Apple to launch new Magic Keyboard and updated Apple Pencil alongside 2024's iPad Pro refresh

When Apple updates the iPad Pro with a new OLED display and the M3 chip next year, it will also launch a new Magic Keyboard and a new Apple Pencil. That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman was writing as part of a larger piece discussing Apple's plans to arrest a decline in sales across the tablet and laptop lineups.

To arrest that line Apple is set to launch the updated iPad Pros while two new iPad Airs are also expected to be unveiled. Those two tablets will ship in March, Gurman believes, with the main news being the addition of a new model with a display of somewhere around the 13-inch mark. Beyond that, no new design changes are expected at this point.

As for the accessories, Gurman says that Apple is already testing a pair of new Magic Keyboards under the codenames R418 and R428, likely in 11-inch and 12.9-inch configurations. The new keyboards are expected to be sturdier than any of the keyboards that have so far shipped for use with the iPad Pro, with an aluminum construction ditching the fabric and plastic of previous models. That could help Apple convince people that the iPad Pro can truly be the tablet replacement that they want it to be.

There's no firm information on what the new Apple Pencil will offer, however. Apple recently announced a new USB-C Apple Pencil that has some of the Apple Pencil 2's features, but it's possible that a new Apple Pencil 3 could launch with all-new features that are limited to the new iPad Pro tablets.