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New Entry-Level iPad With Apple Intelligence Likely Coming Late 2025

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Apple's most affordable iPad model will receive an update with Apple Intelligence capabilities in late 2025, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has suggested.

10th Gen iPad Feature Fanned Pink
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman said that the iPhone SE is expected to gain Apple Intelligence features in March 2025, with the entry-level iPad following "later in the year." Gurman went on to suggest that nearly every Apple device with a screen will support Apple Intelligence by 2026.

The timeline indicates a significant gap since the last refresh of the entry-level iPad, which occurred in October 2022. The delayed update could be attributed to the technical requirements of implementing AI capabilities in a budget-friendly $349 device.

The current 10th-generation ‌iPad‌ has an A14 chip that was first used in the iPhone 12 lineup, and it's getting outdated. The logical choice for the next ‌iPad‌ is the A16 that was used in the iPhone 15 models, but if Apple wants to make Apple Intelligence as accessible as possible, an A17 Pro chip or A18 chip would likely be necessary.

Notably, Apple last week announced the latest iPad mini with Apple Intelligence support via a standalone press release. The company also lowered the price of the existing iPad 10 and stopped including a charger with the device in Europe. It's highly unlikely that Apple would have changed its iPad lineup in this way if an iPad 11 was imminent.

It is unclear if Apple is still planning to host a Mac-focused event in October, but it seems that an iPad 11 will not be announced this month either way.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: Mark Gurman
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Top Rated Comments

FridgeToaster Avatar
FridgeToaster
18 months ago
So the original iPad series has turned into an almost abandoned low-end product line. Sad.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A
abatabia
18 months ago
It just doesn’t seem to me like they know what to do with the iPad. Either overpower them with subpar software or let them languish on the vine for years only to get minor spec bumps like the mini.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H
Heat_Fan89
18 months ago

So the original iPad series has turned into an almost abandoned low-end product line. Sad.
Noooo, it just means that tablets have long ago reached peak innovation. We are now in the era of milking a product and offering a product for every type of buyer. Big, big difference. The iPhone has been heading in that direction as well for quite some time as well.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
Kylo83
18 months ago
I would have thought it would be upgraded when the mini did, so the whole range can get AI
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
EugW
18 months ago
That’s too bad. I was hoping for spring / early summer 2025. Oh well, what’s a few more months? 🤷‍♀️ My kid will have suffer along with the iPad Air 2 another year I guess. However, if the AI rumours are true, I’m thinking the base RAM will be 8 GB which is twice the current 4 GB, well worth the wait. Here’s hoping it’s also base 128 GB storage.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pksv Avatar
pksv
18 months ago

Noooo, it just means that tablets have long ago reached peak innovation. We are now in the era of milking a product and offering a product for every type of buyer. Big, big difference. The iPhone has been heading in that direction as well for quite some time as well.
Exactly, that's spot on.
Both tablet and smartphone slab form factors have peaked. There's practically nothing that manufacturers could do within this form factor that would change the user experience and make people say "wow". Even if Apple managed to create a tablet with a two-day battery that is 1mm thick, how does that change anything?

That's why Apple is still clinging to 60Hz displays because it knows that the other differences are marginal. Look how good the regular iPhone is this year or the iPad Air 11 M2 which is basically an iPad Pro 11 M2 with a 60Hz display.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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