Apple makes some of the best tech gadgets you can buy, and the firm normally keeps its products up to date by releasing new versions annually. Unusually, there were no new iPads at all in 2023, marking the first time Apple had not launched a new tablet in a calendar year since the very first iPad in 2010.

Now it’s all but certain that Apple will announce new iPad models at an event on Tuesday 7 May that’s being live streamed globally. We know this because Apple’s usually cryptic teaser for this event is quite obvious, with a hand drawing with an Apple Pencil, the iPad’s main accessory.

We’ll likely see an updated Pencil with new features such as haptic feedback, if whispers are to be believed. But another rumour reported by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg suggests a new iPad Pro will be launched on Tuesday with an M4 chipset inside – the first time this new processor will break cover, and could be even more powerful than the M3 currently found inside the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

That comes as a surprise because Apple didn’t introduce the M3 until late 2023, and there are various versions of that chip in the company’s latest most powerful MacBooks. It would be unusual for Apple to unveil the M4 so soon after the M3, and even more surprising for it to debut in an iPad. Various iPad Pro and iPad Air models have had M chips added to them, but always after being first seen in a Mac. The current batch of iPad Pros use the M2 chip – so a jump to M4 would see the range skip M3 entirely.

While an M4 iPad Pro might not be as capable as an M3 MacBook depending on the software you use, it’s possible that in terms of pure computing power the new iPad Pro would win out. Apple is said to be adding OLED displays to the Pro for the first time, and potentially a thinner, updated design.

A new iPad Air lineup is also rumoured for Tuesday, though the cheaper slate is unlikely to pick up the M4 or OLED. Instead, it may receive a size increase up to 12.9-inches to match the iPad Pro and offer iPad buyers a larger screen at a cheaper price, mirroring Apple’s strategy by having the iPhone 15 Pro Max and a cheaper iPhone 15 Plus with the same screen sizes.

The iPad Air could well get a faster chip though as it currently is the only product Apple sells that still uses the M1 chip that first came out in 2020. It’s also rumoured to have its webcam on the landscape edge for more convenient video calling when docked to a keyboard – which is handy, as a refresh in accessories for the new iPads is also thought to be around the corner, including a potential design update to the iPad’s pricey Magic Keyboard that turns the iPad Air and Pro into a laptop-like device.