Apple is about to refresh the cheapest iPad in 2.5 years’ time, but don’t get too excited

Apple last updated its cheapest iPad in October 2022, and has introduced the biggest updates to its base model iPad since it returned to 2017. This marked the 10th generation of iPads. It essentially brings everything for one big reason.

Main Confirmed Upgrade: New Chip

Like the iPad Mini 7, which debuted last fall, the iPad 11 is rumored to be just a spec bump. Specifically, rumors say they will crash from the A14 bionic chip to the A17 Pro chip.

This hits the chip that debuted with the iPhone 12 in 2020, then the chip that debuted in 2023 along with the iPhone 15 Pro. This upgrade offers a speed improvement of about 40%, at least on the CPU side of things.

Additionally, system memory will bump from 4GB to 8GB, improving multitasking and more.

Apple Intelligence has been mostly confirmed on the iPad 11. It offers Apple’s latest AI features for the first time on the cheapest iPad. These features include Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGpt support, and an all-new Siri.

Potential upgrades

Unfortunately, there are no notable upgrade rumors on the table. The colours may vary slightly, and Apple may increase its connection standard. You may see Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

There is one possible wildcard feature: Stage Manager. Apple introduced a stage manager on the iPads 16 and required an A12X (or new) iPad Pro or an M1 (or new) iPad Air. While Apple hasn’t brought this feature to other iPads yet, it’s easy to claim that the A17 Pro, powered by 8GB of RAM, can perform more software functions than the A12X chip that includes 4GB of RAM. But only time can tell.

summary

Ultimately, despite the long gap between refreshes, this will be yet another minor iPad spec bump. One of the larger iPad upgrades across the 2024 lineup was to move the camera into landscape orientation, but the base model iPad has already received that upgrade in 2022.

Hopefully, I’ll increase my base storage from 64GB to 128GB, making things a little more interesting. This new iPad model is scheduled to debut this spring.

What do you think about Apple’s future iPad? Please let us know in the comments.

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