The iPad Air has looked the same since 2020, making it the longest-running design in Apple’s tablet lineup. There is a reasonable case that 2027 could be when that comes to an end.
Apple last gave the iPad Air a new enclosure in 2020, when the fourth-generation model introduced flat sides, an all-screen front, and Touch ID in the top button. The subsequent M1, M2, M3, and M4 updates were all internal with no design changes.
That could change next year. Apple is expected to move the iPad Air to OLED in early 2027, with Samsung Display supplying single-stack LTPS panels that sit below the tandem OLED in the iPad Pro on cost and brightness. The M5 chip is also rumored. That will form the largest change the product has had in years, and it comes as part of a wider OLED rollout that will eventually reach products like the iMac and MacBook Air.
The substantial upgrade would be a suitable candidate for a complete redesign. When the iPad Pro moved to OLED in 2024, Apple completely redesigned the device for the first time since 2018, introducing a substantially thinner chassis.
More strikingly, the iPad mini 8 is expected by October with a new design, an OLED display, a vibration-based speaker system that eliminates speaker holes, and a water-resistant casing that would be an iPad first.
The iPad Air and iPad mini have shared their design language since their introduction, with the mini most recently adopting the Air’s look in 2021 and holding it through to the iPad mini 7. If the mini receives a new enclosure this year, the Air is the obvious candidate to bring over the same one next. It could be much like how the original iPad mini from 2012 set the design standard for the iPad Air just a year later.
There have been no specific rumors about an iPad Air redesign for next year, but if it does mirror the iPad mini, the device could gain the same vibration-based speaker system, water-resistance, and more.
