Apple may announce AirTags and new iPads as soon as March 23

According to a couple of leakers with solid track records, including Chinese leaker ‘Kang’ (via @DuanRui1205) and John Prosser, Apple may hold its next event as soon as March 23. Incidentally, that’s the same day OnePlus is set to launch its new phones.

Apple is expected to announce its long-awaited AirTags — a fancy item-tracking system — as well as new iPads. There’s a chance we’ll see new, third-gen AirPods as well.

AirTags are expected to be a Tile-like item tracking system, but on steroids. It is believed the tags will use the Ultra-Wideband radio introduced with the iPhone 11, which will allow your phone to pinpoint exactly where a lost item is, rather than just providing an approximate location.

The new iPads are rumored to be the first to use a MiniLED display. This technology allows for deeper blacks than currently possible with the regular LCD’s on iPads, thanks to highly localized backlighting that can be shut off in specific zones.

The iPad’s current backlighting is essentially always on, so the blacks can only get as deep as the LCD screen will allow. MiniLED, while not quite as effective as OLED at creating deep blacks in scenes with complicated lighting, should be able to get pretty darn close.

The March 23 event will almost certainly be all-digital, given the coronavirus pandemic, so it’s no surprise we haven’t heard more concrete rumors until now. It’s likely we’ll hear official word about the event within the next week, as Apple typically sends invites within a week or two before the actual event date.

And if March 23 doesn’t play out, the 30th might still be an option; at this point, it seems extremely likely Apple has something to announce this month, and these events almost always happen on Tuesdays.

Via MacRumors