Will Next Week’s iPad Pro Really Get Apple’s First M4 Chip?

In a very unusual twist, Apple may choose to debut its next generation of M-series silicon much earlier than expected — and in an iPad before it comes to its first Mac.

At least, that’s what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is hearing. In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that sources have told him there’s “a strong possibility” that the new OLED iPad Pro that’s expected to be unveiled next week will pack in an M4 chip so that Apple can position it “its first truly AI-powered device.”

The idea here is for Apple to get the M4 chip out of the way before its June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) so it can “lay out its AI chip strategy without distraction.” With that taken care of, WWDC would focus on the software improvements in iPadOS 18 that will take advantage of the new chip.

In fact, Gurman suggests that it’s the iPad Pro and not the iPhone that will usher in a new era of AI devices for Apple — a marketing-driven response to the tech industry’s “AI craze.”

I’m hearing there is a strong possibility that the chip in the new iPad Pro will be the M4, not the M3. Better yet, I believe Apple will position the tablet as its first truly AI-powered device — and that it will tout each new product from then on as an AI device. This, of course, is all in response to the AI craze that has swept the tech industry over the last couple years.Mark Gurman

As interesting as this sounds, we recommend taking this with a very healthy dose of your favorite sodium-based seasoning. If this was coming from anyone other than Gurman, it’s fair to say that we’d be dismissing it entirely out of hand. However, Gurman’s sources have been known to be wrong before. He infamously got caught up in the hype around a flat-edged Apple Watch Series 7 that was completely off the mark. However, it’s also fair to say that those came months before the product release; Apple’s iPad Pro is being unveiled in a little over a week, meaning that finished models are likely already in the pipeline.

While this one isn’t entirely out of the question — Apple is planning a big event next week to usher in the new iPads, even going so far as to schedule press briefings in London, according to The Independent. That probably explains why it’s being held at an unusually early hour of 7 a.m. PT rather than the 10 a.m. opening that’s more typical of Apple events. However, it also doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple has a new M4 chip in store.

After all, it’s been 18 months since Apple has released any new iPads. Regardless of the silicon inside, the new iPad Pro models are expected to be a big deal thanks to new OLED displays and an ultra-thin design. Add in a duo of new iPad Air tablets — a larger 12.9-inch model will join the family for the first time — and a third-generation Apple Pencil, and there’s enough there to justify an event on its own.

Until Gurman’s report this weekend, Apple was expected to make its AI push at WWDC, and it still seems odd that it would present an iPad Pro with “an M4 chip for AI” before it even has anything ready to take advantage of it. iPadOS 18 will still be a month away, and unless Apple is going to provide an early teaser for what we’ll see in that, the whole thing seems like putting the cart before the horse — a move that’s very atypical for a company that’s always had such a strong synergy between hardware and software.

Then there’s the fact that the M3 chip is only six months old. Only two weeks ago, Gurman laid out an M4 Mac roadmap that would have seen the first MacBooks with the new silicon arriving this fall in a nice, comfortable annual cycle. The first M4 MacBook Air models would similarly arrive in early 2025, about a year after the current M3 versions debuted in early May.

Further, as John Gruber points out at Daring Fireball, these iPad Pro models were supposed to launch in March, and that timeline was supported by Gurman’s own sources. While Gurman was also first to report on delays into April, and then May, this was reportedly due to Apple “finishing software for the devices” and dealing with some “complex new manufacturing techniques” related to the OLED panels.

M4 iPads next week feel about as realistic as those flat-sided Series 7 Apple Watches that Gurman reported three years ago. So I’d bet money against this. In some sense it’s a can’t-lose bet?—?either I’m right and these iPad Pros will have M3 chips, or Apple’s silicon game is racing far ahead of what I considered possible, which would be rather amazing. Am I nuts or is no one else even skeptical about this?John Gruber

Since there was no word that Apple was retooling them for a new M4 chip (and it seems unlikely that such a decision would be made at the last minute), we’re left to assume that Apple planned to unveil these with an M4 chip less than three weeks after it brought the M3 to its MacBook Air. Again, it’s not impossible, but it doesn’t entirely pass the sniff test.

If — and it’s a pretty big “if” — Apple is genuinely launching an iPad Pro with an M4 chip next week, it will herald a new strategy for the company of leading its product lineup with the iPad Pro, putting it even ahead of the iPhone, since the M4 chip is expected to be ahead of the A17 Pro used in the iPhone 15 Pro lineup.

Apple may still plan to present the iPad Pro next week with a strong spin on its AI capabilities, but that’s just a matter of marketing. It would be disingenuous for Apple to suggest that the M4 is required to power new AI features, and it would risk publicly downplaying its entire current Mac lineup by doing so, suggesting that nobody should buy one of its latest MacBooks if they’re at all concerned about generative AI features. If anything, it seems more likely that Apple will emphasize how the new iPad Pro features the same M3 chip used in its MacBooks that can do AI stunningly well — an extra push for the MacBook Air that it released in March — and that we should stay tuned to hear more at WWDC.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]