Leak suggests that the fourth-generation iPad Air will not be ready until Q1 2021, but the A14 Bionic is apparently due for Apple's US$649 tablet

Rumours about the next-generation iPad Air have been rumbling around for a while now. Previously, it had been speculated that Apple would be upgrading the Air to an 11-inch display and an A13 Bionic SoC. More recently, DigiTimes claimed that Apple would be dropping the price of the fourth-generation model.

However, while it had been assumed that the next iPad Air would arrive at some point this year, that may not be the case. Instead, @komiya_kj now predicts that Apple will release the fourth-generation model in March 2021. If that is the case, then we would expect Apple to time its release with the unveiling of the next Magic Keyboard, about which we have also reported.

According to @komiya_kj, the next iPad Air will adopt the design of the iPad Pro and will feature an 11-inch Liquid Retina display, a USB Type-C port and quad speakers. Face ID will apparently be on board too, but Apple will only equip the tablet with a single rear-facing camera. Additionally, the fourth-generation model will be available with 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB of storage.

There will be support for the Apple Pencil 2 also, along with the Smart Keyboard Folio and Magic Keyboard as we previously mentioned. @komiya_kj and @L0vetodream claim that Apple will equip the iPad Air with an A14 Bionic too, which is the same chipset that the company will use on its iPhone 12 series.

Finally, the fourth-generation iPad Air is expected to start at US$649. However, this contradicts the claim made by DigiTimes last month. A starting price of US$649 would be a US$150 surcharge on the current iPad Air, although the US$499 model only comes with 64 GB of storage. Still, Apple charges US$649 for the 256 GB version of last year's iPad Air, so the fourth-generation model would be more expensive whichever way you cut it.