Apple Is About to Reveal ‘Big Plans’ for the iPad and AI

Speaking of the new iPads, several rumors have suggested that Apple plans to unveil its next-generation M4 Apple silicon chip in the iPad Pro lineup next week as part of a big push into AI.

While there’s room for some skepticism about whether this will be an M4 chip — it would be very unusual for an iPad to get Apple’s latest flagship silicon first with M3 MacBooks on the market that are barely two months old — there’s solid evidence pointing to some kind of new chip. Perhaps an M3X or something similar to the days when Apple scaled up iPhone A-series chips in its high-end tablets. This might not even be a more powerful M3, but rather one specifically adapted to the unique needs of iPad users.

One of those “unique needs” may be art-related with a dash of generative AI. The stylus-focused marketing around Apple’s event suggests that’s going to be a big angle for next week’s “Let Loose” event, as does the tagline itself.

More significantly, Apple’s CEO continued to tease Apple’s work on generative AI in the earnings call, saying that Apple has some “advantages” in generative AI that will help to make it stand out from the pack and plans to share some “very exciting things” in the near future. While that’s undoubtedly at least partially referring to this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, Cook also told CNBC that the company has “big plans to announce” during its iPad launch event on Tuesday.