It’s solely been a 12 months since Apple introduced its highly effective M1 chip to the mid-tier iPad Air, however there are indications {that a} refreshed mannequin may already be within the works for someday this 12 months as inventory ranges start to dwindle at carriers and third-party retailers.
Earlier this month, Canadian service Bell Mobility started providing $240 off the 2022 iPad Air for patrons prepared to go for a two-year contract — the kind of transfer the service usually makes when merchandise are about to be phased out in favor of newer fashions.
As an illustration, final August, I picked up an iPhone 13 Professional for my daughter for a month-to-month worth lower than that of the iPhone 13. Inventory ranges have been restricted sufficient that she needed to accept Graphite relatively than her most popular coloration of Sienna Blue, however the worth was laborious to beat.
Clearly, Bell Mobility and different carriers have been clearing the best way for the September launch of the iPhone 14 Professional. Nonetheless, there’s extra proof that they might be doing the identical for a next-generation iPad Air mannequin.
With the low cost in play, I opted to order an iPad Air earlier this week. Colours have been restricted to Area Gray and Purple, and solely the 64GB fashions have been out there; nonetheless, that was nonetheless a superb deal for an iPad for informal use and testing iPadOS 17.
Nonetheless, in keeping with an e mail I acquired as we speak, this mannequin of iPad Air 2022 “has been discontinued.”
In fact, that’s clearly not true on a broader scale — Apple remains to be promoting the 2022 iPad Air in all colours and capacities — so the message might merely recommend that Bell has dropped it from the lineup of merchandise it sells.
That would imply Bell has merely determined to cease carrying that specific product. Nonetheless, it will be an uncommon transfer for the service, which has all the time bought Apple’s whole iPad lineup — albeit generally with a extra restricted choice of colours.
When Will Apple Launch the Subsequent iPad Air?
Nonetheless, it’s essential to not learn an excessive amount of into this, and with WWDC having simply concluded, it’s unlikely we’ll see new iPad fashions seem earlier than this fall. Unlikely, however not inconceivable; Apple may slip a brand new iPad mannequin out extra quietly through a press launch. It did that with the third-generation iPad Air in 2019, and even the announcement of the present Fifth-generation iPad Air at Apple’s March 2022 Peek Efficiency occasion took lower than ten minutes of stage time.
For that mannequin, Apple wished to focus on the brand new M1 chip and 5G help, each of which have been a reasonably large deal. Apple had added the M1 to the iPad Professional lower than a 12 months earlier, and few anticipated it to convey that very same energy to its mid-tier iPad.
Actually, for about six months, the iPad Air was on par performance-wise with the flagship iPad Professional. Apple rectified that final fall by introducing the brand new M2 iPad Professional fashions,
Bumping the iPad Air to an M2 chip could be a lot much less thrilling. It’s merely the subsequent logical improve. We’ve already seen that Apple has no downside with the iPad Air and iPad Professional sporting the identical class of M-series chips — the Professional mannequin has way more to set it aside than uncooked efficiency, anyway.
Additional, Apple’s M3 chip might be prepared by this fall, resulting in the launch of an M3 iPad Professional later this 12 months or early subsequent 12 months, sustaining its efficiency lead.
Nonetheless, we haven’t heard a lot from the rumor mill a few new iPad Air, so at this level, it’s purely speculative. Additional, in contrast to the iPhone, Apple’s iPad product launch cycles are way more tough to foretell, though the frequency appears to have elevated since Apple moved to its M-series chips; now that the iPad Air and iPad Professional are extra mature merchandise, Apple appears content material to focus totally on common spec bumps relatively than making an attempt to introduce vital new options.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]