Apple could be about to shake up one of its best iPads in a big way, giving its mid-range iPad Air a major screen upgrade that could bring it closer to the iPad Pro – but you’d better start saving, because this could result in a considerable price hike.
According to display industry analyst Ross Young (via 9to5Mac), Apple is planning on releasing a new iPad Air in two sizes for the first time, with a new 12.9-inch model apparently in the works. That’s not the first time we've heard this – but what is new is a tidbit concerning this larger iPad’s screen panel.
Young believes that the 12.9-inch iPad Air will come with the same display tech as the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Given how incredible the flagship iPad’s visuals are, this could be fantastic news – in theory at least – if you want a screen that’s gorgeous to look at without breaking the bank.
Right now, the iPad Air comes with an LED Liquid Retina display. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro, on the other hand, uses a mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR screen. While the former hits a maximum 500 nits of brightness, the latter can go all the way up to 1,600 nits, which is much better suited to enjoying a slice of glorious HDR content.
Mini-LED panels are also much more energy efficient than their LED siblings, meaning we could see some welcome battery improvements too. If the iPad Air gets an XDR display, it could make this kind of experience more accessible to a greater number of users.
Expect a price hike
As mentioned, that’s the theory anyway. There’s a snag, though: the price. Given how large a proportion of the device it takes up, an iPad’s display is understandably one of its most expensive components. If Apple is going to give the iPad Air such a large-scale overhaul as this, we can probably expect a similarly large-scale price hike.
If that happens, it will move the iPad Air a lot closer to the iPad Pro in terms of cost. It’s likely that there will still be differences between the two models – storage capacity, Face ID support, and Thunderbolt connectivity, to name a few – but the display upgrade alone could steer users away from the iPad Pro and towards the iPad Air.
Young didn’t explain what sort of price impact he thought this move would have, but he did offer up a potential motivation for it on Apple’s part. The company has a large number of leftover panels meant for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, Young says, which it now intends to repurpose for the iPad Air.
When might we see this upgrade? Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman has claimed that Apple plans to release the new iPad Air in early May, so we may only have a couple weeks left until we see just what kind of upgrade is on the cards. If a display boost is foremost in your mind, you’d better start saving the pennies.
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