Missing From Apple's Announcements: iPad 12 With Apple Intelligence

[M4irmidnight]

My guess is Apple is holding those off until the fall “entertainment” event when they unveil the new iPhones. I think the wait is ultimately worth it though.

But then a18 chip is even farther behind.

 

[jimthing]

What would it do that the current one cannot?

Dolby Vision 2, lossless passthrough of some audio formats.
...and 8K, lol!

 

[jimthing]

Does anyone know what's likely to be the connection standard coming after Thunderbolt 5?

(Unlikely to be a TB6, given we've reached Lightpeak's ~100Gbps maximum with v5 offering 80/120Gbps.)

 

[alchemistmuffin]

But then a18 chip is even farther behind.

I would not be surprised if Apple decides to put A19 chip in there. (Not the pro model but regular one)

 

[danakin]

I just recently bought an iPad A16 and consider the lack of Apple Idiocy/Intelligence a plus (for me).
It serves exactly the purpose I need of it.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Get rid of the camera wart and bring back the Lightning connector and the tri-folding cover, and I'll buy one!

 

[segfaultdotorg]

If Apple Intelligence is the holdup, it's probably because they're moving it over to Google Gemini.

 

[M4irmidnight]

I would not be surprised if Apple decides to put A19 chip in there. (Not the pro model but regular one)

I’d be very happy with that.

 

[M4irmidnight]

Get rid of the camera wart and bring back the Lightning connector and the tri-folding cover, and I'll buy one!

Lightning? Gross.

 

[M4irmidnight]

I just recently bought an iPad A16 and consider the lack of Apple Idiocy/Intelligence a plus (for me).
It serves exactly the purpose I need of it.

I’m curious, how’s iPadOS 26 run on it? Any stutter of anything that makes you notice it’s the “base” iPad and not say an iPad Air with the M chips ?

 

[owidhh]

I thought the Mac Mini and iMac updates to M5 were the big glaring omissions? Not gonna ask about the Mac Pro that’s a once a decade update right???

 

[Chungkring]

The real problem Apple have with launching an iPad 12 right now is pricing compared to the MacBook Neo.

A MacBook Neo with 512GB of storage costs US$699
An iPad 11 with 512GB of storage (and WiFI only) costs US$649

A more capable [differently capable - comes with keyboard compared to ability to use Apple Pencil] computer is only US$50 more.

In a situation like this, even if you were to launch an iPad 12 with a newer CPU, how does it compete against the MacBook Neo? Or put another way, why would Apple want to provide a more powerful iPad, with a similar price, that would risk cannibalising MacBook Neo sales?

 

[danakin]

I’m curious, how’s iPadOS 26 run on it? Any stutter of anything that makes you notice it’s the “base” iPad and not say an iPad Air with the M chips ?

It seems to run quite fine for me - no stuttering at all. I use the iPad for content consumption, web surfing, some basic banking, etc. it’s considerably smoother than what iPad OS 18 ran like on my previous iPad, a 9th gen model.
The only thing I miss is the 3.5mm headphone jack. I wish the morons at Apple would still include it on the base models.

 

[Jeeve Stubbs]

I was really hoping this week would end on a cool new “one more thing” product of some kind. Ah well.

The Tim era is a far cry from the Steve era. Much less wow, much more meh.

 

[eifelbube]

If Apple is going all-in on a $499 MacBook, launching a refreshed iPad at the same time makes little sense. People and journalists will inevitably compare the two, but it takes attention away from the Neo.

This. An A18 iPad with Touch ID at $349 will have to wait until enough Neos are sold are sold …

 

[Veinticinco]

I was really hoping this week would end on a cool new “one more thing” product of some kind. Ah well.

It’s not 1997-2011 anymore sadly.

 

[Veinticinco]

If Apple is going all-in on a $499 MacBook, launching a refreshed iPad at the same time makes little sense. People and journalists will inevitably compare the two, but it takes attention away from the Neo.

Exactly. It would cannabilise sales of the laptop.

 

[svish]

Don’t know when it will get updated. Might get updated at WWDC or latest by September. Think the price should remain the same.

 

[Kaiserschmarrn]

Might just be entirely scrapped for the time being with the RAM-cost issues

 

[MartinX99]

I feel like an A18 iPad would have a lot of customer crossover with the MB Neo, so they may want to give the Neo some time to breathe before bringing in the iPad.
I'd be suprised if it was months away though.

 

[dumastudetto]

Gurman nailed it perfectly because he clearly anticipates the iPad ("but not all") will probably be delayed due to his deep connections inside Apple. I am truly excited to see the new products Mark will be leaking next.

2026 promises to be a year packed full of innovation at Apple. And we're just getting started.

 

[davidespinosa]

If the iPad 12 has 12gb RAM, I'll def consider upgrading from the iPad 11.

 

[ignatius345]

The Tim era is a far cry from the Steve era. Much less wow, much more meh.

I don’t know about that. AirPods, for example, were introduced in the “Tim era” and they’re one of the best Apple products I’ve ever used, and they’re everywhere out in the real world. The Mac M-series processors are also well into the “Tim era” and have massively improved the way we use our Macs. And during the “Tim era” the iPhone has absolutely exploded and now commands a full 20% of the world market. That means one in five smartphones on earth is an iPhone. None of those seem “meh” to me.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I don’t know about that. AirPods, for example, were introduced in the “Tim era” and they’re one of the best Apple products I’ve ever used, and they’re everywhere out in the real world. The Mac M-series processors are also well into the “Tim era” and have massively improved the way we use our Macs. And during the “Tim era” the iPhone has absolutely exploded and now commands a full 20% of the world market. That means one in five smartphones on earth is an iPhone. None of those seem “meh” to me.

Apple Silicon traces all the way back to release in 2010 in the first iPad & the iPhone 4, meaning it was a thing in development well before 2010 even.

 

[BMox81]

Gurman nailed it perfectly because he clearly anticipates the iPad ("but not all") will probably be delayed due to his deep connections inside Apple. I am truly excited to see the new products Mark will be leaking next.

2026 promises to be a year packed full of innovation at Apple. And we're just getting started.

Let’s not be giving props to Gurman now shall we… lol