When Apple releases its next iPads, it will mark the end of the longest period without updates to Apple’s tablet line in history. It looks like it’ll be early May. Here’s your latest timetable.
Apple iPad Pro (2022 update). The next Pro could be just weeks away.
Apple
April 10 update below. This post was first published on April 7, 2024.
Previously, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had explicitly said that the next Apple iPad release would be “around the end of March or in April,” though that didn’t come to pass. According to his latest Power On newsletter, however, “You can circle early May in your calendar.”
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Now, I am far too much of a gentleman to point out that that’s exactly what I’ve been saying all along, and most recently predicted an onsale date of Friday, May 10 or the following Friday, May 17. How does that stack up now?
When Is The Release Date, Exactly?
Well, Gurman says, “For those looking for more specific timing, I’m told the launch will probably happen the week of May 6. Another data point to that end: Apple retail stores are preparing to receive new product marketing materials later that week. That’s typically a sign that a new product release is incoming.”
That seems to me to line up exactly with my last guess. I would say the order of business is this: announcement on Monday, May 6 or Tuesday, May 7 as many countries around the world have May Day as a public holiday on the Monday.
Then, pre-orders would begin on Friday, May 10. Initial reviews would appear a few days later, with the onsale date of Friday, May 17.
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What’s Being Launched?
I think we can count on a new iPad Pro, in two sizes, 12.9-inch and 11-inch or thereabouts, with OLED as the screen technology for the first time. A newly redesigned Magic Keyboard and the Apple Pencil that may just have been accidentally leaked. Oh, and there’s a small sting in the tail: OLED may force up the price of the iPad Pro models, though it’s not yet clear by how much.
But Gurman goes further, adding that two new iPad Air models will also be unveiled, that is, a larger-screened model (12.9 inches or so) alongside a new version of the current 10.9-inch model.
If that’s right, he’s right to say, “Altogether, this launch is shaping up to be one of the biggest updates to the Apple tablet in a single day.”
It’s one thing for a pundit to be wrong about a release date, but a release date and what’s being announced is pushing it.
So, although I find it baffling that Apple would dilute the effect of the iPad Pro with a new iPad Air, it’s not inconceivable—after all, it happily launches four new iPhones each fall, right?
We’ll know soon enough.
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April 9 update. More details are emerging about Apple’s iPad plans. First of all, Mark Gurman has said that while he believes the iPad Pro and iPad Air will both be updated with models announced in early May, that it’s a longer wait for the entry-level iPad and iPad mini.
Gurman said, “The company is also working on new versions of the low-end iPad and iPad mini, but those won’t be coming before the end of the year at the earliest. The new downscale iPad will probably end up being a cost-reduced version of the 10th generation model from 2022, while the iPad mini update won’t include much more than a processor upgrade.”
Gurman is clear, then, that while they could both come this year, by caveating his comments with “at the earliest”, that 2025 is also an option. Which would mean that the iPad Pro launch next month, plus iPad Air if that arrives, too, would be the only update in 2024.
I’d find this surprising (though, mind you, I was pretty astonished there was no iPad launched at all in 2023 nor yet in 2024) but it lends credence to the idea that the iPad Air could be on its way in May as well. I still find this less likely than the iPad Pro on its own, but I’m open to being persuaded.
April 10 update. A new report from DigiTimes has just appeared and says that Apple is not holding a spring event this year. I have to say that’s no surprise to me, and if there were an event that would be much more newsworthy.
The report points out that the recent MacBook Air models with M3 chips were launched by press release and that Apple is likely to propose the same process for its new iPad unveiling. I think that might be true, though I wouldn’t rule out something similar to what happened with the reveal for the M3 chips, MacBook Pro and iMac in October, when Apple released a recorded keynote online. I believe that may be what happens in early May. It combines the sense of an important moment, though without the in-person element which takes extra time to arrange. Or maybe there will be a screening event as there was for the Halloween Mac event?
But the report goes on with a predicted new release date—and it’s not good news for the impatient among us. The report says, “Regarding the new iPad series… it is speculated that since Apple’s WWDC event is scheduled from June 11th to 15th, 2024, the new iPad products could be announced during said event and hit the market in late June.”
Please note, if your first reaction was that WWDC actually starts on June 10, remember that this site is based in Asia and the 10 a.m. Pacific keynote actually starts at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, June 11 in that region thanks to the time difference.
So, how likely is this? Not very, I’d say. While there have been hardware releases announced at WWDC in the past, the buzz around this year’s event is so much about software and AI, that I think there just won’t be time for anything else.
My best guess remains the same, that the unveil date for the iPad Pro, and Air if it’s there, will be as above, Monday, May 6 or Tuesday, May 7, with onsale dates from Friday, May 17.
