According to recent reports from Bloomberg, Apple will be releasing another iPad Air with “internal improvements” as early as spring 2025.
The iPad Air was just refreshed with M2 earlier this year, meaning there’d be around 12 months between refreshes, rather than the typical 18-24 months between iPad Air refreshes. With such a short turnaround time, it leaves you wondering: what will Apple actually be updating in these iPads?
New Magic Keyboard
At the very least, Apple is reportedly designing a brand new Magic Keyboard specifically for iPad Air. Currently, the iPad Air uses the original Magic Keyboard design that was introduced in 2020 with the iPad Pro. Since then, the base model iPad has received a new Magic Keyboard Folio, and the iPad Pro has a new aluminum Magic Keyboard.
According to Gurman, the new Magic Keyboard should have a new function row, similar to the aforementioned iPad Keyboards. However, unlike the new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard, this Magic Keyboard for iPad Air will not have an aluminum top case.
Hopefully, this new iPad Air Magic Keyboard can have a lower starting price. Currently, the older Magic Keyboard and iPad Pro Magic Keyboard have the same starting price of $299 for 11″ and $349 for 13″, despite the fact that the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard is far superior.
Potentially upgraded display
According to one source who provided information to the Upgrade podcast, Apple is working on 90Hz display technology for the iPad Air and other upcoming Apple products:
“I have news on screen improvements for the next generation of the M3 iPad Air. Apple is working on a higher refresh rate LCD display with a new liquid motion panel fixed at around 90Hz. They’re also working on expanding it to other models or products like a 24-inch iMac and a next-gen studio display.”
Other reputable leakers have yet to back this rumor, so it might not come to fruition. Display analyst Ross Young, for example, has said he’s heard nothing about new Apple displays with 90Hz.
Upgraded chip
In Gurman’s initial report, no details were specified regarding the chip. However, it’s quite unlikely that Apple would update the iPad Air and leave the exact same chipset inside. That means we’ll either see an upgrade to the M3 chip or the M4 chip.
Apple will probably implement the M3 chip in the next iPad Air. We initially believed Apple is trying to move away from the first generation 3nm process as quickly as possible, due to high costs and low yields – but then they put the A17 Pro chip in the iPad mini. M3 in the iPad Air is a likely upgrade, as the iPad Air has always lagged a year behind in chips. Other sources have also indicated that this is a possibility.
However, the idea that Apple would like move away from the 1st generation 3nm process could hold weight, and it could cause Apple could implement a version of the M4 chip in the iPad Air. They’d probably use the lowest binned version of the M4, with an 8 core CPU and 8 core GPU – to differentiate it from the iPad Pro.
All that being said though, theres more leaning in favor of an M3 chip upgrade than M4 currently, so I’d recommend tempering expectations. Similar to what happened with the iPad mini, Apple could simply have a large stockpile of M3 chips after transitioning all of the M3 Macs to M4 so quickly, and it could simply be a logical supply chain move.
Face ID?
In a recent edition of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman floated the idea of the next generation iPad Air gaining Face ID as a potential upgrade. However, he also stated that “Apple also wants to avoid making it too similar to the iPad Pro.”
As nice as Face ID would be, especially as it’s been over 6 years since it debuted in the iPad Pro, it seemingly isn’t coming.
Other potential improvements
This section is more speculative, but there are some improvements Apple has been making with other products that we could potentially see in the M3 iPad Air:
- 600 nits of brightness standard (currently exclusive to the 13-inch M2 iPad Air, 11-inch model is still 500 nits)
- Wi-Fi 7 support, introduced on the iPhone 16 lineup
- Rear LED flash (introduced on iPad mini in 2021, still never implemented on iPad Air)
- Thunderbolt support (exclusive to iPad Pro currently)
- Better mic array
Are you looking forward to the new iPad Air refresh in 2025? Do you think this refresh will be worth it? Let us know in the comments.
Follow Michael: X/Twitter, Threads, Instagram
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments