Display Shipments for M4 MacBook Air and Low-Cost iPad Expected to Start in October - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Display Shipments for M4 MacBook Air and Low-Cost iPad Expected to Start in October

by

Display panel shipments for refreshed versions of the MacBook Air and the low-cost iPad will begin in October, display analyst Ross Young said in a tweet for subscribers. Apple is working on new M4 versions of the 13-inch and 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ models, as well as a new version of the 10.9-inch ‌iPad‌.

m2 macbook air new blue
Apple is expected to refresh the MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, and iPad mini in October of this year, and it would make sense for a new low-cost ‌iPad‌ to be introduced alongside those devices. Panel shipments that start in October suggest that the low-cost ‌iPad‌ would not be ready for an October event.

As for the ‌MacBook Air‌, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said that new models with M4 chips will come out in the first quarter of 2025, and on Twitter, he added that the October display shipment timing sounds correct for a Q1 launch.

The October panel shipment timing is unusual for the ‌iPad‌, so we will need to see what Apple has planned in the coming months. Rumors right now suggest that we can count on an October event that features at least some new Macs and iPads.

Related Roundups: iPad, MacBook Air
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Don't Buy), MacBook Air (Buy Now)
Related Forums: iPad, MacBook Air

Popular Stories

iPad A16 Colors

Here's When to Expect an iPad 12 With Apple Intelligence

Friday May 1, 2026 8:21 am PDT by
A new entry-level iPad 12 with Apple Intelligence support likely remains months away, based on a comment shared by an Apple executive this week. On an earnings call on Thursday, Apple's CFO Kevan Parekh said that the company's iPad revenue in the March-June quarter will face a "difficult compare" due to the the launch of the entry-level iPad 11 with the A16 chip in March 2025. Parekh is...
Read Full Article • 14 comments
Apple Event Logo

Apple's Next Era Begins September 1

Thursday May 7, 2026 10:36 am PDT by
Apple recently announced that Tim Cook will be stepping down as CEO later this year, after 15 years of leading the company. Effective September 1, Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus will become the company's next CEO, while Cook will become executive chairman of Apple's board of directors. In his new role, Apple said Cook will assist with "certain aspects" of the company,...
Read Full Article
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in September With These 10 New Features

Saturday May 9, 2026 6:03 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
Read Full Article

Top Rated Comments

Dulcimer Avatar
Dulcimer
22 months ago
Would be nice to see M4 MBA earlier. Maybe they’re desperate to get off the more expensive N3B process?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
22 months ago
Early ship dates allow Apple to pull in the launch date if needed. They want to maximize the revenue of the M4 brand by selling MBP first. If sales lower than expected, they can launch MBA.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
StuBeck
22 months ago
Makes it seem like we don't have as good of grasp of release times as we once thought. I remember when the M2 MBP's came out, everyone was convinced for 6 months prior that they were a 2H of the year item...and then they were released in January.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
MayaUser
22 months ago
M4 air display production in October when the release should be in March\April?! Kind of odd
Ipad is expected with the mini at October event
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
svish
21 months ago
Good to know about the new MacBook Airs. Would like to see new colours. But not sure whether it will happen.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
M
MacMikePro
21 months ago

Makes it seem like we don't have as good of grasp of release times as we once thought. I remember when the M2 MBP's came out, everyone was convinced for 6 months prior that they were a 2H of the year item...and then they were released in January.
Well to be fair with that specific example, those MBP’s were indeed suppose to come out in October of that year, they just got delayed due to all the component shortages going on during that time. This was confirmed basically by Apple themselves as the press release videos were all labeled with “October 2022” or something like that, even though they all got released in January 2023. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but I remember the funny slip up.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments