Sounds Like Apple's Spring Event and the New iPad Pro Will Be Delayed | iPad Ins...

Sounds Like Apple's Spring Event and the New iPad Pro Will Be Delayed

As I get older, I find fewer reasons to wish for time to fly. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t get a little disappointed when a little bit of Apple gratification is delayed. It looks like that is about to be the case again, as Apple’s Spring Event for the iPad Pro, AirTags and potentially a couple of other devices have likely been pushed back to April.

Is it really fair to say something that was never officially announced has been pushed back? That’s subjective, but I think it is when you consider that several of the heaviest hitters among Apple leakers called the event timeframe over the last few weeks and months. Jon Prosser went as far as putting his eyebrows, of all things, on the line to show his confidence in the prediction of March 23rd as Apple’s coming event date.

Oops. Here is Prosser’s follow-up on that from yesterday:

As a man of my word, yes — I will actually be shaving my eyebrows.

— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) March 17, 2021

Prosser hasn’t revealed what has changed yet, but he says it will covered on his next installment of Front Page Tech. In the meantime, Digitimes (via MacRumors) just reported that the miniLED displays that will be used in the new iPad Pros won’t be shipping in mass quantities until the second quarter. They had previously predicted that displays could be available for a late March release, but that obviously changed in their latest report.

Prosser noted that Apple has never held an event in April, while there has been a string of March events and releases over multiple years. In my opinion, that’s another reason to believe there has been a delay causing an event originally planned for March to be pushed back. Apple doesn’t tend to push events past their typical windows unless there’s good reason.

So it looks like iPad Pro fans will have to wait a little longer than we originally thought. That’s the way it goes in the tech world. While we don’t know exactly what is causing the delay, likely with the miniLED panels, hopefully it will be resolved soon and the new and improved tablets will be ready to ship early next month.

Unfortunately, the iPad Pro may not be the only Apple device to be pushed back, either. According to Ming-Chi Kuo’s investor note from yesterday, the AirPods 3 may not be arriving this spring, as originally predicted. In fact, he now says they won’t be here until the third quarter, which would be this fall. He also predicts a downturn in sales because of the delay. Ouch.

Again, we aren’t given any information as to what may be causing these delays. So far, Apple has reportedly been spared the fallout from worldwide chip shortages. Maybe the AirPods 3 are the first Apple product to be affected. Maybe not. However, with someone as well plugged into the supply chain as Kuo reporting this after he initially predicted an earlier release, it can’t be ignored.

So there’s nothing but bad news for Apple fans who had their money lined up to spend on new gear next week. First we hear that the original HomePod was killed off last Friday with no news of a successor coming and now the company’s spring event is almost certainly delayed and may not include new AirPods when it does happen.

None of this is what we Apple fans wanted to hear, but this too shall pass. Hopefully the event doesn’t slip further than Tuesday, April 13th, but it may be a bit before we know anything else. Sources at Apple were sure about March 23rd when spreading rumors to leakers until yesterday, so I don’t think Apple will make firm plans that leak again until things look good for the new hardware to be released.

Whatever happens with Apple’s coming Spring Event, try to resist the urge for time to fly. Live your life, enjoy what you have a little longer and Apple’s new goodies will be here before you know it.