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iPad 11: Two Key Upgrades Will Bring Apple Intelligence to Budget iPad

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The next-generation, entry-level iPad will support the Apple Intelligence suite of AI features, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

10th-Gen-iPad-Feature-Fanned-Gray.jpg

In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the iPad 11 will have two upgrades that enable Apple Intelligence, including an A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM. That would make the iPad 11's chip and unified memory on par with the latest iPad mini.

Gurman expects the iPad 11 models to be released this "spring," so a March or April launch is likely based on that timeframe.

iPad 11 models are not expected to have any major design changes compared to the iPad 10.

Apple unveiled the iPad 10 in October 2022, with pricing starting at $449 at the time. Apple lowered the iPad 10's starting price to $349 in the U.S. in May 2024. It is unclear if the iPad 11 will start at $349, or if pricing will return to a higher level.

iPad 10 models have an A14 Bionic chip and 4GB of RAM.

Once the iPad 11 launches, Apple Intelligence will be available on all current-generation iPads. The features require an iPad Pro or iPad Air with an M1 chip or newer, an iPad mini with the A17 Pro, or soon an iPad 11 with the A17 Pro.

Gurman also expects the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Air models to receive a spec bump this spring, likely to the M4 chip. At the same time, he said Apple plans to release updated Magic Keyboards for the iPad 11 and new iPad Airs.

As for the iPad Pro, no hardware updates are expected until late 2025 or early 2026.

Article Link: iPad 11: Two Key Upgrades Will Bring Apple Intelligence to Budget iPad
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/01/12/ipad-11-rumored-specs/
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That follows the pattern of the budget iPad getting two years ago’s chip when they decide to bump it.
But given that this thing will probably be $249 in a matter of weeks at third-party retailers, what a deal.
The iPad 11 and M4 Mini’s might be the deals of the decade next to the $600 MacBook Air.
Say what you will about the ever-growing and very ridiculous price increases going on over at the high-end, but (probably mostly due to Apple Intelligence) the low end models have literally never been better.
An A17Pro chip at $249, that almost makes the iPad Air pointless.
 
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BBCWatcher said:
A price hike seems likely since base storage will probably increase to 128GB (for onboard AI models), but $449 seems a bit too high. Maybe $429 ($399 education) with the iPad 10 kept on at $299?
Click to expand...
Na, no matter what I think the A14 is gone.
Even if they bumped the starting price from $349 up to $399, I still think they just sell the remaining inventory of iPad 10s to Walmart and Best Buy so they can throw them out there for $199 like the iPad 9 is everywhere.
The main issue is that that iPad was introduced three years ago with two years ago’s chip, the A14. A pre-M1 chip, even the iPhone SE3 has a newer chip than it and that device is three years old.
To put it into perspective, Apple announced the A14 a month after introducing the last Intel iMac.
I don’t think it’s sticking around, at least not officially straight from Apple.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
That follows the pattern of the budget iPad getting two years ago’s chip when they decide to bump it.
But given that this thing will probably be $249 in a matter of weeks at third-party retailers, what a deal.
The iPad 11 and M4 Mini’s might be the deals of the decade next to the $600 MacBook Air.
Say what you will about the ever-growing and very ridiculous price increases going on over at the high-end, but (probably mostly due to Apple Intelligence) the low end models have literally never been better.
An A17Pro chip at $249, that almost makes the iPad Air pointless.
Click to expand...
Agreed. For those that want to enter the Apple ecosystem at the lowest cost possible, this year will be a great year for that;

M4 Mac mini
iPad 11
iPhone SE
AW3
 
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smulji said:
Apple needs to equip the iPad Pro models with 16GB RAM at the base models
Click to expand...
They will in the next revision for sure. Even when I bought my 8 GB M4 iPad Pro last year, I was 100% sure they'd upgrade the RAM in the next revision. I wasn't sure if it'd be 12 GB RAM or 16 GB RAM, but after the MacBook Air upgrade to 16 GB happened, I'm now sure the iPad Pro will also be 16 GB RAM base.

Actually, I usually don't like buying iPads until they upgrade the RAM, but I wasn't prepared to wait until 2026 for a new iPad Pro since I had already passed my 2017 10.5" iPad Pro down to my kid to replace his defective iPad Air 2.
 
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Warped9 said:
The article states the iPad Air will go with M4, which is already in the Pro. The Air currently has M2 so wouldn’t it get M3?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. M3 is manufactured on the N3B process, which TSMC actively discourages customers from using. Rumour has it that Apple is the only customer for N3B, so presumably it is comparatively expensive. M4 is N3E, which was what all the other big N3 era customers were using and which should be cheaper for both Apple and TSMC.

If the 11 gets A17 Pro, maybe base storage upgrade and holds the current price it’ll be a fantastic deal.
Click to expand...
Indeed, especially since it will get a big RAM upgrade too. In fact, it'd be fine for me for my usage, even though I have the M4 iPad Pro. I don't need the performance of the iPad Pro, but I just wanted to splurge for something nice (OLED, Face ID, improved keyboard).
 
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groove-agent said:
Anyone else tired of hearing about Apple Intelligence? There are probably a million other features I'd want before AI.
Click to expand...
I don't give a chit about Apple Intelligence, but as long as I get that increased base RAM that comes with it, it's fine with me if people want to talk about it. :)

I got a 24 GB M4 Mac mini for a decent price, and I will be buying an 6-8 GB A17 Pro iPad 11 and 16 GB M4 MacBook Air this year hopefully. I'm just sad that the M4 iPad Pro didn't get the same treatment, with my pricey base model only coming with 8 GB RAM.
 
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smulji said:
Incredible deal. Wouldn't be surprised if it eats into iPad Air 11" sales.
Click to expand...
As mentioned, I bought the M4 iPad Pro last year already, but if I were buying for myself in Q2 2025, I'd strongly consider the iPad 11 over the iPad Air. The main consideration for me is the storage. I'd prefer base 128 GB. The iPad Air is already 128 GB, but the iPad 10 is 64 GB. I have a strong suspicion that the base iPad 11 will remain at 64 GB for this iteration because Apple likes to ration its upgrades. Fortunately, my 2025 iPad 11 purchase will actually be for my kid, and in that scenario the 64 GB is sufficient. Of our two kids with the iPad Air 2, one got my old iPad Pro 10.5" with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage last year, and the other will get the iPad 11 with (hopefully) 8 GB RAM and 64 storage this year.
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
That follows the pattern of the budget iPad getting two years ago’s chip when they decide to bump it.
But given that this thing will probably be $249 in a matter of weeks at third-party retailers, what a deal.
Click to expand...

Pretty decent chance that does not happen. Apple kept the iPad 9th Gen when the 10th gen appeared. They sat on it for another couple of years at that frequent $250 sales price . The 10th could do the exact same thing.

The 10th took a price point that was substantively higher than the 9th .
9th Introduction : $329
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10th Introduction : $449
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( and the 9th gen didn't go away at that point),.

Pretty good chance that more memory and more expensive SoC sees the price jump to $449 (i.e,, go 'up' not 'down' ). At least for the first 1-1.5 years.



Apple could do EXACTLY the same thing with the 10th as the discount 'edu' iPad for masses (with USB-C so 'clean' EU restrictions wise) and the 11th as the AI - sizzle on top. Cranking the memory to 8G and putting a TSMC N3B chip in there isn't going to be huge discounts on bill of material costs.


[ Same competitive problem still exists of Chromebooks and other more affordable laptops at the 'low' end that Apple has no solution for. 10th gen is likely candidate for that same problem at this point. The pragmatically sub $300 devices is a market demand. Don't need a 17Pro SoC to cover that. ]
 
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