Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman broke the internet on Sunday by claiming that the next generation iPad Pro, expected to be announced by Apple next week, will be powered by the brand new M4 chip rather than the current M3. While this may sound unlikely at first, there’s actually some other evidence that the M4 iPad Pro rumor is true.
Apple’s M chip series
M1 was Apple’s first chip designed specifically for Macs – that’s why Apple named it “M.” However, the company later brought the M family of chips to iPad Pro and then iPad Air. As the current generation iPad Pro features the M2 chip, most of us expected to see a new iPad Pro with M3 inside. However, Apple may have more ambitious plans for its flagship tablet.
Here’s what Gurman reported about the new iPads having Apple’s yet-to-be-announced M4 chip:
I’m hearing there is a strong possibility that the chip in the new iPad Pro will be the M4, not the M3. Better yet, I believe Apple will position the tablet as its first truly AI-powered device — and that it will tout each new product from then on as an AI device. This, of course, is all in response to the AI craze that has swept the tech industry over the last couple years.
The company has already been promoting M3 as a chip ready to handle AI-based tools. However, it seems that Apple wants to sell M4 as the definitive chip for such tasks – and putting it in the new iPad Pro in time for iPadOS 18 with new AI-based features could be a great way to do that.
At the same time, would Apple really launch a new M chip with an iPad rather than with a new Mac? There’s some evidence to suggest so.
What about an M4 iPad Pro?
When 9to5Mac found new display firmwares for four unreleased iPad models hidden in the iPadOS 17.5 beta files, we also shared the identifiers for each of these models:
- iPad16,3
- iPad16,4
- iPad16,5
- iPad16,6
These are likely to be the new iPad Pro in both 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes and in Wi-Fi and Cellular versions. Although these identifiers may seem random, there’s a logic behind them. For example, both the iPad Air 5 and the 2021 iPad Pro are labeled “iPad13,x” and they all feature the M1 chip. This also applies to Apple Silicon Macs with M1.
M2-powered devices are usually labeled with the identifier “14,” such as “iPad14,3” (2022 iPad Pro Pro) and “Mac14,5” (2022 MacBook Air). For M3-based devices, Apple has been using the “15” label (there are only Macs with this label for now).
The fact that the new iPad Pro is labeled “iPad16,x” instead of “iPad15,x” might be evidence that it has a new Apple Silicon chip inside.
To add fuel to the fire, an anonymous leaker posted on a private X account a few weeks ago an alleged roadmap of Apple Silicon chips for iPads. According to the leaker, the new iPad Air will be powered by T8112, which is M2. However, the new iPad Pro has an unknown “T8132” chip. For instance, the M3 identifier is “T8122.”
By putting all the pieces together, a new iPad Pro with the M4 chip seems plausible.
More on iPads rumors
In addition to a new chip, the next generation iPad Pro is expected to feature OLED displays for the first time. In addition, the new iPads may get a slimmer design. Apple also has plans to introduce a new iPad Air 6 in two different sizes, as well as a redesigned Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil 3 with Find My and a “squeeze” gesture.
The company will hold an event to announce the new iPads next Tuesday, May 7.
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