New iPad Air Rumored to Launch This Spring With A15 Chip, 5G, Center Stage Camera, and More

[Teledatageek]

Well great - I was going to order a green Air tomorrow! If said rumor is true - does that maybe mean it’ll be in the store April/May? My use case is primarily as secondary monitor while traveling with my MBP 14, content while on the plane, and maybe using the Apple Pencil in place of using paper to take notes. Air seemed like the right iPad and waiting is not one of my virtues!

 

[EugW]

That means there has to be a new iPad Pro this spring then. The A15 is very similar architecture to M1. Basically the same chip slightly underlclocked.

Well, sorta, but not really. M1 would be analogous to A15X, not A15. IOW, M1 is a much, much higher performance chip than A15.

A15 has 4 efficiency cores and 2 performance cores. M1 has 4+4.
A15 has 5 GPU cores. M1 has 8.
M1 also has a lot more cache.

 

[tongxinshe]

If Apple adds these features, they will surely increase the price by $100+. Tired of non ground breaking features being added purely for the sake of skyrocketing the price to capture more of consumers hard earned revenue. I’d rather have the cheaper iPad Air but they will likely no longer sell it to force people to hand over even more money.

Don’t worry, if Apple doesn’t do it, there will always be other companies that use the technology for the sake of end users’ spendings, instead of the pure company interests. Companies like Apple that never drops their profit margins to be lower than 10% will eventually be defeated by companies that hold profit margins of better morality, like Xiaomi.

 

[rui no onna]

Don’t worry, if Apple doesn’t do it, there will always be other companies that use the technology for the sake of end users’ spendings, instead of the pure company interests. Companies like Apple that never drops their profit margins to be lower than 10% will eventually be defeated by companies that hold profit margins of better morality, like Xiaomi.

Only reason they price like that is because of stiff competition on the Android side. Same for Windows PC manufacturers. It’s not morality, it’s just business.

If they had a strong pseudo-monopoly like Apple, I’m sure they’d prefer higher profit margins as well.

 

[erikkfi]

All I want is a front-facing camera on one of the long sides. Stop being stubborn, Apple.

 

[davidako]

Landscape camera or ST*U.

 

[travelsheep]

What's a Quad-LED True Tone flash? A flash light that adjusts to the ambient room color?

 

[nhk]

A 12.9 in iPad Air would be a great addition. I have a 2018 12.9 in iPad Pro but really would prefer an Air with the Touch ID. Mostly I use it for GoodNotes linked to textbooks making notes. The iPad Pro lies flat on my desk and FaceID is less useful as I end up punching in the passcode. The larger size is so good for studying, note taking etc. it should not be confined to the Pro. I don’t need the fancy OLED, just the iPad Air in large form. And hopefully much cheaper than the very expensive iPad Pro.

 

[cashinstinct]

I hope the base storage increases to 128 Gb

64 Gb storage is tight.

Price for 256 Gb Air 4 upgrade is ridiculous, might as well get the 128 Gb Pro 11…

 

[wib]

A 12.9 in iPad Air would be a great addition. I have a 2018 12.9 in iPad Pro but really would prefer an Air with the Touch ID. Mostly I use it for GoodNotes linked to textbooks making notes. The iPad Pro lies flat on my desk and FaceID is less useful as I end up punching in the passcode. The larger size is so good for studying, note taking etc. it should not be confined to the Pro. I don’t need the fancy OLED, just the iPad Air in large form. And hopefully much cheaper than the very expensive iPad Pro.

Oh, I SO agree with you!

A big, cheaper iPad would be great! It doesn't need to have all the whistles and bells, but the added size would be wonderful!

 

[snipr125]

I still don’t see the purpose of the iPad Air anymore as it’s taking the iPad Pro design through abs through.

Should just be iPad and unify the design having the low end be iPad Educational.

EDIT ok it's a very poor name suggestion but you get the basic idea, I hope, lower the regular iPad as an educational unit and just make the iPad Air the iPad, 'Air' doesn't offer anything more to the product line's name - its reason for being is the sleek design which is now following the iPad Pro. that's my point really.

DeepIn2U, Apple have basically positioned the Ipad Air as their Premium mid range ‘mainstream’ offering in the iPad line up just like the Iphone 12/13, to fill that price gap between the iPad and Ipad Pro. I agree that it does not actually offer anything new as its based on the Pro design, but its price and spec perfectly fit that mid £500 price point to appeal to the masses, which is why they offer it in 5 colours unlike the other 2 models.

Apple don‘t release iPad sales figures, but i can imagine the base iPad sells the most, then closely followed by the Air with the Pro selling the least. Makes sense based on the prices, but the Air probably cannibalises some Pro sales. Ive seen it twice in the Apple store now, customer looking at the Air and Pro, sales assistant talking about the Pro’s advantages, with the customer more focussed on the Air’s better colours, the fact it looks identical to the Pro but £200 cheaper, so decided to get the Air.

For me personally i would love to get the M1 Ipad Pro, its the best tablet ever created, but i just cannot bring myself to spend £750 on a tablet, even though its probably worth the price, so have an Ipad Air 4 as its more than good enough for my uses.

 

[mabhatter]

I have noticed is that price bumps are usually associated with new designs and form factors. I assume this is because they are trying to recover cost associated with retooling and changing the assembly process etc.. In this case, we are really talking about a spec bump for the processor, camera, and cellular radio. I rarely see price increases with routine spec bumps. Admittedly, I am just going off observation here not hard data, but I would not jump to the conclusion that there is going to be a significant price increase.

Price pressures are really high right now.. parts shortages, power limits in China, shipping delays... that all costs Apple more money so they might take a $50-$100 bump on a new model because that's a logical time to change the price.

 

[the 12th Doctor]

The article above has comments disabled. Don't post controversial stories and then not allow people to converse about it. It is a bad look.

 

[no_idea]

I don’t understand how this is a rumor…seems more like the natural progression to iterate on the product with things you already have in the other iPads…you know to keep getting ppl to spend more $$$ for the “upgrade”

 

[roncron]

Well great - I was going to order a green Air tomorrow! If said rumor is true - does that maybe mean it’ll be in the store April/May? My use case is primarily as secondary monitor while traveling with my MBP 14, content while on the plane, and maybe using the Apple Pencil in place of using paper to take notes. Air seemed like the right iPad and waiting is not one of my virtues!

Could be March, could be May.

People who should wait for the 5 include people who use cellular more than occasionally and want the fastest connection, people who use the cameras more than occasionally, or people who are concerned about resale value in a few years. The chip upgrade won’t bring noticeable performance gains to most people, as the A14 in the current model is very good.

When you expect you’ll be happy with the outgoing model, sometimes it makes sense to wait as the price on the outgoing model tends to go down when the new model release is imminent.

But there have been excellent sales on the 4 on and off for the past 6-9 months. My wife bought one last summer (in green, it’s a really nice color in person) for at least $100 off. Apple Insider tracks prices on all current iPads and other Apple gear. Check their price guide occasionally for possible price drops.

Good luck!

 

[rui no onna]

I hope the base storage increases to 128 Gb

64 Gb storage is tight.

Price for 256 Gb Air 4 upgrade is ridiculous, might as well get the 128 Gb Pro 11…

Since the mini 6 starts at 64GB, I doubt it. If it does come with 128GB, I expect a $50 price increase.

 

[rui no onna]

What's a Quad-LED True Tone flash? A flash light that adjusts to the ambient room color?

When Apple increased the number of LEDs on the iPhone’s back camera, they started calling it True Tone since it’s supposed to be able to capture colors more accurately.

 

[EugW]

Could be March, could be May.

People who should wait for the 5 include people who use cellular more than occasionally and want the fastest connection, people who use the cameras more than occasionally, or people who are concerned about resale value in a few years. The chip upgrade won’t bring noticeable performance gains to most people, as the A14 in the current model is very good.

When you expect you’ll be happy with the outgoing model, sometimes it makes sense to wait as the price on the outgoing model tends to go down when the new model release is imminent.

This new model may get two years longer OS support. This alone is worth the wait.

 

[rui no onna]

This new model may two years longer OS support. This alone is worth the wait.

I dunno about that. Apart from graphics, the A14 and A15 have nearly identical performance. Multi-core is a mere 7% better but that’s likely just due to better thermals.

 

[Teledatageek]

I dunno about that. Apart from graphics, the A14 and A15 have nearly identical performance. Multi-core is a mere 7% better but that’s likely just due to better thermals.

So for those that don't want to wait - what to do? I'm typically on a two year or less upgrade cycle or so (just my thing), so maybe not that big of a deal. I guess the Pro might be the better option at +$200 but I don't think I need the Pro features and touch ID is more appealing to me.. I can also get the educational discount as I have a kid in college.

 

[EugW]

I dunno about that. Apart from graphics, the A14 and A15 have nearly identical performance. Multi-core is a mere 7% better but that’s likely just due to better thermals.

OS support usually isn’t about SoC performance. It’s about year of release, RAM, and feature set.

 

[Zdigital2015]

So true. Let's say all these rumors are true. Then the only differentiating features would be mini-led and ProMotion.

Thunderbolt 3 at up to 40Gbps in the iPad Pro versus 5Gbps USB-C in the iPad Air 4 and the iPad mini 5.

 

[dannyyankou]

Thunderbolt 3 at up to 40Gbps in the iPad Pro versus 5Gbps USB-C in the iPad Air 4 and the iPad mini 5.

I said this earlier about something else, but that means nothing for the average user. Like 95% of users.

 

[cashinstinct]

Since the mini 6 starts at 64GB, I doubt it. If it does come with 128GB, I expect a $50 price increase.

Mini is cheaper than the air

Base iPhone 13 now gets 128 Gb….

I hope 2022 devices will be 128 Gb…

 

[PlayUltimate]

It’s not always a year. Some of the features being added to the Air now have been available since the 1st gen Pro (2015/16). Even then, there are still features like quad speakers and ProMotion that still haven’t made their way downmarket. 512GB+ storage options are still strictly the domain of iPad Pros despite 512GB making its way to mid-range iPhones.

I’m quite happy sticking with my iPhone SE. I don’t use my phone much to justify the high cost plus OLED iPhones give me migraines. On the iPad though, I’m willing to (grudgingly) spend more to get the features I want (mainly high storage and RAM).

I have a similar view. Still using a iPhone 7+. Still cannot justify a good reason to upgrade. But I also have a iPP 12.9 (2020) and may upgrade it depending on what is offered. But will likely wait until Apple Care expires in April.