As 2024 draws to a close, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that the base iPad will receive a refresh, especially after last week’s surprise iPad Mini 7 announcement, as the only iPad not getting an update this year. It’s a shame that the basic model remains. The latest rumors suggest it won’t arrive until 2025.
That means those desperate for an update will have to wait a little longer to make do with an iPad Mini 7 or upgrade to an iPad Air (2024) or iPad Pro (2024) to get a new Apple tablet in 2024. That means there is. This is based on reports (via Ross Young in a subscriber-only tweet) that Apple iPad display shipments are scheduled to begin this month, which is the same time the next MacBook Air is expected to start shipping in 2025. It will be released at the beginning of the year.
Bloomberg’s Mark Garman backs up the claims about these display shipments, writing in the latest edition of his Apple Newsletter that the iPad will “probably be updated with Apple Intelligence features within the next year, and the iPad is currently in the works.” Further support will be added to the refresh.” . Current iPad models only use the A14 Bionic chipset and are not configured to support Apple Intelligence, so a new model would have to be released to change this hardware flaw.
This is far from confirmed, but if the iPhone SE leak is true and it acquires Apple Intelligence in March 2025 as expected, the iPad will be the only major Apple product other than the Apple Watch to support it. You will be left without one. Apple AI. It’s unlikely that Apple wants to leave it alone in this bucket for too long, so a 2025 refresh seems inevitable.
Why is there no update for 2024?
We won’t know for sure until Apple explains exactly why the new iPad wasn’t released in 2024, but Apple Intelligence is likely one of the key factors.
As we started emphasizing above, Apple wants to make Apple Intelligence as much of a core feature of its technology as possible. However, for user privacy reasons, we need to rely on on-device processing as much as possible, so the hardware required by the software must be fairly powerful and is limited to the latest A17 and newer chipsets. Masu.
However, the iPad is typically powered by a two-year-old iPhone Pro chip, which puts it further behind. That means it will be powered by the A16, but Apple has admitted that it is skipping the base models of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 14 Pro, so it won’t have the ability to provide Apple intelligence.
If Apple wants to maintain this release gap and launch an iPad with Apple Intelligence, it can’t do it before 2025. And I know this all sounds pretty silly, given Apple’s insistence on arbitrary limits it has imposed on itself, but when will the iPad become an entry-level gadget again? (and the lower cost of older technology helps achieve that goal) and the fact that the iPad Mini 7 just launched with the A17 chipset (which relies on Apple’s supply). Also take into account the fact that To some extent, it’s understandable why Apple would want to delay the launch of the next iPad a little longer.
As with all leaks, rumors, and speculation, these details should be taken with a grain of salt. But given the popularity of tablets, it’s not a question of if the iPad will be released, but when. We’ll be keeping an eye out over the coming months and year for when it finally launches.
