New iPad Pro (2024) and iPad Air (2024) lines to be released March 26th says report

A rumor out of Asia suggests that Apple will release the OLED iPad Pro series and two new iPad Air models on March 26th. The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2024) models would be the first iPads ever to use an OLED display and could be powered by the powerful 3nm Apple M3 chipset. In addition, Apple is expected to move the front-facing camera to landscape orientation, redesign the rear camera bump, and include support for MagSafe wireless charging.

As for the iPad Air (2024), Apple will reportedly add a larger 12.9-inch model to the traditional variant carrying a 10.9-inch display. The iPad Air series is expected to be equipped with a 4nm M2 chip, and a landscape-oriented front-facing camera.

Chinese website It Home (via MacRumors) says that Apple will release the new tablets on March 26th which would be a week from tomorrow (Tuesday). The site came up with this date based on when listings on Amazon for third-party protective cases for the new models go live. However, this contradicts a recent report from a respected tech journalist.

Just this past weekend, well-connected Bloomberg scribe Mark Gurman, who had originally called for Apple to release the new iPad Pro (2024) and iPad Air (2024) lines late this month or next month, cleared up some confusion about his forecast in the latest edition of his weekly Power On newsletter. 

Gurman, noting that the version of iPadOS 17.4 developed for the new tablets won't be ready until the end of March or early April, said that once the software is completed, it would need to be sent to the factories to be installed on the new products. Thus, he now sees the release of the new iPad Pro (2024) series and iPad Air (2024) series getting pushed back until later next month. Gurman also says that Apple will not hold an event to announce the new iPads and will simply issue a press release on the Apple Newsroom website.

Whenever the tablets are released, they should be accompanied by a new Apple Pencil and a new Magic Keyboard developed for the iPad Pro (2024) line.