Chinese site MyDrivers reported Wednesday that Apple will be launching a fourth-generation iPad Air tablet powered by the company’s in-house designed A14 system-on-a-chip in March 2021, right about when the next iPad Pro has been rumored to arrive, too.
The repot (via MacRumors), based on unnamed sources, indicates that the next iPad Air will feature Apple’s magnetic Smart Connector which is used to connect keyboards that don’t have their own batteries and instead draw power from the tablet’s internal battery.
Yes, you may be able to connect a Magic Keyboard to the fourth-generation iPad Pro. The next iPad Air is also said to borrow another feature from the iPad Pro: the USB-C connector.
Other rumored features of the upcoming device are said to include an 11-inch Liquid Retina display, 128GB/256GB/512GB storage tiers and four stereo speakers. Those hardware improvements sound a lot like the iPad Pro, but we don’t believe that MyDrives confused the next iPad Air with the upcoming iPad Pro (which offers a 1TB storage option).
For what it’s worth, MyDrivers notes that the fourth-generation iPad Air will be priced at $649, or a whopping $150 more than the current model, possibly indicating that Apple is repositioning this tablet as a more affordable alternative to the iPad Pro.
Apple is expected to hold at least one media event this fall to unveil the next iPhone. If history is an indication, there might be a second event to unveil new iPads. According to MyDrivers, however, the next iPad Pro might launch as soon as next month rather than the next spring, in which case a second event (likely in October) is almost certainly a given.
MyDrivers has a mixed track record reporting on Apple’s unreleased products so keep that in mind and take this report with a grain of salt.