The iPad Air 5 was a pretty significant bump up for the subseries of Apple tablets, what with it getting the M1 chip. Rumours are pointing at the tablet getting another hardware update next month, slightly over 18 months after the current model’s launch.
MacRumors cites a post on Chinese social media Weibo by an undisclosed leaker who claims that the iPad Air 6 will get a launch in October. It will also be the only iPad refresh of the year, so no new mini or Pro models coming until we step into 2024. This matches the previous predictions by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who previously claimed that the next iPad Pro models will be coming in the middle of next year, alongside revamped Magic Keyboards that make the combo more laptop-like.
Speaking of Gurman, he has corroborated the rumour of an October iPad Air refresh, but claims that it will be a much more low-key affair. This means no event or stream on the scale of the iPhone 15 unveiling that’s coming soon. This will be similar to the relatively quiet launch of the MacBook Pro and Mac mini equipped with M2 chips earlier this year.
Among the fruit-branded tablets that need a refresh, the iPad Air is probably not the first line that comes to mind. After all, it did get a major upgrade in the form of the M1 chip, and it was released more recently than the iPad mini 6, which first saw the light of day in September of 2021. But either way, it remains to be seen what sort of upgrades that Apple still has in store for the tablet that’s already competing with the smaller of the two iPad Pro models in many aspects.
(Source: MacRumors)
