A new iPad, iPad Air, and iPad mini could land in March, but they might not impress
A long wait for a small update
We’ve been waiting a long time for the new iPad, new iPad mini, and iPad Air 6, and it sounds like we might be waiting a while longer, because a tip suggests we won’t see any new models until March.
This is according to Mark Gurman – writing in his latest Power On newsletter for Bloomberg – who has a good track record for Apple information, and while we’d take this with a dose of skepticism, especially as upgrades feel overdue, it makes some sense.
After all, Apple recently unveiled a new Apple Pencil, and while it was rumored that we’d see new iPads at around the same time, we didn’t. If the company was planning to launch new ones soon though, we’d think doing so alongside the new stylus would have been ideal timing.
These updates might be minor
However, if you were hoping for big upgrades you might be disappointed, because apparently the next iPad Air, iPad mini, and entry-level iPad will just have “bumped-up specifications” and be what Gurman describes as “minor iPad refreshes.”
For bigger changes, you might have to wait for a new iPad Pro, with Apple apparently planning a “revamped” version. Gurman doesn’t say here what that means, but we’ve previously heard talk of a larger display and a switch from mini-LED to OLED. In any case though, it doesn’t sound like this will land until later in 2024.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve heard the upgrades on the next iPad, iPad mini, and iPad Air will be minor (though some sources point to a 12.9-inch iPad Air model too), so this claim is likely accurate. But as ever we won’t be certain until Apple unveils these tablets.
Finally, Gurman predicts that Apple might discontinue the first-generation Apple Pencil soon, now that there’s a new low-cost Apple Pencil. But unsurprisingly this probably won’t happen until Apple stops selling any iPads with Lightning ports, since the first-gen stylus is the only one to charge via Lightning.
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Perhaps that will happen in March too, but Gurman doesn’t say. As soon as Apple does unveil any new iPads though we’ll let you know, and in the meantime, there are already lots of great options among the best iPads and the best tablets.
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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.