We know that every iPad is expected to be upgraded in 2024, and now details are beginning to emerge about some of the bigger upgrades – quite literally, in some cases. If you're hankering after a bigger iPad Air or an even better iPad Pro, it looks like 2024 is going to be a good year.
Respected analysts Ming-Chi Kuo has issued one of his latest pronouncements on Medium, detailing what he expects Apple to produce in the following 12 months. And it's a big list – one that ties in nicely with reports that LG Display is going to begin producing OLED panels for the iPad Pro in February 2024.
What can we expect from the 2024 iPads?
According to Kuo, the iPad Air will be split into two lines: a 10.9-inch display like the current one, and a new 12.9-inch display. That might not sound like a big difference but I've just upgraded to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and that larger display is superb for reading, watching video and for densely packed apps such as Logic Pro for iPad. It's also a better laptop replacement than the smaller model.
That's expected in the first quarter of 2024. And at roughly the same time Kuo says we should expect an M3-powered iPad Pro with an OLED display alongside an upgraded 11-inch model, which will move from LCD to mini-LED – the same display technology that's currently available in the bigger Pro.
That leaves the iPad mini and the standard iPad, which will be the 11th generation model. That's scheduled for a later 2024 launch.
That's the good news. The bad is that the OLED iPads in particular are likely to get a price hike: the panels cost roughly three times more than the ones used in iPhones, and Apple doesn't tend to absorb the cost of higher priced components. That might be a factor in the plans for an iPad Pro-sized iPad Air: if Apple's best tablet for pro users is going to get even more expensive, a more affordable big tablet could be a welcome addition to the line-up.
