The drought is almost over. After the longest period ever between the launch of iPads, we know that Apple is about to reveal what’s up its sleeve. Here’s everything you need to know, from the exact timings to what is, and what isn’t, going to be announced.
The invite for the next Apple Special Event.
Apple Event Time And Date
The next special event is an online affair, and you can tune in to hear the news on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific, 10 a.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. U.K. Take note of these times because this is not the normal keynote timing.
May 7 update below. This post was first published on May 5, 2024.
You can watch on apple.com, on Apple’s YouTube channel, which already has a countdown page in place, or on Apple TV.
What’s Coming: Apple iPad Pro
This is the most exciting part of the expected announcements, with two new iPad Pro models predicted. There will be new 11-inch and 12.9-inch Pros, possibly with the screen size edging up a fraction. There will be an all-new design, changing the look of the tablets for the first time in more than three years. Expect slimmer bezels around the screen and a repositioning of the FaceTime camera to the longer edge instead of the shorter edge of the display as now.
The display, on both sizes, will be OLED—the first time an iPad will have this technology and it will mark the end to the disparity between Pro sizes. Currently only the larger iPad Pro has miniLED backlighting.
That should have been the biggest news, but the latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman made a surprising claim: Apple could, he says, launch an all-new Apple processor, the M4, something even the latest Macs can’t match.
I’ll be honest, I’m still skeptical on the M4 detail, and I predict that M3 is more likely here, but we’ll see.
The sting in the tail could be a hefty price increase brought about by the OLED screen.
Expected release date: Friday, May 17.
What’s Coming: Apple iPad Air
Apple has never launched new models of the iPad Pro and iPad Air together, so Tuesday will be a very big day for that reason alone.
We’re expecting not one but two new iPads Air. For the first time, there will be two sizes of iPad Air. Alongside the current 10.9-inch model, an iPad Air with a 12.9-inch display is coming, it seems.
This makes sense: the latest MacBook Air with larger display has been a big success. But it does mean Apple will need to clearly demarcate between Air and Pro if they are both released in similar sizes.
One difference will be the OLED screens, which are not expected to land on the Air. One report claimed that the larger Air would use unsold inventory of 12.9-inch iPad Pro displays with miniLED, but then quickly rowed back from this on the basis that it would push the price of the Air up too much.
Expected release date: Friday, May 17 or Friday, May 24.
What’s Coming: Apple Pencil And Magic Keyboard
There’s an Apple Pencil in the image used to advertise the event, so it would be remarkable if there wasn’t a new Pencil. The latest report says that it will have haptic feedback and a new way of interacting with it: by squeezing the Pencil.
Expected release date: Friday, May 17.
What’s Not Coming: AI And Apple Vision Pro
One report said that Tuesday’s event will have a big AI component. While there doubtless will be talk of AI, especially if the Pro does have an M4 chip, the big generative AI innovations will come with WWDC in June.
And there have been rumors that Apple will announce bringing Apple Vision Pro to the U.K., for instance, but I don’t think that’s right. It’s just possible that the China release of Vision Pro could be signaled, but my guess is that WWDC will be the venue for international sales announcements of the headset.
May 6 update. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote much about the new iPads in his latest Power On newsletter, and there were some interesting nuggets.
First up, he says the keynote won’t be the marathon that some special events are. Speaking of the iPad, he says, “The presentation, which is expected to be about 35 minutes, should set the product on a new path.” As a guide, that’s longer than the Scary Fast keynote which was Apple’s last, back in October, but not by much (that one ran to a little under 31 minutes).
Given that Apple managed to launch not one but three M3 chips—the first time it had ever revealed three at the same time—as well as two new MacBook Pro models, including an all-new Space Black finish, we know that Apple can fit a lot into half an hour.
Gurman also talked about how Steve Jobs positioned the original iPad as a replacement for laptops in some circumstances. Gurman again: “In a way, Jobs was right. But not necessarily because of the iPad. There are millions of people who now use the iPhone as their primary computer. Smartphones have become incredibly capable, and larger screens have turned them into small tablets with computer-like performance. For many people, a phone is all they need.”
He thinks this will be the moment when Apple could make clear what the iPad is, because, “Consumers are confused about why they should buy an iPad versus a Mac and vice versa.”
My take is different. Apple makes multiple devices with different inputs and screen sizes, from a MacBook to an iPad, an iPhone to an Apple Watch. You wouldn’t want to write a novel on your Watch, or use a MacBook to record your heart rate. Each form factor has its own strengths. I believe we’ll see iPads that play to Apple’s strengths: powerful, thin, lightweight devices that do many things a laptop can, but with ultimate portability and convenience, not to mention a touchscreen that works with your finger and a slick Apple Pencil stylus.
May 7 update. The suggestion that a new Apple Pencil is coming seems to be clearer by the moment. Of course, Apple touched on it with its logo that sees a hand holding a Pencil. And it wouldn’t focus on this if it were an already-announced Pencil, surely?
Then there was the surprise change to the Apple logo heading up the special event on apple.com. Swipe your mouse across the logo and you can erase it, which is another indication of Apple’s focus on something new—full details of this unexpected Easter Egg here.
But now there’s another Pencil-related hint: it could be called the Apple Pencil Pro.
According to 9to5Mac, there is a reference to Apple Pencil Pro in the source code for the apple.com website. Its’ only in the Japanese version, so it could be something that’s lost in translation, or it could be that other languages simply left this detail out. It’s on the homepage banner for the event and, as the report explains, “describes the logo’s header image as a creator holding a ‘Apple Pencil Pro’. The discovery was first spotted by ribu_ap712 on X.”
This new name would seem to fit with the rumors that there will be a new, squeeze function on the next Pencil, which in turn would allow extra features, such as quicker swaps to and from an eraser, for instance.
