Here's When to Expect the iPad 12 to Launch

[MacRumors]

In March, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said a new entry-level iPad was "still coming this year," but apparently this is no longer the case. Today, he reported that the device is slated for release in the first quarter of 2027 at the earliest.

The main new feature will be a faster processor rather than major design changes, he said, so it sounds like nothing more than a spec bump. While the next iPad mini is expected to have an OLED display, the base iPad will stick with an LCD screen.

Gurman previously said the device would be powered by the A18 chip, but Macworld's Filipe Espósito said it would have an A19 chip. In any case, the device would gain support for Apple Intelligence, as both chips have the minimum 8GB of RAM required for those features. The current entry-level iPad has an A16 chip with 6GB of RAM.

Last month, Apple increased the entry-level iPad's starting price worldwide. In the U.S., for example, the device now starts at $449, up from $349.

Apple also plans to release new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models early next year, according to Gurman. He said the iPad Air will eventually move to an OLED display, but he did not say if that is happening with the next models specifically.

He recently reported that new iPad Pro models will launch early next year too.

All in all, he expects a new iPad mini by October this year, followed by updated entry-level iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro models in the first half of next year.

Article Link: Here's When to Expect the iPad 12 to Launch

 

[turbineseaplane]

Does anyone else ever wonder if in like 20 more years we'll actually be talking about iPad 32 😂

It's kind of crazy to step and think about how much of tech has stabilized (and stalled a bit honestly) in the last many years.

(or w/e it would be called?)

 

[Zacharybinx34]

Price hike and delay? Lame

 

[Paddle1]

I wanted to get an A16 but it’s not very appealing after the price increase. The M1 iPad Pro I’m using still works very well.

 

[Sebosz]

the least they could do is give it laminated display with antireflective coating. It’s 2026 and it still feels so cheap without it.

 

[EugW]

As long as it gets 8 GB RAM, that's fine. Anything less is a no for us.

Does anyone else ever wonder if in like 20 more years we'll actually be talking about iPad 32 😂

It's kind of crazy to step and think about how much of tech has stabilized (and stalled a bit honestly) in the last many years.

(or w/e it would be called?)

Officially the current model is called "iPad (A16)" or else just "iPad" in press materials.

 

[Spock]

Who is buying this at that price point?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Who is buying this at that price point?

Nobody I would say.

It's just to get the ASP up.
These will be "on sale" right away, as usual, from the third party retailers.

Nobody likes it when I say this, but Apple has become a financial engineering operation that also makes tech products.

 

[bodonnell202]

It's kind of crazy that Apple is still selling a tablet with a nearly 4 year old chip and 6 GB of RAM at that price, and will likely continue to for another 8 or so months. The base iPad used to feel like a good value for folks that just wanted a basic tablet for content consumption.

 

[M4irmidnight]

I wanted to get an A16 but it’s not very appealing after the price increase. The M1 iPad Pro I’m using still works very well.

Even if the price was lower I can’t fathom going from an m1 iPad Pro to a base iPad model .

 

[Biro]

I wanted to get an A16 but it’s not very appealing after the price increase. The M1 iPad Pro I’m using still works very well.

Wait for this fall’s Amazon Prime Days. The A16 base iPad was going for $299 during Prime Days a few weeks ago. It may or may not drop to that price again but it’s likely to be much less expensive than it is now.

 

[Atog]

First quarter of 2027?! I've been waiting for a basic iPad with a capable CPU for more than 2 years now... I mean, the previous iteration wasn't even an iteration—it was A14-A16. That's basically not that much of an update, and they already advertised Apple Intelligence, so what the heck?

 

[svish]

Looks like it will be updated in April 2027 along with the rest of the lineup. Pro gets M7, Air gets M5/M6 and the base iPad A19 chip.

 

[Devvy]

I wanted to get an A16 but it’s not very appealing after the price increase. The M1 iPad Pro I’m using still works very well.

I own both, plus de 8th and 9th gen base iPad. The M1 is still in another league completely, mainly because of the screen. But the speedier single core performance of the A16 sometimes is noticeable. However, I definitely would not consider the A16 iPad an improvement over the M1 pro.

 

[DerekK]

Does anyone else ever wonder if in like 20 more years we'll actually be talking about iPad 32 😂

It's kind of crazy to step and think about how much of tech has stabilized (and stalled a bit honestly) in the last many years.

(or w/e it would be called?)

I could see Apple changing the names to the year of release, much like they just did with iOS. I'm sure there are people that would think that the iPad Pro 6th gen is better than the iPad Pro M5. Naming it after the CPU has issues (Macbook Pro Pro? Pro Ultra? Sometimes the Pro Pro is faster than the Pro Ultra?).

 

[sailboatking]

Ready for a price increase! LETS GOOO

 

[deaglecat]

Price hike and delay? Lame

Agree... but understand this...the sky high RAM and Storage prices will persist into 2027 (at least) and are going to significantly reshape the consumer electronics industry.

Some companies are handling this with major price increases (Apple), others are regressing memory and storage specs...and a lot of the smaller companies will just exit the consumer marketplace or functionally do so (see Raspberry Pi pricing)... or simply go out of business.

 

[tomtad]

Laminate the screen you cowards

 

[Happy_John]

I wanted to get an A16 but it’s not very appealing after the price increase. The M1 iPad Pro I’m using still works very well.

Better off chasing down a 10th gen base iPad - it'll be cheaper and no significant performance differences in standard iPad real-world tasks to the current 11th / A16 iPad. ( I've run both side by side and, honestly, it's near impossible to tell them apart by performance ).

The tenth gen has the 1A14 bionic chip - the same chip as in the iPad Air 4 ( the final Air before moving to M chips). the only issue might be support in future version of iPad OS, but keep in mind the both gear was on sale until March 2025 ( originally released in October 2022! ), so it should be supported for while yet.

 

[ifxf]

Apple like with their OS releases should name their products based on the year of their release.

 

[Happy_John]

Apple like with their OS releases should name their products based on the year of their release.

The issue with this is that the hardware has a longer lifespan than the OS, so you'd end up saying things like iPad 26 28. Having the hardware and software using the same naming convention becomes open to miscommunication. Maybe not a big deal in some situations, but open the door to misleading online second-hand sales platform listings.

I'd go with a naming scheme of hardware range / chip / OS by year, so.. " iPad A16 running 26", or "MacBook Air M6 running 28'.

Irrespective of the naming scheme, it should be standardized across all the hardware, but at the moment it's not.

 

[gummybear2026]

Of course it's delayed until 1st quarter of 2027 because it's going to be an ugly 4th quarter for Apple.

 

[Paddle1]

Better off chasing down a 10th gen base iPad - it'll be cheaper and no significant performance differences in standard iPad real-world tasks to the current 11th / A16 iPad. ( I've run both side by side and, honestly, it's near impossible to tell them apart by performance ).

The tenth gen has the 1A14 bionic chip - the same chip as in the iPad Air 4 ( the final Air before moving to M chips). the only issue might be support in future version of iPad OS, but keep in mind the both gear was on sale until March 2025 ( originally released in October 2022! ), so it should be supported for while yet.

I actually did, but based on history both the iPad 10 and M1 iPad Pro's final update will likely be iPadOS 28, so no gain in longevity unlike the A16.