According to the latest news from the rumor mill, we’re still getting a brand new iPad Pro tablet from Apple in 2022 — but the leap in specs and performance may not be as dramatic as expected.
Well-known (and often well-informed) Apple analyst Guo Mingchi (opens in new tab) Said that the new iPad Pro models will enter mass production in the last quarter of 2022 (i.e. October, November and December).
However, Kuo also said that Apple supplier TSMC won’t have its 3nm chips ready before 2023, so the iPad Pro will stick with 5nm chipsets. This number is the size in nanometers, the smaller it is, the higher the performance of the processor.
work with numbers
While Kuo says the iPad Pro will indeed have a new chipset inside — the current model currently runs the M1 chip — they’ll stick to the current 5nm architecture. The recently launched M2 chip is also a 5nm processor and will likely be used in the next-generation iPad Pro tablet.
It’s a similar story for the refreshed MacBook Pro models we expect to see before a 2022 launch. An updated M2 Pro or M2 Max chipset looks set to arrive sometime in 2023, and then we’re in for another wave of Apple computers.
All of this means that while this year’s iPad Pro will be faster than last year, the performance gains won’t be as big as the switch to 3nm (see also iPhone 15). Another improvement that a move down to 3nm should bring is better battery life, as the chip should be significantly more efficient in terms of power consumption.
Analysis: What we think we know so far
Back in April 2021, the fifth-generation iPad Pro was released: the 11-inch iPad Pro 2021 and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2021. From then on, Apple may plan as a follow-up.
As mentioned above, the performance boost is to be expected – but it remains to be seen whether Apple will go with an upgraded M1 Pro or M1 Max processor, or a newer M2 processor. We may also see issues with internal RAM and internal storage options.
In addition to the core specs, the connectors used to connect peripherals also appear to be changing, which could mean you’ll have to go out and buy a brand new Magic Keyboard. We wouldn’t be surprised if Apple brought MagSafe charging technology to the iPad Pro lineup as well, as it did with the iPhone.
However, there is still some time to wait before all this is revealed. While the iPhone 14 is slated for a September release, most reports say the iPad Pro won’t be shown off until October — when iPadOS 16 should finally be ready.
