iPad Air Could Finally Be Redesigned Next Year

[MacRumors]

The iPad Air has looked the same since 2020, making it the longest-running design in Apple's tablet lineup. There is a reasonable case that 2027 could be when that comes to an end.

Apple last gave the iPad Air a new enclosure in 2020, when the fourth-generation model introduced flat sides, an all-screen front, and Touch ID in the top button. The subsequent M1, M2, M3, and M4 updates were all internal with no design changes.

That could change next year. Apple is expected to move the iPad Air to OLED in early 2027, with Samsung Display supplying single-stack LTPS panels that sit below the tandem OLED in the iPad Pro on cost and brightness. The M5 chip is also rumored. That will form the largest change the product has had in years, and it comes as part of a wider OLED rollout that will eventually reach products like the iMac and MacBook Air.

The substantial upgrade would be a suitable candidate for a complete redesign. When the iPad Pro moved to OLED in 2024, Apple completely redesigned the device for the first time since 2018, introducing a substantially thinner chassis.

More strikingly, the iPad mini 8 is expected by October with a new design, an OLED display, a vibration-based speaker system that eliminates speaker holes, and a water-resistant casing that would be an iPad first.

The iPad Air and iPad mini have shared their design language since their introduction, with the mini most recently adopting the Air's look in 2021 and holding it through to the iPad mini 7. If the mini receives a new enclosure this year, the Air is the obvious candidate to bring over the same one next. It could be much like how the original iPad mini from 2012 set the design standard for the iPad Air just a year later.

There have been no specific rumors about an iPad Air redesign for next year, but if it does mirror the iPad mini, the device could gain the same vibration-based speaker system, water-resistance, and more.

Article Link: iPad Air Could Finally Be Redesigned Next Year

 

[klasma]

introducing a substantially thinner chassis

They'll rename it to iPad Hair.

 

[milkrocket]

Abandon it and simplify product lines

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Abandon it and simplify product lines

Apple’s got a range of iPads, roughly $100 apart. They’re unlikely to reduce that as most folks aren’t as easily confused. 🙂

 

[AusMness]

Abandon it and simplify product lines

Nah, we need something between the extreme screamer Pro and junk base model

 

[TheBeverage]

It's a bit of a shame the only non-OLED iPad will be the cheapo model with a non-laminated screen. The iPad Air has a top notch LCD panel, and I personally prefer LCDs over OLEDs for long reading sessions, easier on my eyes. I do have the M4 Air though, so I suppose that's a problem for well into the future.

 

[Biro]

Nah, we need something between the extreme screamer Pro and junk base model

Not only that, but if the next Air turns out anything like what’s discussed in the MR piece above, it might just be more desirable then the iPad Pro.

 

[Yebubbleman]

The 11-inch Air should go. The 13-inch Air should drop $100-200 in price and be the productivity iPad for the rest of us.

 

[L92]

It will move into an older iPad pro chassis, that’s gonna be it.

 

[jhearty99]

Need ProMotion on the Air

 

[Alex.ne]

It will move into an older iPad pro chassis, that’s gonna be it.

It literally has the previous iPad Pro chassis right now (except the camera bump's shape but we know Air will never get more than 1 camera)

 

[OldNewMBP]

They'll rename it to iPad Hair.

And maybe attach multiple Air's together to make it into the iPad Comb.

 

[OldNewMBP]

The 11-inch Air should go. The 13-inch Air should drop $100-200 in price and be the productivity iPad for the rest of us.

I still see a use of a smaller screen, being the one "mostly" living under the rock.

 

[Saturn1217]

I know I’m going to get hate for this but I wish they would put SOME kind of button on the front. It doesn’t have to be Touch ID.

The iPad was a really excellent accessibility device. We still use an old iPad Pro 2017 as my daughter’s AAC device.

But dropping the home button makes it so difficult to use (for me, the able bodied tech savvy adult and my disabled kid). I am constantly accidentally locking it when I just want to get out of an app. The swipe up gesture is not intuitive on a device that size. I also use an iPhone and an iPad mini 7 on a daily basis and have no issues using either of them but on the larger iPads (and because I am constantly switching in and out of guided access) it causes me all kinds of issues. A flat button on the bezel that Apple could brand the iPad version of an “action button” that could be given the old home button functionality just for those who need it would be a huge help.

 

[GMShadow]

I wonder if they'll take this as the time to rectify the one oddity in the lineup.

iPad Pro: camera flash
iPad Air: no camera flash
iPad mini: camera flash

I get leaving it off the cheap iPad, though I'd point out even the iPod touch had a flash and they could easily afford it on the cheap one, but it's just odd for the Air to not have it.

 

[Homme]

It literally has the previous iPad Pro chassis right now (except the camera bump's shape but we know Air will never get more than 1 camera)

And the lack of a camera flash as well

 

[mwhite]

The M4 iPad Air should have had Face ID. While I liked Touch ID when iPads had a home button, I hate it now without the home button. I hate the awkwardness of having to hold down *two* buttons to shut down my iPad when before I only had to press and hold down the one. Touch ID in the power button is just not as convenient as the Touch ID in the home button was.

 

[Johnny907]

It's a bit of a shame the only non-OLED iPad will be the cheapo model with a non-laminated screen. The iPad Air has a top notch LCD panel, and I personally prefer LCDs over OLEDs for long reading sessions, easier on my eyes. I do have the M4 Air though, so I suppose that's a problem for well into the future.

Same. The new OLED panels in the M4 Pro give me vertigo, so while my M2 Pro should last several more years it seems like I’ll be out of luck since I won’t be able to switch to the Air line when that time comes.

 

[svish]

Don't know how much it will change. Think it could still have bigger bezels when compared with the iPad Pro. Water resistance if coming to the iPad mini or Air should definitely come to the Pro with the next refresh. May be the next Air will come in some new colors.

 

[Avenged110]

If the chassis does change, I bet it gets a bigger (and equally-unnecessary) camera tumor as well.

 

[mwhite]

The 11-inch Air should go. The 13-inch Air should drop $100-200 in price and be the productivity iPad for the rest of us.

The 13 inch is too big to use holding in your hands when you're using the onscreen keyboard.

 

[orbital~debris]

There have been no specific rumors about an iPad Air redesign for next year

so now we’re just making stuff up… 😜

 

[ifxf]

The M4 iPad Air should have had Face ID. While I liked Touch ID when iPads had a home button, I hate it now without the home button. I hate the awkwardness of having to hold down *two* buttons to shut down my iPad when before I only had to press and hold down the one. Touch ID in the power button is just not as convenient as the Touch ID in the home button was.

Setup -> General -> Shutdown is what I use on all idevices since I use it so rarely.

 

[Yebubbleman]

The 13 inch is too big to use holding in your hands when you're using the onscreen keyboard.

Then get the standard iPad!

 

[Icaras]

People easily forget what a tremendous value the iPad Air running an M-Series chip is, that is $450 less than the iPad Pro. In this economy, the iPad Air ain't going anywhere.