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Display Shipments for M4 MacBook Air and Low-Cost iPad Expected to Start in October

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Display panel shipments for refreshed versions of the MacBook Air and the low-cost iPad will begin in October, display analyst Ross Young said in a tweet for subscribers. Apple is working on new M4 versions of the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models, as well as a new version of the 10.9-inch iPad.

m2-macbook-air-new-blue.jpg

Apple is expected to refresh the MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, and iPad mini in October of this year, and it would make sense for a new low-cost iPad to be introduced alongside those devices. Panel shipments that start in October suggest that the low-cost iPad would not be ready for an October event.

As for the MacBook Air, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said that new models with M4 chips will come out in the first quarter of 2025, and on Twitter, he added that the October display shipment timing sounds correct for a Q1 launch.



The October panel shipment timing is unusual for the iPad, so we will need to see what Apple has planned in the coming months. Rumors right now suggest that we can count on an October event that features at least some new Macs and iPads.

Article Link: Display Shipments for M4 MacBook Air and Low-Cost iPad Expected to Start in October
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2024/09/19/display-shipments-macbook-air-ipad-october/
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Makes it seem like we don't have as good of grasp of release times as we once thought. I remember when the M2 MBP's came out, everyone was convinced for 6 months prior that they were a 2H of the year item...and then they were released in January.
 
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I just sold a 15" M2 Air to upgrade to the M3 because I wanted dual display support. This will be a secondary laptop because I hate looking at my work stuff in the evening. However, I think I might wait until M4 now even if it is 2025.

The 15" Air is my favorite laptop Apple makes right now. The 14" M1 Pro is certainly the best computer I have ever owned but as I get older, the 15" form factor and bigger display without the heft of the 16" MBP really works for me.

Looking forward to these machines!
 
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M4 seems so.... old hat by now.

With yearly rollouts of new SoCs, the M4 will already be halfway through its hot-item stage by the time October (next month) rolls around.
 
Can't wait for the m4 air. Will upgrade from my lovely m1 2020 air.
 
I’m hoping to wait until the M5 Air to upgrade from my Lenovo Yoga 6 laptop.
 
StuBeck said:
Makes it seem like we don't have as good of grasp of release times as we once thought. I remember when the M2 MBP's came out, everyone was convinced for 6 months prior that they were a 2H of the year item...and then they were released in January.
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Well to be fair with that specific example, those MBP’s were indeed suppose to come out in October of that year, they just got delayed due to all the component shortages going on during that time. This was confirmed basically by Apple themselves as the press release videos were all labeled with “October 2022” or something like that, even though they all got released in January 2023. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember the funny slip up.
 
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picpicmac said:
M4 seems so.... old hat by now.

With yearly rollouts of new SoCs, the M4 will already be halfway through its hot-item stage by the time October (next month) rolls around.
Click to expand...
I think M5 won’t be a big upgrade though (still 3nm) and I have a feeling that M6 (2nm) will take quite a long time so M4 seems like a good gen to get into

i think it’ll be more like an 18 month cycle again. M3 was a stopgap
 
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Good to know about the new MacBook Airs. Would like to see new colours. But not sure whether it will happen.
 
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Apple$ said:
I’m hoping to wait until the M5 Air to upgrade from my Lenovo Yoga 6 laptop.
Click to expand...
Still a reasonably good chance that it will be the lead product for the M5 cycle, Q2 2025. This component news also fits that schedule. It's either that or the iMac, so whichever gets the M4, the other will be the M5 hello. I think it will be the Air -- the iMac doesn't really benefit from that halo, but an early M5 Air would.
 
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MacMikePro said:
Well to be fair with that specific example, those MBP’s were indeed suppose to come out in October of that year, they just got delayed due to all the component shortages going on during that time. This was confirmed basically by Apple themselves as the press release videos were all labeled with “October 2022” or something like that, even though they all got released in January 2023. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember the funny slip up.
Click to expand...
I was discussing the comments in December 2022, we were told it was a delay to 2H 2023, not that they'd been delayed due to chip shortages.
 
StuBeck said:
I was discussing the comments in December 2022, we were told it was a delay to 2H 2023, not that they'd been delayed due to chip shortages.
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Yes, you're right, back then nobody knew and an 18-month cadence for Macs still seemed like a good guess. There were one or two people here who insisted Apple was aiming for an annual cadence, but at that point there was no evidence for it. It wasn't until September 2023 when Apple (led by Anand Shimpi) started to say outright that was the goal, and then M3 launched all at once in October 2023, confirming the pattern and putting them back on track. Suddenly it all fit together.

There's little doubt at this point that the delay in launching M2 Pro/Max from October 2022 to January 2023 was due to the Zero Covid lockdown in China. M1 Pro/Max = October 2021; M3 Pro/Max = October 2023.
 
tenthousandthings said:
Yes, you're right, back then nobody knew and an 18-month cadence for Macs still seemed like a good guess. There were one or two people here who insisted Apple was aiming for an annual cadence, but at that point there was no evidence for it. It wasn't until September 2023 when Apple (led by Anand Shimpi) started to say outright that was the goal, and then M3 launched all at once in October 2023, confirming the pattern and putting them back on track. Suddenly it all fit together.
Click to expand...

Shimpi said Macs are on an annual schedule?

I suppose that's possible, but so far, we haven't really seen that.
 
chucker23n1 said:
Shimpi said Macs are on an annual schedule?

I suppose that's possible, but so far, we haven't really seen that.
Click to expand...
But we have seen that, right? Every year since 2021 the Pro/Max has launched in October (if we acknowledge that the 2022 launch was delayed, the evidence for that is very strong), so that's three years in a row, this year being the fourth (if it doesn't happen you can blame me for the jinx).

Here's what Shimpi said, in September 2023 February 2023, he doesn't say "annual," but you can tell he's feeling good, they've weathered the global pandemic and they are back on track:

"... But really the thing that we see, that the iPhone and the iPad have enjoyed over the years, is this idea that every generation gets the latest of our IPs, the latest CPU IP, the latest GPU, media engine, neural engine, and so on and so forth, and so now the Mac gets to be on that cadence too. If you look at how we’ve evolved things on the phone and iPad, those IPs tend to get more efficient over time. There is this relationship, if the fundamental chassis doesn’t change, any additional performance you draw, you deliver has to be done more efficiently, and so this is the first time the MacBook Pro gets to enjoy that and be on that same sort of cycle. ..."

Keep in mind that by then he would have known M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max were on track to launch in October, with A17 Pro and the M3 family already deep into volume production at that point. It's subtle, but clear in retrospect. He knows what he's saying is going to be reinforced eight months hence.
 
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tenthousandthings said:
But we have seen that, right? Every year since 2021 the Pro/Max has launched in October (if we acknowledge that the 2022 launch was delayed, the evidence for that is very strong), so that's three years in a row, this year being the fourth (if it doesn't happen you can blame me for the jinx).
Click to expand...

This is true, but I got the impression that the M2 Pro and M3 Pro were both an outlier; the first in being late and the second in being an early stop-gap, because the M4 Pro wasn't going to be ready until late 2024. I get the sense they would've preferred to skip M3 Pro altogether (ignore the numbers for a moment) and have M1 Pro in late 2021 (check), M2 Pro roughly 18 months later (they got that earlier), M3/4 Pro another 18 months later (which it looks like we'll be getting).

But I could be wrong. It could indeed be that extenuating circumstances such as COVID-19 required Apple to reschedule.

tenthousandthings said:
Here's what Shimpi said, in September 2023 February 2023, he doesn't say "annual," but you can tell he's feeling good, they've weathered the global pandemic and they are back on track:

"... But really the thing that we see, that the iPhone and the iPad have enjoyed over the years, is this idea that every generation gets the latest of our IPs, the latest CPU IP, the latest GPU, media engine, neural engine, and so on and so forth, and so now the Mac gets to be on that cadence too. If you look at how we’ve evolved things on the phone and iPad, those IPs tend to get more efficient over time. There is this relationship, if the fundamental chassis doesn’t change, any additional performance you draw, you deliver has to be done more efficiently, and so this is the first time the MacBook Pro gets to enjoy that and be on that same sort of cycle. ..."
Click to expand...

I don't think he's speaking of the schedule so much as the ability to re-use tech across different platforms.

tenthousandthings said:
He knows what he's saying is going to be reinforced eight months hence.
Click to expand...

True.
 
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