Apple is about to bring out new iPads on May 7 , and the most surprising rumored part of it is not that there will be afourthApple Pencil or OLED display . Rather , it ’s that the iPad Pro might skip the M3 totally andjump from the M2 to the M4 .
That ’s right , the M4 , an unreleased , unannounced processor may show up in the iPad Pro before the Mac . That ’s extremely strange andseems to make no sense … but maybe it does ? Apple could have some good reason to debut the M4 in the iPad Pro this year , especially when we consider what the M4 is suppose to be , Apple ’s AI pushing at WWDC next month , and the need to advance seriously sagging iPad sales .
What we expect from the M4
Before we get into some reasons why an M4 iPad Pro makes mother wit at this finical time , have ’s retrospect what we expect it to be .
The M4 is conjecture to be the cousin-german to Apple ’s A18 central processor that will debut in the iPhone 16 Pro this yr . In ourpreview of that chip , we compose that we expect it to be made on a refined 3 nanometre process and carry more or less the common expected processor and GPU improvements , but abigboost to AI processing power . Apple ’s Neural Engine , and perhaps the GPU , are probably go to get huge enhancements as the party seeks to distinguish its product with on - gadget AI processing iniOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , andmacOS 15 .
The M3 was just announce last Halloween , and six month seems like an awful debauched jump to the next M - series central processor . But recall that while the M3 came more than a class after M2 , which was unblock in June — it reportedly arrived a few calendar month late as a result of the move to TSMC ’s then - young 3 nanometer process . Based on that revised timeline , the M4 might be right on sentence . So if the design is done and the chips are quick to wheel , there are some good reasons why Apple might need to seemingly push it out the threshold in the iPad Pro first .
Recall also that this spring departure of iPads is total pretty late ( we first expected them in March ) . peradventure look for M4 was part of the reasonableness why ?
Why an M4 iPad Pro makes sense right now
I can intend of a number of understanding why Apple would want to transport an iPad Pro this month . None of them are all that compelling on their own , but take together , I think it makes a good case for what seems like a bizarre move .
1. iPad Pro volumes are low
If the M4 is ready to ship already , it ’s almost sure not quick to be make up in really big bit . Apple does n’t break down individual models , but I ’d be willing to look that the iPad Pro is a pretty small fraction of overall iPad sales .
On the Mac side , however , the M4 would go in the most popular models : the submission - spirit level Mac mini , iMac , MacBook Air , and MacBook Pro . There simply may not be enough M4 chips bring about yet to put in the MacBook , but plenty for the comparatively smaller issue of iPad Pros Apple would be expected to sell .
It ’s just a serious way to get the chip out there in circumscribed quantities while production scales up .
2. iPad sales need a big boost
It ’s no secret that iPad sales event have been bad lately . It ’s been over a class and a half since any Modern framework was resign , and even iPad lovers find their three - twelvemonth - old iPads utterly suited for everything they practice them for .
One manner to hike iPad sales — if not in volume than in revenue — is to advertize more people to the most expensive models . Making iPad Pro the first Apple gadget with the M4 , and marketing it as quick for some really radical AI coming later this year , is in spades one mode to do that .
Apple would certainly focus on the AI angle when it annunciate the iPad Pro on May 7 if it has an M4 in it , but the real sales tar would make out a calendar month after at WWDC — and the iPad Pro would be the only iPad quick for it on day one .
3. Apple needs an AI-ready device before WWDC
suppose you ’re Apple , and you ’re go to harbinger iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , and macOS 15 with a clump of nerveless raw AI features in about a month . Some of those characteristic are going to require a new mainframe with a new Neural Engine . Only that ’s not even going to be announced until the iPhone is unveil three months later on .
Having an M4 iPad on the market , presumably with the young Neural Engine or other AI enhancements , gives Apple the opportunity to show off the operating system in full . They can let the cat out of the bag about the raise AI feature as something usable only on the unexampled iPad Pro , with a vague hope that other iPhones and Macs and clobber will get those capabilities “ soon . ”
It lets a secretive company like Apple put its best AI foot onward at a decisive juncture , instead of keeping the practiced clobber under wraps until the iPhone announcement this dusk . Again , this adopt that some of the iOS and iPadOS 18 feature will require the enhanced AI performance of the M4 and A17 .
4. Devs will need AI hardware before the fall
If this WWDC is going to be all about AI and cool young AI models that execute locally on your Apple hardware instead of in the swarm , you could bet that Apple will build frameworks for developers to pink into that functionality , too .
And that stand for Apple will require developers to have hardware in helping hand to protrude building apps , so that when iOS and iPadOS 18 roll out in the fall , there ’s a entourage of AI - enhanced apps ready to take advantage of it .
A Mac seems like the obvious candidate for this development , but if M4 is n’t yet ready for Mac - alike book , or if some of the framework are only for Io and iPadOS , then an iPad Pro is the next best thing ( other than surprise launch the next iPhone months early , which of course is not go to occur ) .
An M4 - power iPad Pro may be the de facto “ AI dev kit ” from WWDC in June until the vent of new operating system and developer tools in September / October .
5. An M3 iPad Pro would be poorly timed
Finally , absent all the reason for the M4 to be in the iPad Pro , perhaps the effective reason is that the M3 doesnotbelong in it . If Apple shipped an iPad Pro with M3 , it would n’t be updated again untilat leastnext summertime , and a more probable timeframe would be next fall ( iPad Pro releases are usually around a year and a half aside ) .
If the later variant of iOS and iPadOS have telling new AI have this fall , some of which require the young chips to run , can you reckon Apple’spremiumiPads being left out of the loop for 6 - 12 month ?
If Apple is going to make all of its major products available with new more brawny AI ironware and software by the end of the yr , it has three options :
Of the three , I think the last one is the good option , provided the M4 is in reality ready to ship the mass the iPad Pro motivation . Of course , Apple is an fantastically tightlipped company and all our premise are ground on leak and rumor that could very well be wrong . We wo n’t have long to wait , as the new iPads are ask on May 7 and WWDC is just a month later .
rest up to date with thelatest development for the iPad Proin our rumor roundup .
