The “When will Apple launch the OLED iPad Pro and iPad Air?” saga continues with a new development. After a leaker from China hinted that March 26th might be the day when Apple finally announces its first 2024 tablets, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that’s not when it’s all going down.
The reporter didn’t share a different launch date for the new tablets. But he did say more than once recently that Apple will unveil the new tablets in late March or early April. That’s why March 26th made sense, to begin with.
A Tuesday announcement next week seemed to be in line with Apple’s way of doing things. Preorders would have started soon after that. An actual release date would have been planned for the first or second Friday after that announcement.
This might still be how Apple announces the new iPads, only the launch dance won’t start on March 26th.
Gurman reacted with a simple “not true” remark on X to a report mentioning the March 26th release date for the OLED iPad Pro and iPad Air 6. While he didn’t share an alternative date, he never offered a specific launch date for the new tablets. That late March or early April estimate was the best we got.
I’ll point out that he specifically reacted to that date. Considering next week is the final week of March, Apple could very well announce the new iPads on a different day than Tuesday, March 26th.
The reporter said In previous weeks that Apple is waiting to finish its iPadOS 17.4 update before launching the tablets. He never mentioned any launch delays for the tablets. However, the OLED iPad Pro and iPad Air 6 are launching later than the M3 MacBook Air models that dropped in early March.
That said, there’s no reason to connect the two product launches. Apple didn’t hold a media event where it would have unveiled all its spring products. It choose to go with a press release announcement for the M3 MacBook Airs. The same thing will probably happen with the 2024 iPads.
Other reports did hint that Apple might be struggling with OLED panel supply for the tablets. Samsung and LG manufacture the screens for the upcoming iPad Pro models, with each company working on a single size.
The OLED panels in the iPad Pro will be the first such displays for the iPad. They’ll bring a massive upgrade compared to the iPhone OLED screens. These displays will feature two OLED layers. They’ll be brighter, lighter, and more efficient than before. Also, they should improve the longevity of the display, which is a great feature to have from a tablet. You don’t buy these every year.
Currently, there’s only one other device featuring such technology. That’s the recently announced Porsche Design version of the Honor Magic 6 Pro.
A report earlier this week from the same leaker that mentioned the March 26th release date claimed Chinese suppliers have started shipping the two iPad Air 6 models. At the time, I speculated that the OLED iPad Pros should also be shipped to international markets if the new Airs are doing it.
Apple might have separated the MacBook launch from the iPad, but it’s unlikely it’ll do the same with the iPad Air 6 and OLED iPad Pro.
