Air 6, while retaining the newest silicon for its Pro platform. Rumors of OLED screens coming to the iPad lineup have popped up with regularity over the years.
While this would represent an excellent upgrade, it seems that the roadmap for this is 2025/2026, so there’s no chance that it will arrive in time for the iPad Air 6. Sadly, this hasn’t been the case with the iPad Air, which currently starts at a rather paltry 64GB. We hope rather than know that when the iPad Air 6 turns up, it will be endowed with a roomy 128GB so that it could become the laptop replacement Apple has been marketing it as for a while now. We will continue to monitor the latest news and rumors surrounding the iPad Air (6th Generation), so be sure to check back regularly to see what we can find.
Will Apple Launch New iPads in 2023? Here’s What the Latest Rumors Say
Additionally, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman earlier this year reported that an iPad mini update with a minor “spec bump” was not out of the question. In August, the leaker known as “ShrimpApplePro” also suggested a seventh-generation iPad mini was in the works at Apple, and said that they had seen evidence that at least one new iPad model is coming this year. The outlet says that its sources believe the iPad mini 7 is coming “soon,” but the report also says that all of the new iPads are on track to be announced “between now and WWDC 2024 in June,” which is a wide window.
Apple during its August earnings call warned that iPad revenue is expected to drop double digits, suggesting it does not expect to have products to entice customers during the holiday quarter beyond the recently launched iPhone 15 series, new Apple Watch models, and new M3 series Macs.
Likewise, multiple rumors suggest iPad Pro models with OLED displays and M3 chips won’t be coming until 2024. To sum up, we could still theoretically see at least one iPad unveiled this year via press release, perhaps in the form of an iPad mini, an iPad Air, or an 11th-generation low-cost iPad, but these would likely be minor refreshes.
It’s still theoretically possible for at least one or two of these models to be updated in early December, but as the calendar edges into 2024 and the “rumors against” increasingly stack up, new iPads in 2023 are looking more and more unlikely.
iPad Air : Should You Buy? Reviews, Features, Deals and More
The iPad Air features a 10.9-inch edge-to-edge display with a 2360×1640 resolution, 3.8 million pixels, and a design that’s similar to the iPad Pro with an aluminum chassis that has flat, rounded edges that wrap around the fully laminated display. True Tone support is included for adjusting the display to match the ambient lighting, as is P3 wide color, 500 nits brightness, and 1.8 percent reflectivity. The M1 chip features an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU, along with 8GB RAM and a 16-core Neural Engine. The iPad Air ships with a 20W USB-C adapter for charging purposes.
Forecast: Apple to launch two OLED iPad Pros, 12.9-inch Air in early 2024
That means the new OLED tablets will outshine the existing LED and mini-LED models in both display performance and power consumption. The shipments will be slightly less than those of the existing Pro models, due to their higher prices and to possible cannibalization from the 12.9-inch iPad Air. The new 11th-generation iPad will also hit mass production in next year’s second quarter, while the 9th generation, released in 2021, will reach its end of life before 2024 is over. Shipments have dropped from their peak in 2022 due to declining demand from remote workers and changes in the user experience for entertainment and productivity.
Though Kuo’s report is naturally based on his own predictions rather than any news announced by Apple, the analyst does have a reputation for accuracy. One hiccup is that the global tablet market has seen better days, with third-quarter shipments down by 14.2% compared with the same quarter last year, according to IDC. Waiting until next year to release new iPad versions may work in Apple’s favor, assuming the market improves. “Tablets have unfortunately always found themselves in an awkward middle ground between PCs and smartphones, and this continues to put downward pressure on the market,” said Jitesh Ubrani, research manager with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.
iPad (10th generation)
As with the iPad Air and Mini, the Touch ID sensor is located in the power button. Like the iPad Air, it has a 10.9-inch 2360×1640 Liquid Retina display; an increase from the previous 10.2-inch model, but it is not laminated. The tenth-generation iPad features a 12-megapixel rear-facing wide-angle camera with an ƒ/1.8 aperture and 4K video recording support. [8] The front-facing camera is now located on the right-hand side of the display, so that it is horizontally centered when the tablet is in a landscape orientation. The tenth-generation iPad supports the first-generation Apple Pencil; a USB-C to Lightning cable adapter must be used to pair and charge it. This adapter has been included with newer production runs of the first-generation Pencil since October 2022, and is sold separately for existing owners.
The tenth-generation iPad received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its new design, battery life, and performance, but criticism for removing the headphone jack, the lack of support for the second-generation Apple Pencil, and a higher price point than its predecessor. However, it was noted that its display was “starting to show its age” in comparison to the iPad Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro due to its lower resolution and refresh rate, and that “for the vast majority of people who just want a great tablet for streaming, sketching, gaming and some light productivity, the ninth-gen iPad is still the better value”.
iPad Air : Should You Buy? Reviews, Features, Deals and More
The iPad Air features a 10.9-inch edge-to-edge display with a 2360×1640 resolution, 3.8 million pixels, and a design that’s similar to the iPad Pro with an aluminum chassis that has flat, rounded edges that wrap around the fully laminated display. True Tone support is included for adjusting the display to match the ambient lighting, as is P3 wide color, 500 nits brightness, and 1.8 percent reflectivity. The M1 chip features an 8-core CPU and an 8-core GPU, along with 8GB RAM and a 16-core Neural Engine. The iPad Air ships with a 20W USB-C adapter for charging purposes.
Apple iPad Air (6th Gen) Release Date, Price & Specs Rumours
That original model launched back in November 2013, and became the expensive iPad ever at the time. The next generation of the iPad Air will be the sixth, and there are plenty of rumours regarding what to expect. The iPad Air was rumoured to be announced at Apple’s October 2023 event, but that never materialised. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there’ll be a new model in early 2023 – there are no concrete rumours regarding release date now the October event is over.
In the meantime, you can read our review of the latest iPad Air to see whether it’s worth buying. Forbes says it’ll probably stick with the LCD panels we see currently, and there’s no word on a higher refresh rate than 60Hz.
An Omdia report suggests Apple could shift to OLED displays at some point, but it’s unlikely to be in the 2024 iPad Air. That would make sense, given the M3 chips are now official and M1 powers the 2022 iPad Air.
MacRumors also thinks we could be getting upgrades to the front and rear cameras, with both hardware and software improvements possible.
iPad Air 6 release date rumors, price, specs and more
As we head towards the fall, most Apple rumors tend to swirl around the iPhone 15, so there’s not a lot on the iPad Air 6th generation. On the latest MacRumors Show podcast, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said that we won’t see new iPad or Macs revealed during the September 12th event.
That’s no bad thing as those tablets are excellent, look good and are pretty versatile when combined with an Apple Pencil or Magic Keyboard. Speaking of screens, the current iPad Air has a display with a 60Hz refresh rate, which is feeling somewhat sluggish for 2023 standards.
But the strong colors and contrast of the current model’s panel don’t leave much to be desired beyond moving away from LCDs. It’s very likely that the biggest, and potentially only, specs boost the iPad Air 6th generation will have will be an upgrade to the Apple M2 chip. And we’d hope to see the next-gen iPad Air beat the current model’s 10 hours 9 minutes of battery life. The Tom’s Guide battery test involves surfing the web over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of screen brightness.
We can expect the camera array to consist of 12MP front and rear sensors, but perhaps with some improvements on the software side for image clarity and low-light performance. A quad-speaker array, as seen on the iPad Pros, would be appreciated to add more depth to the sonic experience, but this is likely wishful thinking on our part.
iPad Air 6: Potential New Features and Launch Timing [Updated]
The current iPad Air was introduced in March last year, adding the M1 chip, Center Stage on the front-facing camera, a faster USB-C port, and several new color options, but it was still a fairly minor upgrade over the previous model from September 2020. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has repeatedly said that an iPad Air update this year with a minor “spec bump” is not out of the question, suggesting that the upgrade will be fairly iterative, targeting several small but significant areas. A minor spec bump is also likely to include upgrades to the front and rear cameras, potentially bringing features like Photonic Engine to the iPad for the first time. While a refresh to add the M2 chip is certainly possible in 2023, it may be more probable that Apple will again wait two years to update the device and target 2024 for a more worthwhile upgrade. More strikingly, on a September episode of The MacRumors Show podcast, Mark Gurman said that there is a new iPad Air with improved specifications in the works and the device is apparently “coming soonish,” likely this month.
Apple iPad Air 6th Gen: news, rumors, expectations
Although it broke ground nearly ten years ago, the iPad Air was seemingly left to its devices for nearly half a decade and hadn’t received any solid updates for a while. Overall, the combination between the hardware specs and the pricing makes the latest iPad one of the best tablets anyone should consider buying in 2023.
And with the new iPadOS 17 software update that’s coming in this fall, Apple’s iPads are looking better than ever, so watching the tablet space will be quite exciting. The latest round of rumors says that we should expect the next iPad Air to be released in late 2023 or early 2024
A dual-camera system is actually a selling point of the more premium iPad Pro family, which also boasts a LiDAR scanner for some extra augmented reality fun. Both of those came with a 12MP F1.8 camera capable of 4K@60fps video recording, which was actually rather good for a tablet, but an upgrade will probably be due for the iPad Air 6th Gen.
Thanks to the use of M1 on the iPad Air 5th Gen, Apple made sure that it would last up to a day, and our tests showed that this is generally true. Apple usually announces these at the WWDC developer summit in late spring, and the next one will possibly take place in early June 2023.
For example, thelock screen customization is not found in iPad OS 16, and some other features are also missing from Apple’s tablets. There are new interactive widgets as well, and some of the iPadOS 17 is now official and coming to existing iPad Air units, and unsurprisingly, it comes packed with features, including the aforementioned lock screen customization, alongside the Health app, adapted for iPads. There are new interactive widgets as well, and some of the iOS 17 features are also onboard, such as the AirDrop over the internet, offline maps, and more. If anything, using that chip inside the upcoming tablet would make it a super-competitive and powerful machine that would continue carrying the “iPad Pro killer” moniker.
And now, with the Apple M3 right around the corner, there’s a high chance it might end up inside the iPad Air, making it one very powerful beast. Yet, seeing the thermal problems that the 3nm And now, with the Apple M3 right around the corner, there’s a high chance it might end up inside the iPad Air, making it one very powerful beast.
Yet, seeing the thermal problems that the 3nm Apple A17 Pro chip exhibits, we’d be wary of the M3 in a mobile device, even though a tablet has better heat dissipation.
A new iPad Air for 2023? It’s looking likely! (Updated)
The last iPad Air release was in March 2022, seeing the device pack the M1 Apple Silicon processor, an improved USB-C port, 5G support, and a 12MP front camera featuring Center Stage — allowing it to track and frame users during video calls. Gurman continued, “I’m not sure they have enough to drag people down to Cupertino to watch the video like they do for this launch,” when speaking of the upcoming iPhone 15 reveal. Instead, it looks like the sixth generation of iPad Air could be unveiled with a quick press release and video — similar to Apple’s announcement of the MacBook Pros featuring M2 and M2 Max processors.
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