Earlier this month, 9to5Mac reported that Apple is at present growing two new iPad Air fashions alongside an up to date iPad mini. A brand new report at this time from DigiTimes provides extra gas to this fireplace, saying that Apple is prepping a 12.9-inch model of the iPad Air.
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12.9-inch iPad Air rumors
In our report originally of the month, we defined that Apple is engaged on two iPads with the identifiers J537 and J538, that are based mostly on the iPad Air. On the time, we speculated that this may very well be a larger-screened companion to the present 10.9-inch iPad Air type issue.
DigiTimes now says that Apple’s iPad Air roadmap features a new 12.9-inch mannequin that makes use of conventional LCD backlighting, somewhat than mini-LED. This aligns with the present iPad Air, which additionally makes use of LCD backlighting.
“The forthcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air could characteristic typical LCD backlighting versus mini-LED backlighting,” the report says whereas citing nameless “business sources.”
On condition that DigiTimes experiences are sometimes based mostly on provide chain sources, this probably means that there’s proof of a brand new 12.9-inch LCD panel in Apple’s provide chain pipeline. At present, Apple doesn’t promote any product with a 12.9-inch LCD panel. The 12.9-inch iPad Professional makes use of mini-LED, and the expectation is that the iPad Professional lineup will swap to OLED someday in early 2024.
If Apple had been to bifurcate the iPad Air lineup based mostly on display screen dimension, it will match up with the iPad Professional technique. This might give clients a big-screen iPad possibility with out shelling out $1,099 for the 12.9-inch iPad Professional. It’s additionally attainable that the 12.9-inch iPad Professional will get much more costly with the M3 and OLED revision coming subsequent yr.
There’s clearly room between the present iPad Air and the 12.9-inch iPad Professional for a extra reasonably priced possibility with a big display screen. The iPad lineup is complicated, however Apple may streamline it by ditching the ninth technology mannequin and probably chopping the value of the iPad 10.
Including a big-screened iPad Air would additionally align with the MacBook Air, which is now obtainable in 13-inch and 15-inch type components. The iPhone 15 can be obtainable in the identical display screen sizes as its Professional counterparts.
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