iPad Air 6 (2023): All there is to know about the next iPad

The iPad Air 5 brought with it some key upgrades, including an improved 12Mp front-facing camera, 5G connectivity and the same M1 chipset as the iPad Pro and Apple’s MacBook line, but it’s safe to assume that Apple is hard at work on the next-gen iPad Air behind closed doors at Apple Park.

While it’s early days, we cover all there is to know about the iPad Air 6 right now, including release date and pricing speculation based on previous releases and our wishlist of features we’d love to see on the next-gen tablet.  

When will the iPad Air 6 be released?

While you might be excited by the idea of the prospect of an update to the popular iPad Air 5, there’s some bad news: you’ll likely be waiting a while.

Unlike Apple’s iPhone range, which is updated every year, the iPad range has a longer upgrade cycle, meaning you shouldn’t expect the next iPad for quite some time. What we can do, however, is predict when to expect the tablet to appear based on previous releases.

The iPad Air 3 was revived back in March 2019 after a five-year hiatus, with the iPad Air 4 following 18 months later in September 2020. There was a similar pattern with the release of the iPad Air 5, which came 18 months after the release of the iPad Air 4 in March 2022.

With all that being said, it’s safe to assume that Apple has an 18-month upgrade cycle for the iPad Air, leading us to believe that the iPad Air 6 will be released in September 2023.

We’ll update this section as soon as we hear any concrete news, but based on the above, we wouldn’t expect that for a while yet.   

If that’s too far, take a look at our iPad Air 5 (2022) review to see whether it’s worth buying. 

How much will the iPad Air 6 cost?

The iPad Air 4 saw a sharp price hike when it was redesigned in 2020, but we can’t see Apple rising the price any further – it’s very much a premium tablet at its current £569/$599 starting price, after all.

The iPad Air 5 matched the pricing of its predecessor (and was actually £10 cheaper in the UK!) and bar any currency exchange rate fluctuations, it’s unlikely that the iPad Air will change in price.

For reference, here’s how much the current iPad Air range costs:

  • iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi): £569/$599
  • iPad Air (256GB, Wi-Fi): £719/$749
  • iPad Air (64GB, Wi-Fi & Cellular): £719/$749
  • iPad Air (256GB, Wi-Fi & Cellular): £869/$899

To see how the tablet compares to the rest of the iPad collection, take a look at the best iPad. 

iPad Air 6 wishlist

Considering the iPad Air 5 is just a few months old, it should come as no surprise that there aren’t any solid leaks or rumours about the iPad Air 6 just yet.

For now, we’ve come up with a wishlist of upgrades that we’d like to see on the next-gen tablet, ranging from the highly likely to the outlandish.

Upgraded processor

Okay, an upgraded processor is basically a given. There hasn’t been a single Apple product that has had the same chipset for more than one generation – though admittedly, rumours suggest that could change with the iPhone 14.

Until then, we’re going to assume that the iPad Air will feature an upgraded Apple Silicon chipset rather than going back to the A-series chips of cheaper iPads and Apple’s iPhone range, instead keeping pace with the desktop-level power of the iPad Pro.

Given the iPad Pro is rumoured to be refreshed later this year with Apple’s yet-unannounced M2 chipset, it’s likely that the iPad Air will follow suit. After all, by the time the next iPad Air is released, the iPad Pro will have had an entire year with the chipset – a similar story to its current M1 upgrade.

Increased base storage

One of the biggest complaints about the current iPad Air, especially at a starting price of £569/$599, is the 64GB of storage.

While 64GB of storage was fine a few years ago, the size of apps steadily increases as they get more advanced – and let’s be honest, our photo libraries are fast filling up with photos and videos with a strong reluctance to delete anything.

Sure, cloud storage is a good backup, but nothing beats having a copy saved locally to your device.

What we’d like to see is an increase to the entry-level storage on offer from the iPad Air, matching the 128GB storage of many Android competitors.

Better rear-facing camera

Apple has spent a lot of time and money refreshing the front-facing camera of the entire iPad collection, with everything from the entry-level iPad to the 12.9in iPad Pro sporting the same ultra-wide 12Mp camera with Apple’s auto-cropping Center Stage technology. It’s great for video calling and selfie-taking, but what about the rear camera?

Sure, most of us don’t usually use iPads as cameras (though there’s always one or two in a festival crowd!) but the single rear-facing 12Mp camera setup of the iPad Air is getting a little long in the tooth. It was first introduced on the fourth-gen iPad Air, and nothing has changed since.

Rather than upping the megapixel count on the main sensor, we’d love a second camera on the iPad Air – possibly the ultra-wide, matching the standard iPhone 13 – to help capture those impromptu moments when you are using the tablet.

Faster refresh rate

Okay, now we’re getting a bit outlandish.

The 10.9in display of the iPad Air 5 is great – it’s detailed, vibrant and responsive – but compared to the iPad Pro and Android competitors, the 60Hz refresh rate doesn’t really cut it.

Apple is already playing a dangerous game, with very few differences between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro 11. In fact, the 120Hz ProMotion is arguably one of the biggest reasons to opt for Apple’s Pro models, but we hope that Apple will bump the refresh rate of the iPad Air to keep it in line with the competition.

We wouldn’t expect Apple to bump the refresh rate to the same 120Hz as the Pro models (unless the new iPad Pro features a faster refresh rate, that is). What we hope, instead, is a middle-ground upgrade to 90Hz. The jump from 60Hz to 90Hz is noticeable, while still not being quite as fast as Apple’s Pro-level tablets.

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Get our favorite Logitech gaming mouse for as little as $39

Looking for a good gaming mouse that won’t break the bank? Today, you’re in luck. The Logitech G502 Hero is currently $39 at Amazon. It’s actually our favorite gaming mouse here at PCWorld.

In our review of the G502 Hero, we gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars and an Editors’ Choice Award. “If you’re looking for a new gaming mouse, or maybe your first gaming mouse? The G502 Hero is a top-tier option,” we said. It’s also our top pick as the best general purpose gaming mouse.

The G502 Hero has 11 programmable buttons with mechanical switch tensioning and a HERO 25K sensor. The sensor allows the mouse to hit an astounding 25,600 DPI. That’s way past the usual 16,000 DPI we see with most gaming mice. It also has RGB lighting, adjustable weights to get the feel just right, and onboard memory for up to five profiles.

This mouse is an excellent value, as most high-end gaming mice cost upwards of $75.

[Today’s deal: Logitech G502 Hero for $39 at Amazon.]

Gear, Mice

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The US government is doing a really bad job of tracking ransomware

The US government is doing a really bad job of tracking ransomware, a report from a Senate committee has found. 

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has released its findings following 10 months of investigation into ransomware attacks and related cryptocurrency payments. 

It said reports of previous attacks are “fragmented and incomplete”, and blame was partially laid on the fact that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) both have a “one-stop-shop” website for all things ransomware reporting. 

Ransomware results

The FBI’s figures, for example, were described as a “subset of a subset” of actual data, something even the Bureau agrees with, saying its data is “artificially low” due to the fact that it was shared voluntarily.

It took the committee ten months to draft the report, and in the meantime, a lot has changed. The Senate passed the Cyber Incident Reporting Act of 2021 in March, which required firms to report a malware cyberattack to CISA within 72 hours, and a ransomware attack within 24 hours. 

Following up on the new regulation, CISA said back then that it would share all of the reports with the FBI immediately. However, the report states that wasn’t exactly the case. 

“While the agencies state that they share data with each other, in discussions with committee staff, ransomware incident response firms questioned the effectiveness of such communication channels’ impact on assisting victims of an attack,” the report said. 

FBI and CISA aside, other organizations within the U.S. government, such as the U.S. Treasury, the Transport Security Administration, and the Security and Exchange Commission, have their own reporting practices. These are only adding more complexity to an already complex problem, as they “do not capture, categorize, or publicly share information uniformly”. 

Via: ZDNet

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This RTX 3050-equipped MSI gaming laptop is ridiculously cheap right now

Are you in the market for a budget gaming laptop? Well, today is a great day to get one. Right now, . That’s $472 off of the MSRP.

This laptop is packing an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050, which should reliably deliver 1080p gaming performance. You can expect to hit 60 frames-per-second on resource intensive games at high or medium settings. As for the CPU, it’s the Intel “Tiger Lake” Core i5-11400H, which has six cores, twelve threads, and a boost to 4.5GHz. For RA, you get 8GB and onboard storage is 512GB. The operating system is Windows 10 Home, but it’s likely Windows 11 ready.

We’re not sure how long it’ll last at this price, but if you’re on the lookout for a solid budget gaming rig, then this laptop is well worth considering.

[.]

Gear, Laptops

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The shortage of MacBooks doesn’t look good for the M2

If you’ve tried to buy something from Apple in the last few days, you might have noticed that many computing products like the Mac Studio, MacBook Pro, or Studio Display have some seriously lengthy estimated shipping dates, with some items not anticipated to arrive at your door until August.

This isn’t especially new – rumors started to appear a few weeks ago regarding delays with manufacturing, attributed to Covid-19 related lockdowns across China, and Apple has seemingly been struggling to meet demand ever since. If you were hoping to snap up either a 14-inch MacBook Pro or 16-inch MacBook Pro then it’s currently estimated that you won’t get your order for 7-9 weeks depending on the configuration.

The Mac Studio shares a similar issue, showing a delivery window for the base configuration of up to 9 weeks, while the fully specc’d out model extends to 12 weeks. If you wanted to pair the Studio Display with that then it only gets worse, showing shipping estimates of up to 10 weeks regardless of what version of the monitor you select. 

Strangely, the MacBook Air seems to have escaped these issues, showing a reasonable delivery window of 1-2 weeks. This should come as a relief given its popularity, though we’re a little concerned about what this could mean for the launch of the M2 SoC (system-on-a-chip).

Supply of M2-powered hardware might be lacking

Plenty of speculated dates have appeared for when the fruit-themed tech giant will unveil the M2, but the current estimate is for WWDC on June 6. That’s not that far away, and if Apple is struggling to produce enough of its current lineup then the amassed stock of any anticipated products like the MacBook Air 2022 may be insufficient to meet demand following launch.

There is also reason to believe that these shortages are occurring because Apple is dedicating a chunk of its production line to creating its next-gen hardware in anticipation of people rushing to snatch up a new Mac Mini or 13-inch MacBook Pro, but there has been plenty of news surrounding how regional lockdowns in Eastern China and Taiwan (where most of the world’s Apple products are produced and assembled) are resulting in significant delays. 

A new analysis conducted by Nikkei Asia found that found half of Apple’s 200 main suppliers are in or around the city of Shanghai, which is currently struggling with one of the largest surges in Covid cases that China has seen since the start of the pandemic in 2019. Under China’s official “Zero Covid” policy, anyone who tests positive for Covid is forced into isolation in an effort to eliminate community transmission of the coronavirus that causes the disease.

This has a knock-on effect on the wider supply chain as it can take months for products like MacBooks and iPhones to reach global markets in Europe and North America after assembly, testing, and shipment. This means that the next few months of production are what should be building up supply ready for November and December. That could spell disaster for anyone planning to try and nab a new gadget for Christmas or in the Black Friday sales.

If Apple is struggling to keep up with current demands, you might find that any preorders for new hardware announced at WWDC could stretch on for several months, which will only make things worse.

Act quickly to avoid disappointment

We also expect demand to be especially high if all those rumors about a colorful MacBook Air refresh prove to be true. The M1-powered MacBook Air sits at the top of our own list of the best laptops currently available to buy, and for good reason. It’s powerful, silent, and relatively affordable for a Mac device. If Apple starts churning out purple MacBooks and your heart is set on that particular shade, you’d best hope that Apple has a stockpile of the most popular colors.

It’s worth noting that there’s no guarantee that Apple will launch any computing hardware at WWDC, colorful or otherwise. We’re going off of predictions from industry analysts and leaks from people that have a fairly reliable history, but the M2 has been rumored to appear at every event since Apple Unleashed in October 2021. Instead, we got the M1 Pro and M1 Max, followed by the M1 Ultra at the Peek Performance event in March 2022, so it’s worth taking all of this speculation with a pinch of salt.

It was recently announced that Apple has plans to expand its production into other regions outside of China, but this could take months or even years to get up and running. 

It’s going to be interesting to see how Apple handles its production issues in the coming weeks, especially if it does plan to release the M2 at WWDC. If you’re desperate to be an early adopter, you might want to train your fingers for some swift button smashing and basket adding now to avoid disappointment.

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Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock review

Belkin’s Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock adds 12 useful ports to your laptop and looks gorgeous.

A docking station lets you create a busy desktop setup with just a single USB-C or Thunderbolt connection between your laptop and the dock.

Connect pretty much what you like to the dock: from external displays to fast SSD drives, printer, webcam, memory sticks and cards, keyboard and mouse.

Escape weak Wi-Fi with a wired Ethernet Internet connection on the dock that should super-power your connectivity.

Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) works with the latest Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 computers and is also backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 3 (TB3) and USB-C. Even if your laptop doesn’t have TB4, it’s a wise investment to buy a dock with the latest connectivity tech.

It works with computers that have a video-enabled USB-C or Thunderbolt port, Windows 10 RS3 or newer, MacOS (Big Sur Version 11) or newer, and iPadOS (Type-C iPads only).

Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock ports

Specs and features

We’ve seen docking stations with more ports, but the Belkin TB4 dock boasts an impressive 12, including two display connections.

• One upstream Thunderbolt 4 port (40Gbps, 90W)

• One downstream Thunderbolt 4 port (40Gbps, 15W)

• Two HDMI 2.0 video ports (4K at 60Hz)

• Two USB-A ports (10Gbps, 4.5W)

• Two USB-A ports (480MBps, 2.5W)

• One USB-C port (10Gbps, 18W)

• Gigabit Ethernet

• UHS-II SD card reader (320MBps)

• 3.5mm combo audio jack (front)

• 120W power supply

Belkin has included two HDMI ports as most users want to connect a couple of external displays to get past the limitations of their laptop screen space.

Having the built-in video ports saves you having to buy a USB-C adapter.

Windows users can add up to three displays, using the two HDMI and one Thunderbolt 4 port. The TB4 port can attach directly to a USB-C monitor or you can buy a USB-C adapter to connect to a DisplayPort or HDMI display.

One 8K display can run at 30Hz, or you can have two 4K at 60Hz. Video resolution for up to three displays is dependent on your laptop’s capabilities.  

Thunderbolt 4 can include up to four TB4 ports, but Belkin’s dock comes with just two: one upstream to the computer and one downstream to devices.

That’s a compromise for having the two HDMI ports. If you want more flexibility, look for a dock with less dedicated display connections and more TB4 ports.

The lack of port flexibility is worse for Mac users, as they can’t use both HDMI due to the way Macs handle video.

Mac users can connect two external displays but only using one of the HDMI and the spare TB4 port.

That leaves one redundant HDMI port and no spare TB4 ports for fast 40Gbps device connections, although the USB-C port does run at 10Gbps.

That’s why we don’t recommend the Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock for Macs. It’s not Belkin’s fault, it’s an Apple thing, but there are plenty of other docks that don’t leave ports empty.

While four USB-A ports is plenty, two are rather puny, being USB 2.0 that has a weedy 480MBps bandwidth—it’s an odd choice when most docks have a 5Gbps minimum. If you call a product “Pro” it shouldn’t skimp on its capabilities.

The other two, however, are pretty racy at 10Gbps.

None of the USB-A ports offers much in the way of device charging, maxing out at 4.5W but the USB-C port can charge at an impressive 18W.

The upstream TB4 port can supply up to 90W, which should be enough for even a large laptop.

Overall power, though, is quite low at 120W, which might explain the weakly charging USB-A ports.

The SD card reader is fast, but you’ll need an adapter if you use microSD cards. Memory cards aren’t just for camera enthusiasts. You can buy a quality 512GB card for around $60/£50, and they offer an inexpensive and portable way of upping the storage in your laptop.

Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock front

Design

Space Gray with a glossy black front and back, the Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a beauty.

One personal niggle is the upstream TB4 port being placed at the front, so there’s always a cable sticking out and spoiling the dock’s otherwise stunning looks.

Belkin isn’t alone in this practice but hats off to rival Caldigit that hides the laptop connection at the back of its docks alongside the power input and Gigabit Ethernet.

In Belkin’s favor, it does make plugging in and out that little bit quicker and easier.

The dock comes with a 0.8m (2.8ft) Thunderbolt 4 cable. If you need extras, check out our roundup of the best Thunderbolt 4 cables.

Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock back

Price

The Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock costs $399.99 or £399.99.

This puts it at the high-end of the price range for Thunderbolt 4 docks. The less flashy Caldigit TS4 has more (and better) ports at a lower cost.

See our roundup of all the best Thunderbolt 4 docks and hubs.

Verdict

The Belkin Pro Thunderbolt 4 Dock is a gorgeous-looking laptop docking station, boasting 12 ports including two HDMI for Windows users to quickly add up to three external displays. Mac users, however, should stay away.

It sullies its Pro title somewhat with a couple of the ports being rather average, and the power supply could do with being higher, but it is otherwise well equipped.

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