Earlier this week, we were expecting several refreshed iPad models across the board; however, we did receive an update to the Apple Pencil lineup, which is the Apple Pencil (USB-C), Apple’s most affordable Apple Pencil yet that works with all iPads with a USB-C port and magnetically attaches to the side.
Although we didn’t get any new iPads this week, we got another report from DigiTimes that a larger iPad Air with a 12.9-inch display is currently in development. This will be the exact same display size found on the larger iPad Pro. To keep the price comparable to the existing iPad Air, it will most likely feature an LCD “Liquid Retina” display. Based on several reports, Apple will introduce the higher-end iPad Pros that will adopt OLED displays for the first time, hence the potential steeper price points. 9to5Mac also reported that Apple has been working on two upcoming iPad Air models, so this report seems to not be out of the question.
The original iPad Air was introduced in October 2013 with a 9.7-inch display. Apple discontinued the Air model in 2017 in favor of both the base-model iPad and higher-end iPad Pro; however, Apple brought it back shortly after the redesigned iPad Pro in 2018. Since then, Apple has offered the iPad Air as the model that sits just below the iPad Pro, borrowing most of the features users will find on the iPad Pro such as the Magic Keyboard support, an M-series chip for Stage Manager/External Display support, and Apple Pencil 2 support for the ultimate Apple Pencil experience.
Currently, the iPad Air starts at $599, and that’s with a 10.9-inch display. The 11-inch iPad Pro currently starts at $799, so it makes sense for the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air to sit between those models, probably around $699, which is a $100 difference over the smaller Air. We can expect the larger iPad Air to come in its sixth iteration sometime within the next year, which will borrow improvements from the iPad Pro such as the M2 chip, WiFi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3.
