According to this week’s Powered On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple plans to announce updated models of the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and MacBook Air. Almost every spring, Apple announces some hardware products a few months before WWDC either through press releases or media events. Although a spring media event hasn’t been confirmed yet, we can still expect modest to significant upgrades to all of the aforementioned products.
First, the MacBook Air is expected to pack the M3 chip that was introduced in both the base 14-inch MacBook Pro and the 24-inch iMac line. This chip uses the new 3nm process, and it will allow hardware-accelerated ray tracing for more realistic graphics and AV encoding for better efficiency when streaming movies or shows. The 13-inch was last updated with the M2 chip in June 2022, and the 15-inch model was added with the M2 chip last June. Both sizes will be updated simultaneously. Since the rest of the Mac models feature Wi-Fi 6E, we can expect the MacBook Air to be updated from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 6E for faster speeds. Overall, the MacBook Air will retain the same design as the current generation.
Second, the iPad Air, powered by M1, was last updated in March 2022. For this year’s update, we can expect an update to the 10.9-inch model and the newest addition to the lineup, the 12.9-inch iPad Air. The next iPad Air models will likely feature the M2 chip, and other specs upgrades we can see are Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. This tablet will retain a similar, if not identical, design to the current generation based on leaked CAD renders.
Finally, the iPad Pro will see a significant redesign since October 2018 as it will inherit the OLED displays for the first time. At the same time, we’ll see an increase in screen size for both models, possibly 11-inches and 13-inches. The iPad Pro will pack in the M3 chip just like on the MacBook Pro; this will allow for hardware-accelerated ray tracing, making this tablet the ultimate gaming device. Other features that we can see are enhanced ProMotion technology that can go down as low as 10Hz, MagSafe wireless charging, and an all-redesigned Magic Keyboard with an aluminum base and larger trackpad. OLED displays have been on Apple Watches and the latest iPhones (sans the SE) for years, so bringing OLED technology to the iPad will allow superior brightness, color reproduction, and contrast ratios. Due to the higher costs of those panels, these iPad Pros will be priced significantly higher than before.
One possible tidbit that we can expect around the March timeframe is an additional color to either the iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro series. Besides the Vision Pro, the next season’s lineup of upgrades is going to be exciting for tablet buyers.
