We have heard precious little about Apple’s plans to unveil a new iPad Air over recent months, however, a spring 2022 launch is now on the cards according to the most recent rumors, here’s a few things we know so far.
Release date
According to the latest reports, Apple will unveil a new iPad Air alongside the new iPhone SE at an event on March 8 (or thereabouts), putting a very early release window on the device for the year.
Apple tends to make newly-announced products like iPhones and iPads available for pre-order and then purchases pretty close to their announcement date, so if a March 8 event comes to pass you can expect the iPad Air to be on Apple’s website that same week, and on shelves the following week.
Features
According to a January report, Apple will launch the new iPad with a couple of upgrades including a new A15 Bionic chip, as debuted in the iPhone 13 last year. It is also expected to feature an upgraded 12MP wide-angle front camera and quad LED True Tone Flash, compatible with Apple’s Center Stage.
Another big upgrade could be 5G for the cellular versions of Apple’s best iPad, which would seriously improve on-the-go capabilities for those who aren’t content to use their iPad on Wi-Fi.
Touch ID on the Top Button is also expected to be retained, but there are no reports of Face ID.
Size
A report last July says that Apple will retain the 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display from the previous iPad Air, so don’t expect a size change, Apple has a perfect iPad lineup covered by the iPad mini 6 and the larger M1 iPad Pro (2021).
OLED
There were a series of rumors that suggested the next iPad Air could come with an OLED display. From Ming-Chi Kuo:
In terms of technology, the original iPad Air was intended to use a LTPS OLED display. Because the performance and cost could not meet Apple’s requirements, Apple cancelled its plan to launch OLED iPad Air in 2022.
As noted, Apple will likely stick with the Liquid Retina display of the previous version, although there is a chance that mini-LED could make an appearance. This seems less likely however, as Apple might want to get this rolled out to the 11-inch iPad Pro first, and it may even want to reserve mini-LED as a ‘Pro’ feature to distinguish its higher-end models.
Price
Apple packed some very big upgrades to the iPad Air in 2020, changes reflected in a pretty serious price increase. It would seem unlikely that Apple would raise the price of the iPad Air again after such a big leap, if only because that would start pushing it into the pricing range of the iPad Pro, something Apple is keen to avoid. We have no solid rumors about pricing, but let’s hope it doesn’t change again.
