We are now less than 3 weeks away from Apple’s rumored March 8th Spring event where they’re
expected to reveal a bunch of new products including a new iPhone SE, three new Mac models,
and of course, the iPad Air.
So what I’m gonna be doing in this video is go through all of the FINAL leaks and rumors
as well as my own reasoning for why I’m 100% sure we’ll be seeing a new iPad Air
at this event, and then I’ll explain why our iPad Air 5 custom renders have a square
camera bump on them!
Now before I get into all of the main leaks that really solidify the rumors of the iPad
Air coming at next month’s event, I want to first go the logical and common sense approach
to why it makes sense for it to come as soon as possible, so let’s get right into that.
Last year, in September, Apple revealed the new iPad mini 6 which came with a full redesign,
finally matching the modern design of the iPad Air and the iPad Pro, complete with the
USB-C port!
But the thing that I didn’t expect Apple to do was to go above and beyond with the
new iPad Mini, specifically by giving it the brand new A15 Bionic chip instead of sticking
to the A14.
And the reason this was so shocking to me was that the iPad Air 4 that is currently
STILL up for sale comes with the older A14 chip while actually being $100 more expensive
than the new mini with the A15 chip.
To me, this makes absolutely no sense at all, for a less expensive iPad to come with a newer
and faster chip, which puts the entire lineup into disarray..
But wait..
That’s not the only problem.
The iPad mini 6 has a bunch of other advantages over the iPad Air, like for example, it comes
with a much better camera system!
It actually gets a flash module while the Air does not, and it comes with upgraded video
recording capabilities like getting cinematic video stabilization at 4K resolution and it
gets extended dynamic range at up to 30FPS while the Air doesn’t get it at all.
But the absolute biggest difference is that the new mini comes with the brand new 12MP
ultrawide selfie camera with features like Lens correction, Smart HDR 3, extended dynamic
range, and stabilization, which is a HUGE step above the basic 7MP camera on the Air,
and it comes with the center stage feature for FaceTime video.
And believe it or not, even the new BUDGET iPad for only $329 gets this new 12MP ultrawide
camera as well, which makes it even more obvious that the iPad Air 4 makes literally no sense
right now in the current iPad lineup.
On top of that, the new iPad mini 6 actually supports 5G connectivity, which is obviously
extremely important to Apple, and the iPad Air of course, doesn’t have that.
So in my opinion, Apple needs to fix this messed up iPad lineup ASAP, which is why they
absolutely NEED to release the iPad Air 5 at the next possible event, which should be
on March 8th.
But beyond that, there is actually even more common sense evidence for why Apple should
be releasing this iPad Air at their upcoming Spring event instead of later in the year.
Ever since 2019, the iPad Air has been on a 1.5-year release cycle, with the current
iPad Air 4 being released in September of 2020, which would point to a Spring 2022 release
date a year and a half later.
But an even more important point I want to make is that the iPad Air has NEVER been released
in the middle of the year or in the summertime, and it has also NEVER been released alongside
the iPad Pro.
And this makes total sense because the iPad Air and Pro are right next to each other in
the lineup, currently being fairly similar in terms of design and only a couple of hundred
dollars apart in terms of price point, so it would kind of create a conflict of attention.
But if you’ve been following the rumors for the upcoming M2 iPad Pro, you’ll know
that basically ALL of them are pointing to it coming in the Fall, including Mark Gurman
who is hands-down the most reliable leaker, as well as DylanDKT who said it’s coming
in the fall for sure.
And I personally agree with this because I believe Apple HAS to debut the new M2 chip
on a Mac FIRST, before giving it to the iPad Pro later, which is exactly what they did
with the M1 iPad Pro.
And finally, the iPad Pro has mostly been on a 1.5-year update cycle just like the iPad
Air, with the exception of last year with the whole M1 chip launch, and I believe they’re
gonna go back on that 1.5-year cycle again, pointing to a Fall release.
And the whole point I’m trying to make is that it means that the iPad Air absolutely
needs to get released this Spring to avoid being released alongside the Pro in the Fall,
which Apple has never done before, and I don’t think they will.
So with that said, let’s move on to all of the latest leaks and rumors that confirm
this theory, as well as the new features and changes we should expect, but first, I’ve
gotta show you guys our new iPad Air 5 renders in the green aluminum finish alongside this
beautiful green wallpaper which you can find a download link to in the video description
below.
And yes, the design looks extremely familiar, apart from one noticeable difference, the
camera bump..
Now getting into the leaks, for many months, it was believed that this iPad Air would be
the first iPad to come with an OLED display, but that was apparently delayed until 2023
according to Ross Young, and shortly after that, Ming-Chi Kuo agreed and says that the
2022 iPad Air will be sticking to the same LCD display that we currently have, which
is a bit disappointing.
But then, in July of last year, Mac Otakara gave us a massive report in terms of what
to expect from the design, and in their report, they claimed that the overall design will
remain unchanged with the same 10.9” display and the same Touch ID power button, but that
it would gain a dual-lens camera system with both Wide and Ultra-wide cameras, which is
exactly what we have on the iPad Pro.
And in my opinion, this makes total sense because Apple’s Magic Keyboard supports
both the iPad Air and the iPad Pro, but on the Air, it looks a bit weird because the
singular camera bump doesn’t really fill in the square-ish hole on the case.
And that is exactly why our new renders come with a dual-lens square bump, complete with
a flash and a microphone hole, perfectly matching the iPhone 13 camera bump design, and you
might also notice that the LiDAR scanner is missing because Mac Otakara couldn’t confirm
if it was coming or not, and I think it makes sense to keep it exclusive to the iPad Pro
models for at least another year.
Now apart from that, they also believe that the new iPad Air will get a four-speaker audio
system instead of the current two-speaker system, and this makes total sense to me because
it already has the four-speaker grilles and it’s expected to slowly gain iPad Pro features
over the years.
They also believe that it’ll get an upgrade to the A15 chip which is a very obvious change
that I can guarantee will happen, along with everything else the iPad mini received last
year like optional 5G connectivity, camera performance updates, and of course, the new
12MP ultrawide selfie camera.
But other than that, I honestly don’t think it’ll be getting anything else, with the
three major feature changes being the new square-ish camera bump, the A15 chip, and
the quad-stereo speakers, which is why I believe it’ll be carrying the same price $599 price
tag as the current model.
And finally, let’s finish off with the major leaks that confirm that the Air will be revealed
at Apple’s Spring event.
Last month, Apple registered new iPad model numbers with the EEC that are likely for the
new iPad Air 5, and Mark Gurman basically confirmed this recently by flat out saying
that Apple plans to unveil the new iPad Air at the March 8th event, which is the biggest
confirmation yet.
And Mac Otakara also came back and even confirmed that new iPad Air models have actually entered
mass production ahead of the event.
So if we combine all of those leaks along with the fact that the iPad Air desperately
needs an update in order to make sense within the iPad lineup, as well as being on a 1.5-year
update cycle, I can confidently say that the iPad Air will be revealed at Apple’s upcoming
Spring event, 100% confirmed, no doubt about it!
Now if you disagree with me, then go ahead and comment your thoughts down below, but
if you enjoyed it, click that circle above to subscribe for more videos like this one
and check out that video which talks about the Macs we’re expecting at the March event.
Thanks for watching and we’ll see you in the next video!