iPhone SE 3, iPad Air 5 tipped to appear at an Apple event on March 8

iPhone SE 2020
A successor to the iPhone SE 2020 is on the way. (Image credit: Future)

Apple has plenty of new products in the pipeline – as always – and according to one source it's going to show off the iPhone SE 3, the iPad Air 5, and perhaps even a new Mac at an event to be held on Tuesday, March 8.

Bloomberg has the scoop, reporting that Apple is targeting a date "on or near" March 8 to unveil the shiny new gadgets. That's as per "people with knowledge of the matter", and Bloomberg typically gets its Apple-related predictions right.

There is the usual caveat than these plans may change further down the line, but at the moment it looks as though early March will see the next Apple event. It held an event in April last year, unveiling a new iPad Pro and a new iMac on that occasion.

New products aplenty

Apple will add 5G to both the iPhone SE 3 and the iPad Air 5, Bloomberg says, which is a rumor we've heard before. The iPhone SE was last updated in April 2020, while the most recent iPad Air refresh was unveiled in October of that year.

As for a new Mac of some description, this seems less likely to appear, but it "could also come as early as March" according to the report.  We're actually expecting lots of new Macs over the course of 2022, so it's tricky to work out which one this could be.

Bloomberg says this could be Apple's "biggest crop of new devices ever in a single year", which is good news for Apple fans and perhaps bad news for their wallets. We will of course be bringing you all the new device announcements as they happen.


Analysis: Apple's mid-range devices get some love

Both the iPhone SE 3 and the iPad Air 5 have been heavily rumored at this point, and this latest Bloomberg report isn't the first to suggest March as a launch window for these devices – neither product was updated in 2021, so early 2022 makes sense.

While Apple gets most attention for its premium-level products – the likes of the iPhone 13 and the iPad Pro – we're glad to see that it hasn't forgotten about its more affordable smartphones and tablets, which also sell in their droves as well.

The iPhone SE 3 is being tipped to show up with 5G and could get an OLED screen when it appears. However, the design is expected to be largely the same as last time, so it will still have the chunky bezels at the top and bottom, as well as the venerable home button.

Meanwhile, it looks as though the iPad Air 5 will continue to make a compelling case not to spend more on an iPad Pro. An 10.9-inch screen has been talked about, with the iPad Air apparently making the switch to OLED in 2022, just like the iPhone SE 3.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.