Another day, another iPad delay–here’s when you can expect to buy one

Earlier this month Apple released the new M3 MacBook Air with a surprise press release on Monday, March 4. That was notable for a couple of reasons: One, we expected Apple to hold a spring event this year, and two, they weren’t accompanied by new iPads.

With no event, we thought new iPads would launch the next day or the following week, but more than two weeks later, that hasn’t happened. Then there was a rumor earlier this week that Apple would unveil the new iPads on Tuesday, March 26, but this week has come and gone without an announcement, so it appears new iPads will officially be launching in April now. Or based on the latest report, maybe even May.

So what gives? When exactly will the new iPads arrive? Let’s look at what we know.

Several reports have claimed that the new iPads won’t ship until April. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that a new version of iOS 17.4 for the new iPads “won’t be complete until the end of March or even sometime in April,” a process that “could last a couple weeks, probably taking us deeper into next month.” 

Separately, Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants says that while the new OLED panels for the iPad Pro began shipping in February, production and price issues caused some delays, particularly with the 11-inch model.

Now that we’re officially looking at April, we’re hearing reports that Apple won’t launch new iPads until May, which is a very rare month for new Apple products. Here’s a list of Apple’s announcements via press release since 2019:

• M3 MacBook Air: Monday, March 4, 2024
• M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro: Tuesday, January 17, 2023
• 2nd-gen HomePod: Wednesday, January 18, 2023
• 10th-gen iPad/6th-gen iPad Pro: Tuesday, October 18, 2022
• 2nd-gen iPhone SE: Wednesday, April 15, 2020
• 4th-gen iPad Pro: Wednesday, March 18, 2020
• 7th-gen iPod touch: Tuesday, May 28, 2019
• 5th-gen iPad mini: Monday, March 18, 2019
• 3rd-gen iPad Air: Monday, March 18, 2019
• iMac (Intel 9th-generation): Tuesday, March 19, 2019

The only new recent Apple product that arrived in May was the iPod touch way back in 2019, a product that isn’t nearly as important to Apple’s lineup as an iPad. It’s probably more likely that Apple will announce the new iPads later in April and begin shipping them in May, like it did with the new M1 iPad Pro in 2020.

Apple has announced iPads on Mondays and Tuesdays and once on a Wednesday due to Covid shakeups. However, major announcements (10th-gen iPad, M2 MacBook Pro) generally happen on a Tuesday, while Mondays are relegated to smaller updates, like the recent M3 MacBook Air.

So what does it all mean? Put all of the clues together and our best guess for an iPad release is either Tuesday, April 16 or April 23. We’re leaning toward April 23, which gives Apple plenty of time to gather stock, finish the new build of iPadOS 17.4, and generate a bit more buzz. So plan accordingly.

While you wait, check out our iPad Air and iPad Pro rumor roundups so you know what to expect from the releases when they arrive.