The upcoming sixth generation iPad Air: a bigger screen for the M2

　　For Apple, 2023 is a year with few highlights in terms of products but excellent in business. And for the iPad product line, 2023 is - no such year. That's right, Apple hasn't updated its iPad lineup throughout 2023, and the last time it released a new iPad was back in March 2022.

　　We can review Apple's performance in the iPad product line in 2023. According to Canalys statistics, in Q1 2023, the global shipment of iPads will be 12.35 million units, with a market share of 38.9%, a year-on-year decrease of 17%; In Q2, iPad shipped 10.5 million units worldwide, with a market share of 37%, down 16.8% year-on-year; In Q3, iPad shipped 12.54 million units worldwide, with a market share of 38.3%, down 12.8% year-on-year. In Q4, iPad shipped 14.8 million units worldwide, with a market share of 39.2%, down 6.9% year-on-year.

　　Since there is no update of the product line throughout 2023, iPad shipments are still mainly relying on products in 2022, and its shipments in 2023 have declined year-on-year for four consecutive quarters. Although Apple's shipments still rank first in terms of annual data, accounting for 40% of the global market share, it is believed that this does not satisfy Apple. Not only Apple is not satisfied, but I believe that consumers who need to change boards are also in a hurry, and they urgently need a newer tablet device, not a two-year-old product. Recently, the news about the new iPad Air has also been exposed, will the new iPad Air make you pay?

　　The upcoming release is the iPad Air 6, and Apple's official name will most likely be iPad Air (sixth generation). According to what is known so far, the iPad Air 6 will be equipped with Apple's self-developed M2 processor, which is also the most obvious place where the new product is superior to its predecessor (fifth generation). The iPad Air 5 is powered by the M1 chip, considering that the iPad Pro has been using the M2 chip for more than a year and will most likely be updated to the M3 chipset in 2024. Therefore, it is likely that Apple will keep the Air on the older generation M2 of the iPad, which will keep the iPad Pro more attractive to high-end users. Mark Gurman has reported that Apple does plan to carry the M2 chip in the new iPad Air.

　　The screen has always been the focus of our attention to the iPad Air. The jury is still out on whether it will feature an OLED screen, but it can be expected that Apple will launch a larger iPad Air product - 12.9 inches in size, the same size as the current largest iPad Pro. Ming-Chi Kuo, industry analyst at Tianfeng International, said: "The 12.9-inch iPad Air is a new model, and it does not have mini-LEDs, but benefits from the Oxide backplate (the same specifications as the existing mini-LED iPad Pro), which provides better display performance than the 10.9-inch iPad Air with an a-Si backplane. ”

　　Aside from the possibility of getting bigger, the only design change worth mentioning is the fine-tuning of the rear camera module. There's a good chance the iPad Air won't be eligible for a second camera, but Apple may add a flash to the new oval camera. In terms of storage, except for the Pro series, the starting storage capacity of other iPad series is only 64GB. I'm still looking forward to the iPad Air 6 when it launches, starting at 128GB of storage while keeping a relatively low price tag – although 128GB doesn't seem like a lot of space at the moment, it's always good to have progress.

　　So, when will the new iPad Air meet us?

　　In early December, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman reported that Apple plans to release the new iPad and M3 MacBook Air by the end of March 2024. And in January this year, he reiterated that statement, saying that the new iPad was in production before its release in March.

　　Of course, the iPad Air is unlikely to be Apple's only updated iPad product in 2024. In November 2023, Ming-Chi Kuo, an industry analyst at Tianfeng International, said that Apple will update 4 product lines of all iPad series in 2024 - standard version, mini version, Air and Pro. It is worth mentioning that DSCC analyst Ross Young has tweeted that the display panel of the new 12.9-inch iPad Air has started shipping in December, indicating that the new product is likely to be released in the spring.