Apple to Launch iPad Air 6 Next Month With M2 Chip, No iPad Pro and iPad mini 7 in The Equation This Year

Apple is preparing to launch the iPhone 15 lineup in a few days with major changes coming on all four models. The company's Wonderlust event is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 12. It was previously reported that the company will host another in October or November where it will see fit to announce the new M3 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. Now, the company is only expected to update its iPad Air lineup with an M2 chip while iPad mini 7 and M3 iPad Pro announcements will be reserved for another day.

Apple could launch the iPad Air 6 in October, potentially with the same M2 chip as the one in the iPad Pro models

As mentioned earlier, Apple was previously reported to host another event in October for its MacBook upgraded cycle. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo coined that Apple will no longer host an event for the M3 MacBooks this year. However, the analyst did not say anything about the iMac, which still remains a possibility. According to a new rumor posted on Weibo (via MacRumors), Apple will only introduce the iPad Air 6 this year.

If the rumor has any heft to it, the company will not introduce any MacBook or iMac this year. It seems the company wants the 15-inch MacBook Air to circle in the market for another couple of months before it decides to upgrade and streamline the entire lineup with a new chip. The company is reported to announce the M3 chip and new MacBook models next year, potentially at its Spring event. As for this year, the company is working to upgrade the iPad Air 6 with a new and more powerful M2 chip.

The new M2 MacBook Air would potentially put the iPad Air lineup against the M2 iPad Pro models in terms of performance. However, the iPad Pro houses additional features oriented toward power users. Nonetheless, the cheaper price tag of the iPad Air 6 would appeal to a lot of users. Apple is looking to launch the M3 iPad Pro models next year with a wide range of changes that will set the 'Pro' models apart from the rest of the lineup.

The iPad Air 6 could launch via press release following a short video of the product in action. Gurman states that Apple will not devise a dedicated event for a single product unless the company is planning to launch an additional iPad model with it. It was also previously reported that Apple is planning to launch the iPad mini 7 with upgraded internals. We suspect that the company will announce the new iPad Air 6 and iPad mini 7 via press release in October. The iPad Air 6 could come with an M2 chip while the iPad mini 7 could house an A17 Bionic chip based on 3nm fabrication.

Take note that these are mere speculations at this stage as the final word rests with Apple. Currently, Apple's Wonderlust event is all the hype as the company is gearing up to announce the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models alongside the new Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. It was also reported that the company is working on a new AirPods Pro version with a USB-C charging case. We will be covering the event in extensive detail, so be sure to stick around.

Written by Ali Salman