Apple plans to refresh the iPad Air in early 2025, about a year after the 2024 refresh. There’s no clear picture yet of exactly what to expect, but rumors point to an updated chip and new accessories. Apple refreshed the design of the iPad Air in 2024, offering two size options that match the iPad Pro models. In 2025, we expect 11-inch and 13-inch sizes again, but so far there has been no word on any design changes. The 2025 iPad Air models are expected to feature the same design as the 2024 iPad Air models, namely an aluminum chassis with flat edges and rounded corners that wrap around the LCD screen. Apple is expected to continue to add a Touch ID power button and a USB-C port for biometric authentication. Even without design changes, there could be additional color options. The current iPad Air comes in Space Gray, Purple, Blue and Starlight, a soft shade of gold.
What will the next generation iPad Air look like?
While Apple has added the M4 to the iPad Pro and will bring it to the latest Mac models this year, the iPad Air is expected to get the M3 chip, which is a step up from the current M2 chip. The M3 chip is built with Apple’s newer 3-nanometer processor technology, and while not as fast as the M4, it is a significant upgrade over the M2. M3’s CPU performance is up to 30% faster than M2 CPU performance and GPU performance is 15% faster. The M3 is more efficient than the M2 for better battery life and has an all-new GPU architecture that uses Dynamic Caching to improve graphics performance for GPU-intensive apps and games. iPad also has support for hardware-based ray tracing to improve games. Rumors suggest that the iPad Air will take the M3 instead of the newer M4 found in iPad Pro models to differentiate between the two tablets. Apple plans to keep the iPad Air a step behind the iPad Pro.
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Current iPad Air models with the M2 chip support Apple Intelligence in iPadOS 18, and M3 chips will also work with Apple Intelligence. A key difference between iPad Pro and iPad Air is support for OLED display technology and 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. In 2025 we do not expect significant updates to the display, and so far there has been no information that Apple plans to bring ProMotion to the iPad Air. Apple has brought Wi-Fi 7 support to the latest iPhone models, so we could start to see more products updated to the latest Wi-Fi protocol. Wi-Fi 7 offers faster speeds and lower latency, and if the new iPad Air doesn’t get Wi-Fi 7, it will continue to use Wi-Fi 6E.
