A mystery 12.9-inch iPad is coming in the final quarter of 2024, analyst claims

Apple is holding a special event on May 7 with new iPads expected to be the stars of the show. One of those iPads is set to be an all-new 12.9-inch iPad Air, reports have suggested, but that won't be the end of the new tablet arrivals according to a new report.

Supply chain analyst Ross Young had previously suggested that the 12.9-inch iPad Air will feature a mini-LED display, but in a paywalled post on the X social network, he now says that isn't the case after all. However, there IS some truth to the previous rumor in the fact that there is indeed a 12.9-inch iPad of some description, featuring a mini-LED display, in the works.

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What that unnamed and mystery tablet will be, nobody knows. Young believes that it will arrive in the fourth quarter of the year which means that it will come much later than the expected OLED iPad Pro and new iPad Air announcements next month. The news is interesting because the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro uses a mini-LED display and will be replaced by an OLED version soon. That would suggest that the new 12.9-inch tablet won't be an iPad Pro, and with a 12.9-inch iPad Air debuting next month also, that leaves little room in the lineup for another 12.9-inch device.

That has long been a rumor that Apple is working on a new, larger standard iPad with a display as large as 14 inches, but that is unlikely to be the tablet Young is speaking about here. Mini-LED technology is expensive, a fact that always means that its arrival in the iPad Air was unlikely. That also means it's extremely unlikely the technology would be used in a standard iPad, too.

Whatever the new iPad is, it's going to join a refreshed tablet lineup. Apple's May 7 event is set to see the iPad Pro refreshed with new OLED displays for improved colors and black reproduction. It's set to retain the current 11-inch and 12.9-inch options.

Alongside the iPad Pro we expect Apple to also debut a refreshed 11-inch iPad Air as well as a brand-new 12.9-inch iPad Air - the one that we briefly thought would have that mini-LED display. Both tablets are getting new chips; the iPad Pro will upgrade to an M3 while the iPad Air will ditch the M1 in favor of the M2. It remains to be seen what the mystery 12.9-inch iPad will have to offer.