A rumor last week suggesting that Apple was planning to unveil three new iPads (the 11th gen basic iPad, an M2-powered iPad Air, and a new iPad mini) on October 17th proved to be wrong. One part of the rumor, which called for Apple to unveil a new Apple Pencil with USB-C charging capabilities, turned out to be spot on. As for the tablets, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentioned today that he is expecting Apple to unveil new iPad models in the latest edition of his weekly Power On newsletter.
Gurman wrote that Apple is not planning to introduce new iPads until March. He said that the tech giant has been working on the iPad Air, which could see a change under the hood with the M1 chip currently powering the model replaced with the more powerful and energy-efficient M2. In addition, the Bloomberg scribe says that Apple is also working on refreshing the basic iPad tablet; the next version of this tablet would be the 11th-generation model. He adds that a new version of the iPad mini is also in the works.
Apple is expected to unveil a refreshed set of tablets next year including new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models
The aforementioned trio of iPads will feature improved specs says Gurman. One earlier rumor called for the next iPad mini to be powered by the same 4nm A16 Bionic chipset that currently powers the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. The most recent version of the iPad mini features the A15 Bionic chipset under the hood.
Apple is also said to be working on new versions of the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro premium tablets which are expected to be the first from Apple to sport OLED displays. But a report by DigiTimes that we told you about yesterday says that the new iPad Pro models will use LCD instead although our level of confidence in that report is low. Samsung Display and LG Display are supposedly all ready to supply Apple with the OLED panels for the new iPad Pro models.
Gurman says that the new 11th-gen iPad, M2 iPad Air, and the next iPad mini will be introduced in March with the updated iPad Pro tablets to be announced later in the year.
