iPad Air refresh could skip event for press release launch instead
Apple's iPhone 15 special event will probably not include any iPads at all during the presentation, Mark Gurman says, with updates to the iPad Air potentially coming in October instead.
Fourth-gen iPad Air in green and fifth-gen iPad Air in blue
The "Wonderlust" event on Tuesday will see the annual launch of Apple's latest iPhone models, the iPhone 15, along with other products. However, it's now claimed that the other items Apple will reveal won't include iPads.
Speaking to MacRumors, Mark Gurman explained that Apple won't be introducing any iPad models during the event at all. Instead, the event will focus just on iPhones and the Apple Watch Series 9 updates.
While iPads will be absent in September according to Gurman, they could see a refresh in October, albeit for the non-Pro models. The iPad Pro will apparently be updated in 2024.
The iPad Air is viewed by Gurman as a good candidate for launch, but he offers few concrete details during the conversation. Gurman believes an updated model with better specifications is on the way and "coming soonish."
The October refresh may not actually be event-based, Gurman continues, and he is skeptical that another presentation will be held for other product categories this year. In theory, Gurman proposes that it could be a quieter press release-based introduction for the new models.
"I'm not sure they have enough to drag people down to Cupertino to watch the video like they do for this iPhone 15 launch," Gurman muses.
The lack of an iPad showing in September is a continued blow to fans expecting a packed presentation. On Friday, Ming-Chi Kuo forecast that M3 MacBook models won't be arriving in 2023 at all.
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Comments
it does seem a little weird to have a whole event to spec bump the 10th gen iPad and the Air. So unless they’re totally overhauling the Air with something like Face ID. I wouldn’t be surprised if we only got one event this fall.
1) Last time the iPad Air was updated (18 months ago) it was a complete surprise to everyone. Gurman and the rest of the rumor mill insisted there would be no iPads at that time but everyone was wrong. They could all be wrong about this again.
2) The iPad Air has been announced in September alongside iPhone in the past. The update before last, (3 years ago) was alongside iPhones in September. So those (like Jason Snell) that are saying “iPads are a different event”, are just plain wrong.
3) A couple of days ago Procreate unveiled amazing iPad only animation software. This software would be perfect for Apple to feature in an iPad announcement. The Procreate software was announced very early because it won’t be available until November 22. In the past, companies have unveiled new products days before Apple events because their product is being featured in an Apple demo and they want to announce it themselves and tell their own story rather than it just show up in another company’s video. The Procreate Dream announcement could foreshadow a Procreate Dream demo on a new iPad Air during the event on Tuesday.
4) The iPad Air will get M2. It will be the last device to get M2 just as it was the last device to get M1. It’s not going to get M3 (as Gurman has lazily suggested) because that would obviously make it better than the iPad Pro. Since it will get M2 it will be probably be announced before the M3 product cycle begins. So if an M3 iMac is coming in October, I think Apple will want to do the M2 iPad Air in September.