I’ve been using the new M4 iPad Air for the past few weeks, and it’s been a great experience. As you’d expect, it’s incredibly fast and versatile thanks to the M4 chip, and more than a few times lately, because of that, I’ve found myself just tossing the iPad Air in my backpack and leaving my MacBook Pro at home. But the main complaint I have about it, which I touched on in my review, is that it only has a 60Hz LCD screen. I would’ve loved to see Apple upgrade it to an OLED with a faster refresh rate. While that didn’t happen this year, it seems Apple may finally have it on the cards for 2027.

According to ET News, a South Korean news publication, Apple is planning to upgrade the display on its next-generation iPad Air to an OLED. Reportedly, Samsung Display will be manufacturing the iPad Air’s new OLED display, with mass production slated to begin sometime around the end of this year or early 2027.

However, there is one caveat. The OLED display on the next-gen iPad Air is expected to have “lower specifications and manufacturing costs.” Which means that it likely won’t be exactly on par with the iPad Pro. That isn’t all that surprising, given that Apple likely wants to reserve the best-looking OLED display possible for the iPad Pro while also keeping the Air’s cost down. For reference, the latest M4 iPad Air starts at $600, while the M5 iPad Pro starts at $1,000, so there is still quite a price gap.

Brand

Apple

Storage

128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

CPU

M4

Operating System

iPadOS 26

Two big questions remain

The next-gen iPad Air could launch in the first half of 2027

While I’m excited about the possibility of the next-gen iPad Air finally getting an OLED display, my biggest question is whether it will support ProMotion.

ProMotion is Apple’s technology for delivering an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz to its devices. It first debuted on the iPad Pro in 2018, made its way to the iPhone Pro line in 2022 with the iPhone 13 Pro, and finally arrived on the base iPhone in 2025 with the iPhone 17.

Given that Apple has now brought ProMotion to the base iPhone 17, I’d love to see it take the same approach for the next-gen iPad Air and leave 60Hz in the past. In my review of the M4 iPad Air, I said it came close to perfection but missed the mark for not having a higher-refresh-rate screen. If Apple can finally make that a reality for its next-gen iPad Air, I’d be one happy camper.

Another big question will be price. If Apple is upgrading the iPad Air to an OLED display, it could increase the tablet’s price. Though if Apple is using a “lower specification” OLED display, as reported by ET News, it’s quite possibly already trying to avoid that or keep any price bump relatively low.

Apple’s new M4 iPad Air only came out in March, so this next-gen iPad Air is still quite far away from release. ET News reports that it’s expected to launch in the first half of next year, which makes sense, given that the M3 iPad Air launched in the first half of 2025 and the M4 iPad Air in the first half of 2026.

In addition to the next-gen iPad Air possibly getting an OLED display, Apple’s refresh of the iPad Mini, rumored to launch sometime this year, is also reportedly getting an OLED upgrade. If that’s the case, the next-gen iPad Mini could serve as a sign of what’s to come for the new iPad Air in 2027.