Apple has gone more than a year without releasing a new iPad, and the quiet is expected to break in 2024. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasts a sweeping refresh that begins early in the year with a larger iPad Air and moves toward OLED iPad Pros, before the rest of the family follows in the second half. It is a forecast rather than an announcement, and like many such predictions it rests on supply-chain signals that the company has not yet confirmed.
Apple's 2024 iPad Refresh May Bring OLED iPad Pros and a First 12.9-Inch iPad Air
An Air at Pro size would be a new configuration for the line.
Mark
So what's the headline here? A whole iPad lineup refresh in 2024?
Mimi
That's Ming-Chi Kuo's prediction. Air first, early in the year, then the OLED Pros by the second quarter, then the mini and the 11th-generation iPad in the second half.
Mark
The 12.9-inch Air seems like the new thing.
Mimi
It would be the first Air at that size. It's Pro-sized, but Kuo says it likely won't get the Pro's mini-LED display. It would get an oxide backplane, which he says means better performance than the smaller Air.
Luke
Worth saying plainly: all of this is one analyst's forecast. Apple hasn't confirmed any of it.
Mark
Fair. And the Pro?
Mimi
Two M3 models, switching from mini-LED to OLED, using the iPhone 15 Pro's LTPO backplane.
Luke
The report doesn't say what the OLED panels will cost or how they'll be priced, and it gives no exact dates. Quarters and halves of the year are as specific as it gets.
Mark
Why does the timing feel notable?
Mimi
It's been over a year since Apple released a new iPad, so a full-lineup update would end a long gap.
Luke
And if the Air slips or the Pros arrive later, the neat sequence changes. Treat the order as a prediction, not a schedule.
The Pulse
- After more than a year with no new iPads, the product line is poised to move again all at once.
- A 12.9-inch iPad Air would break a long-held boundary, since that screen size has belonged only to the Pro.
- OLED iPad Pros would replace mini-LED panels and borrow the iPhone 15 Pro's LTPO backplane.
- Every iPad family could be refreshed within a single year, but Apple has confirmed none of it yet.
- The first real test arrives early in 2024, when the Airs either appear or the forecast falters.
Apple has gone more than a year without releasing a new iPad, and the quiet is expected to break in 2024. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo forecasts a sweeping refresh that begins early in the year with a larger iPad Air and moves toward OLED iPad Pros, before the rest of the family follows in the second half. It is a forecast rather than an announcement, and like many such predictions it rests on supply-chain signals that the company has not yet confirmed.
Apple has not released a new iPad in more than a year, and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that stillness is ending. He predicts a refresh of the whole lineup in 2024, starting in the opening months with new iPad Airs.
The headline change is a 12.9-inch Air, the first time that size would appear in the line. It would not be a Pro in disguise: Kuo expects it to skip mini-LED and use an oxide backplane instead, which he says should perform better than the smaller Air.
The bigger shift belongs to the iPad Pro. Two new M3 models would trade mini-LED for OLED and adopt the LTPO backplane from the iPhone 15 Pro, arriving around the second quarter. An 11th-generation iPad and a new iPad mini would follow in the second half.
This remains an analyst's forecast, not an Apple announcement. Whether the Airs arrive early in the year will be the first sign that the prediction is holding.
Apple has not released a new iPad in more than a year, and according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, that quiet stretch is about to end. Kuo predicts that 2024 will bring a refresh of the entire iPad lineup, with the first changes arriving in the opening months of the year.
The first products, in his forecast, are new iPad Airs. Kuo expects Apple to release an updated 10.9-inch iPad Air and, for the first time, a 12.9-inch version. That size has until now belonged to the iPad Pro, so an Air at that scale would be a new configuration for the line. Kuo says the Air models should land at the beginning of the year.
The larger Air is not expected to be a Pro in disguise. Although it would share the Pro's size, Kuo says it is unlikely to carry the Pro's mini-LED display. He does expect it to get an oxide backplane, which he says should give it better performance than the smaller Air.
The iPad Pro is where the bigger display change is expected. Kuo says two new M3 models are coming, and both would drop mini-LED in favor of OLED. They would also use the same LTPO backplane found in the iPhone 15 Pro. OLED iPad Pros have been rumored for a long time, and Kuo's forecast places them by the second quarter, after the Air.
The rest of the lineup follows later. Kuo expects an 11th-generation iPad and a new iPad mini in the second half of 2024. If his timeline holds, every current iPad family would be updated within a single year, after a long gap with no new releases.
This is an analyst's prediction, not an Apple announcement, and the company has confirmed none of these details. The first test will be whether new iPad Airs appear early in the year, with the OLED Pros expected to follow by the second quarter.
Notable Quotes
Apple will introduce a new 12.9-inch iPad Air alongside OLED iPad Pros, kicking off a refresh of the entire iPad lineup in 2024.— Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (paraphrased)
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