Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Can we please get a Product Red iPad Air?

EpYIO0UWEAMXvuZ.jpg
 
Of all of my recent Apple gadgets, the Air 5 is the best one. I can hook it up to my work Dell USB C dock and it plays nice with the displays (if I use one of them), keyboard, mouse, Bluetooth headset with a USB receiver, and any thumb drives I plug in to the dock.

It’s so nice, I’m torn on whether I need a MacBook… or if I can just get a Mac mini and be done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mihailo88
It's real simple Apple:
Mini/Base: Previous gen chip, right now that would be M1, which would be an automatic upgrade
Air/Base Pros: Current gen chip detuned, which would be an automatic upgrade
Top Tier Pros: Current gen chip with all cores, the upgrade people are expecting but will cause confusion
 
I can't see this being much more than an M2 update, and possibly a switch to a landscape front camera (would require a change to Apple Pencil charging location or a new Apple Pencil, which I could see coming along new iPad Pros), along with some new colors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pinkyyy 💜🍎

It's unclear what new features the next iPad Air will offer, but possibilities include the M2 chip, a Thunderbolt port like the iPad Pro, a horizontally-oriented front-facing camera like on the 10th-generation iPad, and new color options. Read our iPad Air roundup linked below for additional details about the current model.

The 10th Gen iPad still has Apple Pencil 1 because of interfence between the camera placement and the wireless Pencil 2 mechanism. (and somewhat also the placement of volume and nano sim card tray ). Doubtful Air would give up Pencil 2 just to be more like the 10th gen. Conceptually, Apple could move the pencil magnet/charger to the 'bottom' in the landscape set up. But it wouldn't 'fit well' with the Magic Keyboard closed. [ Perhaps if Apple tosses the nano sim card tray could have an offset horizontal camera. But very odd position if holding in natural portrait orientation. Basic problem is too much stuff has to go onto just one long edge of the very thin device. ]

Thunderbolt is a matter of kneecapping it to product segment it versus the iPad Pro of similar screen size. Not sure why Apple would close that gap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pinkyyy 💜🍎
I think we'll see the iPad Air this October with a spec bump, since that will be ~18 months since the M1 Air launched, but I would be surprised if we saw it as the first M3 product (even despite the latest rumors). As the Air line is not cutting edge, I could see Apple putting the M2 in it.
iPad Air and iPad Pro have never jumped to the same chip generation in one announcement.

And being that iPad Pro is M2 now, there's absolutely no way whatsoever that any other iPad than iPad Pro makes the jump to M3 before iPad Pro does.

It's always the flagship devices that leap forward with new specs and SoCs. Then the mid-tier and low-end gets some of it in the following months or years.

And if a mid-tier device jumps to a new SoC generation before the high-end, then it's always a very low-spec'ed and under-powered version of the new SoC.

Apple follows the same script for product launches, year after year. So anyone with a bit of hindsight and common sense, like Mark Gurman, can easily and accurately predict most of Apple's next moves.

1+1=2 which means that iPad Pro M3 will launch in 2023-2024, and then iPad Air will jump to M3 at the same product announcement event or at some later point in 2023-2024.

Pretty straightforward.
 
I still have a M1 iPad Pro - I can't think of any times I've had any kind of performance hangs, even when gaming on it so I'd be super curious to see a real world side by side when the M3s are released.
M1 and M2 are both completely overpowered for how limited iPadOS is in general and the apps you can actually install on them.

While M3 iPad Pro certainly will be even more of a NASA rocket strapped to a MINI Cooper than ever before, I am thinking that the biggest thing about the next iPad Pro will be an all new design that looks very different form the 2019-2022 iPad Pro design.

Still just a really big, very overpowered iPhone with pen support though. 🤷‍♂️
 
Can't see any reason for product differentiation other than inserting (detuned?) M2 - maybe with 8 graphics cores since the current Pro comes with 10 graphic cores.
 
Just give it 128GB and a price drop. Doesn't even need the M2.
Not happening, that's in users' interest, but not in Apple's interest. M2 is basically not cost increase over M1 and price drop makes no sense for Apple. 128GB may happen but I wound't count too much on it... (unless the pro goes to 256GB, in that case it's a given)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pinkyyy 💜🍎
iPad Air and iPad Pro have never jumped to the same chip generation in one announcement.

And being that iPad Pro is M2 now, there's absolutely no way whatsoever that any other iPad than iPad Pro makes the jump to M3 before iPad Pro does.

It's always the flagship devices that leap forward with new specs and SoCs. Then the mid-tier and low-end gets some of it in the following months or years.

And if a mid-tier device jumps to a new SoC generation before the high-end, then it's always a very low-spec'ed and under-powered version of the new SoC.

Apple follows the same script for product launches, year after year. So anyone with a bit of hindsight and common sense, like Mark Gurman, can easily and accurately predict most of Apple's next moves.

1+1=2 which means that iPad Pro M3 will launch in 2023-2024, and then iPad Air will jump to M3 at the same product announcement event or at some later point in 2023-2024.

Pretty straightforward.
Who knows what will happen, but Apple has done some fairly odd things during their transition to Apple Silicon, most of which contradict a handful of your statements. For example, the M1 MBA lapped most Intel MBP models for a year until Apple released the M1 series of MBP's. The M1 series of Mac Studios cannibalized the Intel Mac Pro for over a year as well.

I'm not saying the iPad Air update will for sure come before the iPad Pro update, but it wouldn't be weird if it did and with the M2. Additionally, there are many other hardware features the Pro has over the Air that would allow it to be differentiated in this space. Apple could also have an under-clocked M2 or put less RAM in the Air so that it is still a step below the iPad Pro refresh when it eventually receives an M3 chip.

All this said, it would be bizarre for the iPad Pro to get the M3 before Spring of 2022, seeing as it was just granted the M2 Fall of 2022. The iPad Air received the M1 in Spring of 2022, so it would seem odd to me for Apple to wait until Spring of 2024 to give it the M2.

Mark Gurman rarely does anything more than guess what any of us could guess and his track record isn't even that reliable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pinkyyy 💜🍎
Who knows what will happen, but Apple has done some fairly odd things during their transition to Apple Silicon, most of which contradict a handful of your statements. For example, the M1 MBA lapped most Intel MBP models for a year until Apple released the M1 series of MBP's. The M1 series of Mac Studios cannibalized the Intel Mac Pro for over a year as well.

I'm not saying the iPad Air update will for sure come before the iPad Pro update, but it wouldn't be weird if it did and with the M2. Additionally, there are many other hardware features the Pro has over the Air that would allow it to be differentiated in this space. Apple could also have an under-clocked M2 or put less RAM in the Air so that it is still a step below the iPad Pro refresh when it eventually receives an M3 chip.

All this said, it would be bizarre for the iPad Pro to get the M3 before Spring of 2022, seeing as it was just granted the M2 Fall of 2022. The iPad Air received the M1 in Spring of 2022, so it would seem odd to me for Apple to wait until Spring of 2024 to give it the M2.

Mark Gurman rarely does anything more than guess what any of us could guess and his track record isn't even that reliable.
What you are forgetting it that the pro is on a shorter cycle than the air (1.5 year vs 2). It wouldn't be impossible that the air with M2 comes before the pro with M3 in other situations (for instance to keep the cycle of the device, like it happened with the M1 air), but in the present one it's virtually impossible. The air won't come before Spring, especially given that the older mini which was also on a 2 year cycle will not come this year either (so it will be more than 2 years). So it's either at the same time as the pro, or later. Zero chances it comes this year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Pinkyyy 💜🍎
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.