It looks like 2024 is going to be a good year for Mac fans, with some significant upgrades to both the iMac and the entire iPad range.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is still working on its much-rumoured iMac Pro, a 32-inch Mac that would be Apple's largest iMac ever. That may sneak into 2024, albeit towards the very end of the year. But we'll see a whole bunch of new iPads much sooner – and possibly as soon as March.
According to Gurman, Apple is planning to launch new iPads around that date, and "new entry-level, Air and Pro models" are in development. Apple is still planning a late-2023 product launch, most likely on the 30th or 31st of October, but that's going to focus on the 24-inch iMac, which is expected to get an upgrade to the M2.
So what can we expect from the 2024 iPads?
Apple's 2024 iPads: key predictions
We've been hearing reports of M3-powered iPad Pros for some time now, as well as a redesigned Magic Keyboard to make the combination look considerably more Mac-like. The new 2024 Pros are expected to come with OLED displays and slightly larger screens with thinner bezels, but the rumoured 14-inch iPad Pro has apparently been shelved – although it's since been suggested that Apple may be launching a larger, 12.9-inch MacBook Air.
It's unclear whether the March launch will include the Pros, however: according to Gurman the launch will have "at least" three refreshed tablets in the form of the 11th-generation iPad, the next iPad Air and the seventh-generation iPad mini.
While OLED may be planned for the iPad Pro it isn't coming to the entry-level iPad or iPad Air in 2024. That's largely because of price: Apple can't include OLED without massively reducing its profit margins, which is not something Apple likes to do.
Apple is also expected to stop making the 9th generation iPad without replacing it; the refreshed 10.9-inch iPad will reportedly become Apple's most affordable tablet. That probably means the beginning of the end of the first generation Apple Pencil too, as Apple will no longer be selling any iPads with Lightning connectors to charge it.
