2024 iPad Forecast Reveals Exciting New Addition: Larger-Screened iPad Air

In 2023, Apple did not release a new iPad model, but this sets up a big year for the iPad in 2024. Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst, expects the company to upgrade existing iPad models and introduce a brand new tablet next year.

Kuo predicts that Apple will manufacture two iPad Air tablets in the first quarter of 2024. One will have a 10.9-inch display, while the other will feature a larger 12.9-inch display with an Oxide backplane, similar to the technology used in the 12.9-inch mini-LED iPad Pro. These new iPad Air models are also anticipated to be powered by the M2 chipset, an upgrade from the M1 found in the current iPad Air.

Additionally, Apple is expected to start mass production of two updated iPad Pro models with OLED displays and the powerful 3nm M3 chipset in the first or second quarter of 2024. However, production issues with the OLED panels have caused a delay. Kuo also predicts that the pricing of the iPad Air series might influence the pricing of the OLED iPad Pro tablets to maintain a gap in pricing between the two lines.

Kuo anticipates that shipments of the new OLED iPad Pro tablets in 2024 will reach 6 to 8 million units, slightly lower than the delivery of the current iPad Pro models. This could be due to potential higher pricing for the OLED iPad Pro tablets and a possible impact from the new 12.9-inch iPad Air model.

Furthermore, the mass production of the new iPad mini and the 11th-generation iPad has been postponed to the second half of 2024. Kuo forecasts deliveries of 52 to 54 million iPad units in 2024, compared to the approximately 50 million tablets shipped in 2023 and 63 million in 2022.