If you’ve been waiting to try on the upcoming iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro, you might have to wait a little more. Rumors about the upcoming iPads have been making rounds on the internet for a while now. According to a report on Monday, Chinese tipster Instant Digital (via MacRumors) suggested that the two upcoming iPads could launch as early as March 26. Notably, this rumor corroborated another report by the Chinese website IT Home, suggesting a similar release date.
However, Mark Gurman, who has a track record for such developments, doesn’t think the iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro will be released on March 26. He responded to a post on X shared by MacRumors, saying the information isn’t accurate. Although he didn’t delve into more details, he didn’t change his earlier guess about the announcement happening soon. Previously he mentioned that the iPad Air and OLED iPad Pro could launch in late March or early April.
In his Power On newsletter, he pointed out that the version of iPadOS 17.4 for the new iPad models won’t be ready until late this month. It might take “a couple of weeks” to install this software on the first batch of shipments. Because of this, Gurman believes the launch of the new iPads will probably be “deeper into next month.”
Generally, if Apple were planning an event on March 26, it would have sent out invitations about a week before. But, like it did with the M3 MacBook Air, it might as well release the upcoming iPads quietly through a press release whenever that happens.
Moreover, reports say the upcoming iPad Air could inherit the micro-LED display from the previous iPad Pro. Moreover, the rumor mill suggests that it might feature the Apple M2 chip which means an upgrade in terms of performance.
The upcoming iPad releases apart, Apple may also be prepping to showcase new iPad accessories, including an updated Magic Keyboard for the iPad Pro and the much-awaited Apple Pencil 3. We could expect the rumored Magic Keyboard to replicate the MacBook experience and feature a comparatively larger trackpad.