Picture: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Apple might overhaul its whole iPad lineup in 2024, which might embrace switching to a quicker M3 chip and OLED shows on its Professional fashions. The refresh may also see the corporate announce a 12.9-inch iPad Air.
The upgrades might assist enhance iPad shipments to 52-54 million items in 2024, up from about 50 million in 2023.
12.9-inch iPad Air incoming
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will announce a 12.9-inch iPad Air in Q1 2024. Whereas the pill gained’t pack a mini-LED show, it might characteristic an Oxide backplane for higher efficiency and effectivity. An upgraded 10.9-inch iPad Air and the brand new 12.9-inch mannequin will reportedly enter mass manufacturing in Q1 2024. These tablets might debut in March or April when Apple usually pronounces new merchandise.
This isn’t the first time rumors of a 12.9-inch iPad Air have popped up. The machine might sit between the ten.9-inch iPad Air and the 11-inch iPad Professional, which can be in line to get an enormous improve in 2024.
Apple is engaged on OLED iPad Professionals that includes an M3 chip and refreshed design to exchange its present lineup. These tablets will apparently use the identical LTPO backplanes because the iPhone 15 Professional sequence to ship higher show efficiency and energy consumption than the present 12.9-inch iPad Professional’s mini-LED panel.
The Cupertino big initially focused an early Q1 2024 mass manufacturing schedule for the brand new iPad Professionals. However that has been pushed again to late Q1 or Q2 resulting from manufacturing points with the OLED panels. Whereas the brand new show might provide higher efficiency, it is going to drive up the value of the professional iPads. Resulting from this, Kuo expects Apple to ship round 6-8 million OLED iPad Professional items in 2024.
Finances iPads to launch in H2 2024
Within the second half of 2024, Kuo believes Apple will unveil its budget-focused iPad lineup, that includes a brand new iPad mini and the eleventh gen iPad.
The analyst additionally claims Apple will discontinue the iPad 9 earlier than the tip of 2024. Given the pill’s dated inside and the usage of a Lightning port, this gained’t be shocking. The transfer might see Apple cut back the value of the iPad 10 to fill the vacuum left by the iPad 9’s discontinuation.