Today Apple quietly announced that they will be holding a product event on May 7^th. The imagery would suggest Apple will be revealing new iPads and Apple Pencil at the event.

Pencil us in for May 7! ✏️ #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/1tvyB7h450

— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) April 23, 2024

While its certain that the iPad Pro will debut with top end OLED displays, Analyst Ross Young is on record stating that the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air will sport a mini-LED display akin to that of the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro. Currently, the iPad Air is only available in a 10.9-inch version with a LCD panel.

Lastly, Tim Cook's tweet of the event promenantly illustrates an Apple Pencil which has been rumored to support a new "squeeze" feature that is patent pending. Apple's 2022 patent described this future Apple Pencil could include one or more sensors to detect a squeezing or compressive force against the body of the Pencil. The sensors can be capacitance sensors, strain gauges, force resistive sensors, magnetic/inductive sensors, pneumatic sensors, piezo sensors, and/or optical sensors.

That same patent also stated that "The sequence of inputs within a span of time can be interpreted by the stylus as a user's tap gesture. Multiple touch input sensing elements of the touch input sensor along the stylus can be used in concert to detect sliding gestures." 

It's unknown at this time whether one or more features outlined in their patent will make it to market or if there's a surprise feature that could be introduced.

The iPad is currently under pressure from China's Huawei that rocketed to tying or beating Apple by a hair in Q4-2023.