2023 has been a very atypical year for Apple in a number of different ways, hosting the formal announcement but not the commercial release of the potentially game-changing Vision Pro headset while leaving iPad users without a single new product upgrade or refresh for the first time in the 13-year history of the hugely popular device family.
2024, however, is expected to return the Cupertino-based tech giant to a more "normal" way of doing business and a product launch schedule more in line with previous years, at least as far as new iPads are concerned and at least according to Mark Gurman's latest Bloomberg predictions.
More choice coming your way soon!
Does the industry-leading iPad portfolio feel a little lacking in screen size and pricing diversity right now? Worry not, as that oft-rumored model expansion of the last few months is gaining further traction today.
Bloomberg's almost always reliable Apple gossip spreader and inside information gatherer seems about 100 percent confident that not one but two upgraded iPad Airs will see daylight in the near future alongside your typical next-gen iPad Pro duo.
Apple's one-size 2022 iPad Air (pictured here) is expected to be followed by two different models in 2024.
The "mid-range" iPad Air, mind you, is currently available in a single 10.9-inch size, but if all these recent rumors prove accurate, a gargantuan 12.9-inch version will be added as early as March 2024. To be perfectly clear, Apple is tipped to unveil and possibly release a grand total of four new tablets at that point, including 10.9 and 12.9-inch iPad Airs in addition to "overhauled" iPad Pros measuring "roughly" 11 and 13 inches in display diagonal.
In a way, you can view this expected quartet as the jumbo-sized equivalent of the iPhone 15 family, and much like the "vanilla" and Plus members of that lineup, the 2024 iPad Airs are obviously all but guaranteed to offer largely the same features and capabilities as their Pro "cousins" at lower prices.
That's definitely an... interesting way to follow a year with zero iPad releases, and of course, it remains to be seen how consumers will respond to a flood predicted to continue later in 2024 with a "refresh to the iPad mini" and a "new low-end iPad" as well. On top of that, Apple is still expected to launch its first-ever Watch with blood pressure monitoring in 2024, but naturally, that's a different story altogether.
The OLED transition is (almost surely) happening!
You know that outlandish rumor from a couple of months ago pointing in the direction of LCD adoption for 2024 iPad Pros? We were probably right to treat it with skepticism, as Gurman is sticking to an age-old OLED forecast that many other insiders and leakers have echoed and corroborated over the last year or so.
With OLED displays replacing the current LCD and mini-LED technologies of the small and large 2022 iPad Pros respectively, the world's best tablets should make a considerable jump in color accuracy and overall sharpness, which may or may not result in significant price hikes as well.
The already excellent screen of the 11-inch 2022 iPad Pro (pictured here) will become even more excellent next year.
Apple's next-gen jumbo-sized powerhouses are also likely to embrace the state-of-the-art M3 chip found inside the latest MacBook Pro, thus being virtually guaranteed to widen the existing performance gap to the best Android tablets in the world even further.
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There are no words just yet on the screen technology and processing power of the first iPad Air duo in history (although we highly doubt OLED and M3 are on the table for those "mid-range" tablets), but we do "know" that Apple also plans to unveil upgraded Magic Keyboard and Pencil accessories, as well as a new M3-powered MacBook Air at the same time as these four next-gen iPads.
That sounds like quite the crowded spring product launch event, and we're obviously more excited about it than words can accurately describe.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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