12th-Generation iPad: Everything We Know About Apple's Next Budget Tablet

[RobDacoder]

This should've been released for the back-to-school/college/university crowd. Seems like a missed opportunity.

 

[thelion7]

Apple is working on a 12th-generation iPad, and plans to update the most affordable tablet in the iPad in 2027. It's not going to be a major update, but if you're planning a purchase, you might want to wait for the newest model.

Design

There are no rumors of an updated design for the 12th-generation iPad, so it will likely have the same 11-inch edge-to-edge display with Touch ID Side Button and thick bezels.

Apple last updated the iPad's design with the 10th-generation model, giving the device a more modern look to better match the designs of the iPad Pro and iPad Air models.

The low-cost iPad is only available in a single screen size, and it is Apple's thickest tablet at 7mm. It features a Retina LED display with no ProMotion support, no P3 wide color, and no lamination (display technology that allows for improved visuals) compared to Apple's other tablets.

Apple makes the low-cost iPad in several fun colors, and we could see some new shades in 2026. Current colors include blue, pink, silver, and yellow.

No changes are expected for the rear camera, front camera, USB-C port, or compatibility with accessories like the Apple Pencil.
A-Series Processor

Rumors suggest the low-cost iPad will use Apple's A18 or A19 chip, both of which are built on a 3-nanometer process to bring speed and efficiency improvements over the A16 chip that's in the current model.

The A16 chip that Apple used in 2025 does not support Apple Intelligence, but the A18 and A19 do, so that will mark a major update for Apple's affordable tablet. The 2026 model should be able to support Apple Intelligence features that are unavailable with the 2025 model.

The updated chips also offer hardware-accelerated ray tracing and similar features for improved gameplay. The 11th-generation iPad has 6GB RAM, but Apple will need to bump that up to 8GB for Apple Intelligence.
N1 Chip

Apple debuted its own Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, called the N1, in the iPhone 17 models. The N1 was added to the iPad Pro, and it's possible that Apple plans to add the chip to all future devices coming in 2026 and beyond.

The N1 chip supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread networking technology for smart home devices.

The 11th-generation iPad is limited to Wi-Fi 6, so if the 12th-generation version does indeed get Wi-Fi 7, it will be able to connect to faster 6GHz networks for the first time. Bluetooth 6 would also be an improvement over Bluetooth 5.3. There is a chance that Apple is reserving the N1 chip for its more premium devices, based on leaked internal code. If that's the case, the iPad won't include the N1 chip.
Apple Modem

Apple has designed C1 and C1X modem chips that it has used in iPhones and iPads in 2025, and the next-generation version of the iPad could also get an Apple-designed modem chip for cellular models.

Apple's modem chips are more power efficient than Qualcomm chips while providing similar performance.
Pricing

With Apple's June price increase, the 11th-generation iPad is priced starting at $449 for 128GB of storage, which is up $100 from the previous price. Apple raised prices because of increasing RAM costs, and there are no indications that component costs are coming down before the 12th-generation model is set to launch.

It's likely it will have the same $449 starting price.
Launch Date

Bloomberg initially suggested Apple would refresh the iPad sometime in 2026, but now it looks like it's not going to get an update until the first quarter of 2027 at the earliest.

Article Link: 12th-Generation iPad: Everything We Know About Apple's Next Budget Tablet

I can’t imagine the new budget iPad getting Wi-fi as last years Air M3 had 6E.

I have a feeling it will stay the same or inherit the same 6E Wi-Fi as previous iPads.

But from a chip perspective, it looks like Apple has no choice but to allow Apple Intelligence.

Unless they have spare A17 chips to use but I can’t imagine they would?

 

[satchmo]

Apple had a great advantage to bring in new customers keeping the pricing down, but Cook's greed got the better of him. No way a 25% price increase was reasonable.

I find the percentage hike the most egregious. I understand Apple’s costs have risen but they usually get components for less due to scale. The only case might be that they don’t want to continually bump prices and instead raise it once and won’t again for the foreseeable future.

And even keeping prices down for as long as they did, Apple still had record profits over this time and becoming a 5 trillion dollar company. So yes, this is probably about greed, keeping margins, and appeasing shareholders.

 

[I/0]

I was going to get both my kids new iPad 12th gens but at the new pricing I may just hold off until there are some decent sale prices.

Same I was planning on gifting iPads in Christmas but I saw a very good deal at $229 for the current model the same week as the price hike and bought two right away, now they’ll be sitting in my closet for half a year lol

 

[Happy_John]

Well the first iPad was $499 back in the day.

And it was seen as a shockingly low price when the price was announced - the expectations and the rumours at the time were that it would be far closer to $1,000.

 

[Der_mit_dem_langen]

And it was seen as a shockingly low price when the price was announced - the expectations and the rumours at the time where that it would be far closer to $1,000.

I think $300 for a base iPad was just a too low price. For $300 you get an entry Samsung tablet with s-pen which is much, much worse than the iPad.

 

[All Taken]

I think $300 for a base iPad was just a too low price.

You could always write Apple a cheque as a donation if you feel you had too good of a deal.

 

[doelcm82]

I was going to get both my kids new iPad 12th gens but at the new pricing I may just hold off until there are some decent sale prices.

I got my four kids iPads for Christmas, and I'm glad I got the models that don't support AI. I want them doing their own homework (though we mostly don't give them access to their iPads on school nights).

 

[Populus]

Got the current version for $279 new just 2 months ago, so it is almost impossible to justify paying for this meh update for $100+ more

I would call a two generation jump, one process node shrink, and going from 6GB of RAM to 8GB of RAM (unlocking Apple Intelligence / SiriAI) a meh update.

 

[bodonnell202]

That is not how that works.
With extremely, extremely rare exception (Apple silicon testing kit), apple does not separate its chips and its RAM.
The A17Pro, A18, A18Pro and A19 all have 8 GB of RAM.
The A19Pro has 12 GB.
If any of these chips are put in the new iPad, which they will be because what else are they going to use, it will have the exact same amount of ram as all of the other devices with that same chip have had.
Apple is not going to produce a very special version of one of these chips that only has 6 gigabytes of RAM, not only would that be just stupid because that would mean it still doesn’t support Apple Intelligence, but it also would likely cost them more in manufacturing costs. Remember that in these chips, the ram literally is sat directly on top of the chip, you can’t really separate them without creating an entirely new line of chips. Which apple is absolutely not going to do.

If you want my guess, I assume that they will just reuse all of the leftover stock from any MacBook Neo parts that are left over when they introduce the second generation next year.

I don’t actually think Apple will ship the next iPad with 6 GB of RAM, but it’s not because it is hard or expensive to do as Apple has done this with multiple chips over the years. The A8 shipped with 1 or 2 GB of RAM, the A10 and A11 came with 2 or 3 GB of RAM, the A12 and A13 came with 3 or 4 GB of RAM and the A14 and A15 came with 4 or 6 GB of RAM. In cases like the A13 all devices (i.e. the iPhone 11 series) initially shipped with 4 GB of RAM, with cheaper devices (the iPhone SE 2 and iPad 9) showing up later with less RAM. If it was more expensive to remove RAM Apple wouldn’t have done it.

 

[thelion7]

I find the percentage hike the most egregious. I understand Apple’s costs have risen but they usually get components for less due to scale. The only case might be that they don’t want to continually bump prices and instead raise it once and won’t again for the foreseeable future.

And even keeping prices down for as long as they did, Apple still had record profits over this time and becoming a 5 trillion dollar company. So yes, this is probably about greed, keeping margins, and appeasing shareholders.

Apple didn’t want to set a precedent with the MacBook Neo… 😂

 

[Happy_John]

I find the percentage hike the most egregious. I understand Apple’s costs have risen but they usually get components for less due to scale. The only case might be that they don’t want to continually bump prices and instead raise it once and won’t again for the foreseeable future.

And even keeping prices down for as long as they did, Apple still had record profits over this time and becoming a 5 trillion dollar company. So yes, this is probably about greed, keeping margins, and appeasing shareholders.

I don’t disagree, but what you’re saying is that is the same as any corporation anywhere.

I’m not particularly shocked or surprised. I don’t expect a “for profit” organisation to be anything other than a “for profit” organisation.

If I would be bitter about it, I’d direct my ire to both governments and consumers themselves for shrugging their shoulders and accepting it.

The nasty truth is that, if customers keep customering, and revenue does not go down, this itself tells Apple that price increases were the right decision.

 

[satchmo]

I don’t disagree, but what you’re saying is that is the same as any corporation anywhere.

I’m not particularly shocked or surprised. I don’t expect a “for profit” organisation to be anything other than a “for profit” organisation.

If I would be bitter about it, I’d direct my ire to both governments and consumers themselves for shrugging their shoulders and accepting it.

The nasty truth is that, if customers keep customering, and revenue does not go down, this itself tells Apple that price increases were the right decision.

It’s clear customers were okay with the previous prices. And I’d even say some items were frankly, a bargain.

Sure, organisations are profit driven entities. But I suppose it hits differently when the richest company is crying over higher costs. And while we have the option of not buying, we don’t have an option if we prefer MacOS.

Anyways, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see Apple’s quarterly revenues post price hike.

 

[Happy_John]

It’s clear customers were okay with the previous prices. And I’d even say some items were frankly, a bargain.

Sure, organisations are profit driven entities. But I suppose it hits differently when the richest company is crying over higher costs. And while we have the option of not buying, we don’t have an option if we prefer MacOS.

Anyways, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see Apple’s quarterly revenues post price hike.

How do you think they became one of the richest companies in the first place? Apple generally make good stuff, but apart from the blip recently, they've always had a price premium.

That it seems like they'r money-grabbing shouldn't "hit different". It's been their policy for almost all of their existence.

 

[DerekK]

I was totally in the market waiting for the release of the 12th gen. iPad's are a hit in our family, and I was a little disappointed that the 11th gen didn't get AI support. I needed to replace an aging 8th gen (the hardware is still good but the software bloat increased so much that more than half of the 32GB of storage is taken up by the OS + Other).

We ended up getting the iPad Air M3 just before prices went up (lucky!), but honestly a 12th gen would have been good enough if it was just a SoC spec bump from the 11th gen.

I think we're going to hold off getting anything new until prices come down (2028?).

 

[tomtad]

With the base iPad lacking the new Siri AI, you really notice the lack of Apple Intelligence support now. Needs updating.

 

[Der_mit_dem_langen]

With the base iPad lacking the new Siri AI, you really notice the lack of Apple Intelligence support now. Needs updating.

What do you need Apple Intelligence for? I have not used it once.

 

[tomtad]

What do you need Apple Intelligence for? I have not used it once.

To use the new Siri in iOS 27. I'm using it all the time now on my iPhone and you really notice it missing when you're on the iPad now

 

[Der_mit_dem_langen]

To use the new Siri in iOS 27. I'm using it all the time now on my iPhone and you really notice it missing when you're on the iPad now

Oh 😧. I’m literally never using Siri. What are you using it for?

 

[Core.2]

M1 13" Pro got damaged, not worth the cost to fix IMO. Might get one of these and trade in my 6th gen Mini to get a larger screen again.