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iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition
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Isn’t this also the generation that got the machine learning extensions added to the GPU? They are being more circumspect about it but Apple still seems to be investing in on-device AI assistants. Their killer feature is the tight hardware and software integration so this may be a push to prepare for future features. Apple sells a lot of the iPads and they stick around for a long time.
Who [MR Headline] thinks chip selection is about "tradition?" That is an absurd idea. Apple selects chips to do a job and likely based on yields, chip binning, economies of scale, manufacturing capabilities, etc. Not on tradition and not on a single product; Apple manages a very complex chip production matrix. Sheesh.
As others have said, the A19 move is likely to debut AI on the base iPad and streamline its manufacturing orders.
You're right. I edited my post to make it more clear what I meant:
The iPad product line has pretty much always had a lower A series chip than the other iPads being sold, ever since the iPad 3 came out (and while the 4 was out as well, and was still being sold at the start of when the Air was released) because the iPad 2 was sold alongside the 3 and then the 4 as the cheaper model. The article said the iPad 5 was the first iPad to have the lower A chip instead of the latest A chip that the 4 had. Technically true, for new models, but not for the "most affordable iPad" in the lineup.
Apple was feeling bad about the Google Pixel phones shipping with processors as fast as 3 year old iPhones so they thought they'd throw them a bone.
I have stopped buying inventories-clearing, past-generations-specs products Apple tries to sell.
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and it would be unusual for Apple to use a current-generation chip in the low-cost iPad due to cost.
Apple's most affordable iPad has not had a current-generation chip since the iPad 4, which is back when Apple was still designing AX chips for its tablet lineup. The iPad 5 that came out in 2017 used the A9 chip that was originally introduced in the 2015 iPhone 6s, and since then, the iPad has been equipped with an A-series chip that's a generation or two behind the chip in the most recently released iPhone.
The current iPad 11 that was released in March 2025 uses the A16 chip that first debuted in the iPhone 14 in 2022, for example. The iPad 10 (October 2022) used the A14 (September 2020), the iPad 9 (September 2021) used the A13 (September 2019), and the iPad 8 (September 2020) used the A12 (September 2018). A 2024 A18 chip for the 2026 iPad would be in line with prior launches.
The model numbers listed in Macworld's report are also unusual. It says that J581 and J588 are the codenames for the upcoming 12th-generation iPad, but codenames are typically sequential. Codenames are how Apple references unreleased devices in its software. In prior code leaks, J581 and J582 appeared to reference the low-cost iPad 12.
Prior leaks have suggested that the iPad mini will use the A19 chip, but the iPad mini was previously referenced in Apple code as J510 and J511. Apple sometimes changes its plans and makes updates to unreleased devices, so the A19 chip for the iPad can't be ruled out entirely.
It is not yet clear if Macworld is correct about the A19 chip for the iPad given previous information, but other parts of the report seem more in line with expectations. Macworld suggests the next-generation iPad Air will use an M4 chip, and that both the upcoming iPad and iPad Air will be equipped with Apple's N1 networking chip.
The iPad Air typically gets an M-series chip that's a generation behind the chip in the iPad Pro, and since it's been updated to the M5, the M4 makes sense for the next iPad Air. Apple has also been adding the new N1 networking chip to newly released devices, starting with this year's iPhones. The N1 chip is an Apple-designed Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip that's more energy efficient than chips designed by third-party companies.
Apple is expected to release the new iPad Air and iPad models early in 2026.
Article Link: iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition
not even ipad air has this feature... the display is not even laminated.
The iPad Air and Mini will likely get Promotion 120 hz LCD screens in line with the iPhone 17. This will be the big differentiator from the base model.
There are already a few differentiators from the base model: laminated display, more powerful SoC… for the iPhone, economy of scale plays in favor, as it is easier to source the same display for both the regular and the Pro models, as the market is flooded with such displays, but on the tablet form factor, I’m not so convinced that high refresh rate screens are the norm… especially in the LCD segment.
Apple Engineering: Blurring the Venn-walled lines between OMG, WTF, and LOL
The next-generation low-cost iPad will use Apple's A19 chip, according to a report from Macworld. Macworld claims to have seen an "internal Apple code document" with information about the 2026 iPad lineup.
Prior documentation discovered by MacRumors suggested that the iPad 12 would be equipped with an A18 chip, not an A19 chip. The A19 chip was just released this year in the iPhone 17, and it would be unusual for Apple to use a current-generation chip in the low-cost iPad due to cost.
Apple's most affordable iPad has not had a current-generation chip since the iPad 4, which is back when Apple was still designing AX chips for its tablet lineup. The iPad 5 that came out in 2017 used the A9 chip that was originally introduced in the 2015 iPhone 6s, and since then, the iPad has been equipped with an A-series chip that's a generation or two behind the chip in the most recently released iPhone.
The current iPad 11 that was released in March 2025 uses the A16 chip that first debuted in the iPhone 14 in 2022, for example. The iPad 10 (October 2022) used the A14 (September 2020), the iPad 9 (September 2021) used the A13 (September 2019), and the iPad 8 (September 2020) used the A12 (September 2018). A 2024 A18 chip for the 2026 iPad would be in line with prior launches.
The model numbers listed in Macworld's report are also unusual. It says that J581 and J588 are the codenames for the upcoming 12th-generation iPad, but codenames are typically sequential. Codenames are how Apple references unreleased devices in its software. In prior code leaks, J581 and J582 appeared to reference the low-cost iPad 12.
Prior leaks have suggested that the iPad mini will use the A19 chip, but the iPad mini was previously referenced in Apple code as J510 and J511. Apple sometimes changes its plans and makes updates to unreleased devices, so the A19 chip for the iPad can't be ruled out entirely.
It is not yet clear if Macworld is correct about the A19 chip for the iPad given previous information, but other parts of the report seem more in line with expectations. Macworld suggests the next-generation iPad Air will use an M4 chip, and that both the upcoming iPad and iPad Air will be equipped with Apple's N1 networking chip.
The iPad Air typically gets an M-series chip that's a generation behind the chip in the iPad Pro, and since it's been updated to the M5, the M4 makes sense for the next iPad Air. Apple has also been adding the new N1 networking chip to newly released devices, starting with this year's iPhones. The N1 chip is an Apple-designed Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chip that's more energy efficient than chips designed by third-party companies.
Apple is expected to release the new iPad Air and iPad models early in 2026.
Article Link: iPad 12 Rumored to Get iPhone 17's A19 Chip, Breaking Apple Tradition
Apple could increase the prices of the next Air and Mini with Promotion screens (Air could get same display as iPP M2), because the iPP M4/M5 now starts at £/$999. Of course non of this may happen and they stay with 60 hz screens and price point with just boring incremental upgrades.
It's an optical shrink of N3E which allows an SoC design to offer either 5% more maximum frequency or 5-10% less power draw at the same clock speed compared to fabricating the SoC on N3E. N3X can take higher voltages (up to 1.2V) so it can go 5% faster than N3P and is designed for the most power-hungry applications that are connected to "shore power" so the higher power leakage is not a drawback.
N3P offers about 4% greater transistor density so not sure how this impacts yields (and N3E is a more mature process, which should have improved yields over time).
If the iPhone Air is selling as poorly as everyone believes, Apple probably has a pile of 5-core A19 Pros that they could slot into the new Apple TV instead of the A17 Pro.
The A19 is slightly smaller than the A18 so... probably.
It did in 2025 with the A16 model, and I believe the fifth generation iPad was released in March of 2017 as well. In the intervening years, particularly since 2020, it has been released in the Fall. Apple also just updates the entry-level iPad model as an add-on to other product updates. It is not really a big enough priority to warrant its own release, so a March release alongside new Macs or a new Apple TV is plausible.