New Renders Show Upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air with Redesigned Cameras

With 2023 being an exceptionally quiet year for the iPad, we’re expecting a lot from Apple’s tablets this year, and it doesn’t look like the company will disappoint us. If rumors are accurate, we could see Apple announcing some healthy updates to the iPad Pro and iPad Air as soon as March.

While the iPad Pro may not get any significant design changes, both models are expected to feature OLED screens for the first time on an iPad, as well as Apple’s latest M3 silicon. There are also reports that the larger tablet might grow to a 13-inch display, but a tenth of an inch is more of a rounding error in this case, so don’t expect it to be noticeable unless you hold it up side-by-side with a 2022 model.

If anything, Apple might be going with the 13-inch designation just to set the iPad Pro apart from the iPad Air, which is expected to come in a larger 12.9-inch version this time around. Since 2018, the iPad Pro has been offered in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes, while the iPad Air adopted a slightly smaller 10.9-inch screen when it received a similar design in 2020. That’s a subtle enough number that it’s hard to see a difference between iPad Pro and iPad Air unless you compare them directly, but it seems Apple wants to use slightly different numbers to set the two families apart.

Now, the folks at 91mobiles have provided us with a first look at some CAD renders of the new tablet. While most of what’s here is unsurprising — as expected, it’s mostly just a larger version of the 10.9-inch model.

That includes the same button layout, with a Touch ID button in the top corner (when held in portrait orientation) and the side volume buttons in the usual spot. There’s still a USB-C port, and the speaker grilles are in the same position.

If you were hoping that Apple might adopt a landscape camera similar to the 2022 10th-generation iPad design, we have some bad news, as it looks like that’s staying in the same place, too.

However, there is one noticeable change on the back, with the traditional single round camera lens morphing into the pill-like design of the iPhone X and iPhone XS era.

The reason for this change isn’t apparent from the renders. 91mobiles describes it as “a border around the lens and LED flash,” but that might be an error on its part, as none of Apple’s iPad Air models have ever included a flash — this is only found on the iPad Pro and the latest sixth-generation iPad mini. On the current iPad Air, the hole below the camera is a microphone, and the renders make it appear that Apple is merely pairing the camera and microphone into the new elevated camera bump.

By comparison, the iPad mini 6 includes both a microphone and a True Tone LED flash in tandem with the camera; however, it otherwise has the same protruding lens design as the iPad Air.

Since the renders only show the physical design, they don’t provide any other insight into what specs we can expect on the new iPad Air. However, most sources indicate that the new iPad Air models will be equipped with Liquid Retina LCD screens and Apple’s M2 chip but otherwise retain most of the same specs as the current 2022.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]