iPad Air tipped for M3 update - but don’t let that stop you buying the M2

(Image credit: Apple)

published 15 May 2024

The new iPad Air 2024 is only a few days old, but rumours are already swirling about its replacement – and the first such rumour sounds accurate because it's pretty much inevitable. After the M2 iPad Air, Apple is planning to make... a M3 iPad Air.

Before you click away, though, it's worth looking at that in a bit more detail – because the new iPad Pros of course have M4 processors. But rather than let the Airs get those processors a year or so from now, Apple reportedly plans to keep the Airs a generation behind the Pros.

What to know about the next iPad Air

This new report comes via MacRumors, which credits it to "a private account with a proven track record of sharing accurate information about Apple's plans." As the site notes, it's very early to even speculate on what Apple might be planning next. But the processor plan appears to be a strategic decision rather than just a guess about possible future specifications.

One other possible future specification is a 10.8-inch OLED display. That was predicted by industry watchers Omdia, who published an OLED roadmap for Apple's devices back in February. That roadmap accurately predicted the OLED iPad Pros we've just seen; according to the document, the next devices getting OLED upgrades are the iPad Air in 2026, and the biggest MacBook Pros in the same year. The roadmap also suggests an OLED iPad mini in 2027.

Whatever the spec of the next iPad Air, don't let it put you off buying any of the current models: I'm using a 2021 iPad Pro with the M1 processor, a lesser processor than the M2 in the current Airs, and there hasn't been a single time when I've wished there was something more powerful inside – even when I've been running demanding apps such as Logic Pro. The combination of M-series silicon and Apple's long-term support of iOS and iPadOS devices means an Air bought today will be a great device for a good few years to come, no matter what Apple is cooking up for the next generation.

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Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).