While a new iPad mini is expected before the end of 2026, a new report says you'll need to wait longer for updates to the entry-level iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro.
The most recent rumors of the first update to the iPad mini since October 2024 have claimed that it will be released with an OLED screen before the end of 2026. Now according to Bloomberg, this update is the first of several iPad model refreshes.
Specifically, the report claims that Apple plans to release new iPads from the fall through to spring 2027:
- iPad Mini: October 2026
- iPad: Q1 2027
- iPad Air: spring 2027
- iPad Pro: spring 2027
Back in 2024, it was reported that Apple was planning an OLED iPad mini for release in 2026. To date, the higher-quality screen has solely been used in the iPad Pro, where it doesn't appear to have been the success that Apple hoped for.
Nonetheless, Apple is said to be intending to eventually transition the whole iPad range over to OLED. The iPad mini, codenamed J510, is to be the first.
It's not clear what could be the second to get the technology, though, as reports of updates to the rest of the iPad range do not specify their screen type. The report does say that the base iPad will not get OLED yet, and that seems likely given that this screen type would add to cost of that entry-level model.
Instead, the claim is that the new update to the base iPad, codenamed J581, is a faster processor. Apple is not expected to give it a major redesign.
There is also no word of a significant redesign for the iPad Air, whose next 11-inch and 13-inch models are codenamed J807 and J837.
Apple is also not expected to make significant visible changes to the iPad Pro, which the new report says will launch around the same time as the iPad Air. Separately, though, other recent reports have claimed that the iPad Pro will gain vapor chamber cooling in early 2027.
