A 13-inch iPad Air and LCD iPad Pro? iPhone fragmentation will have nothing on the iPad line
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Apple is planning to grow the screen diagonal of its venerable iPad Air to 12.9 inches, or the current size of the panel used on the larger iPad Pro. The report, coming courtesy of the Taiwanese supply chain grape vine via Digitimes, actually reiterates a previous rumor that Apple is prepping a much larger iPad Air than the 10.9-incher it entertains now.
According to the display industry sources there, Apple's "any minute now" launch of the new iPad crop has been postponed, as Apple is reevaluating its screen options. The other day it only announced a new Apple Pencil 3 with USB-C port, whereas Bloomberg's Mark Gurman who previously predicted the new iPads will launch in October, said that there are no indications now that this would indeed be the case.
A 12.9-inch iPad Air 2024 and an iPad Pro with LCD display
The new iPad Air launch may now happen in the first quarter of next year, and coincide with an iPad Pro 2024 crop, claim the supply chain sources in the current report. What's most intriguing in the claims, however, is not only that the slates will sport 12.9-inch versions, but that actually both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro will come with LCD screens.
The current iPad Pro models feature an expensive mini-LED display panel that Apple may have deemed overkill for the specifications it is trying to achieve on an iPad Pro. Alternatively, there might not be enough yield from suppliers or sales from customers to warrant a mini-LED iPad Pro any more, so Apple could launch an LCD version at a lower price tag and see if that will shake demand up.
Ditto for the big 12.9-inch iPad Air that is waiting in the wings. While on paper offering the same screen size as the larger iPad Pro, it might skimp on many other specs and features that the Pro line has, such as refresh rate dynamics, brightness, color gamut coverage, or stylus functions.
In addition, Apple may offer the new iPad Air with an M2 processor, just as rumored, but equip the Pro line with M3 power, or reduce the number of speakers and eschew the Face ID biometrics to differentiate the large Air from the Pro further.
Foldable iPad Pro, too!
Actually, Apple is rumored to be hard at work on an iPad Pro with a foldable display in the vicinity of 20 inches when unfurled that could see the light of day around this time next year, so the Pro line could also grow in terms of average screen diagonal significantly.
Long story short, Apple may be fragmenting its iPad line again, just as it plans to fragment the iPhone 16 line further not only between the Pro and non-Pro models, but also set each of the four members of the iPhone family apart from each other by screen size, display, processor, and camera specs. It remains to be seen how Apple will price an eventual 12.9-inch iPad Air, but there certainly seems to be a market for larger iPads, especially if the price is right.
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