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Next iPad Pro to Have Two Key Features, But One Rumor Still Uncertain
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I know you are meant to say 32GB of RAM but man I am super curious to know how iOS runs on 32TB of RAM/Storage. Would it still be a slugfest or everything can be truly instantaneous now.
I don’t use iPad as extensively as you do but I do use my iPad so much that I started forgetting to bring my iPhone while traveling outside. That’s how it goes, even though I also have a Mac and a PC to do whatever they are doing the best. I can’t afford absolutely top of the line iPad but I’ve used it well enough to make it worthwhile. My 2018 iPad Pro was plagued with problems that I opted for an upgrade to M1 iPad Pro, and man that was quite amazing. 5 years in, sure M1 is getting slow and 512GB of storage is nowhere near enough for me, but that’s roughly the cost of $1 per day too. It’s incredible. I’m seriously considering upgrading to M5 even if the change is minor compared to M4 because my keyboard case is breaking down by the day and I don’t want to buy another one that is not forward compatible, plus I need more storage.
And I have a computer to deal with this. I do not need to use the iPad to do this. I appreciate that you use the iPad to do this work, but for me I need fully functional OS on a machine with a mouse and 2 X 27” 5K displays. Each to his own and if you chose to use an iPad good luck. But for me it is a complete waste of time.
Are these guys that stupid to think that Apple doesn't know the location and people that have activated 'unreleased' devices?
Maybe but why? I have a computer to do this work not a half baked OS on a small screen. Again this is my perspective and I really do not see the iPad as serious computing platform.
What can they do for users in Russia though? In US or other western countries maybe something can be done, but Russia? Nah. Besides, they might have the tech to activate an Apple device offline.
Fair comment. But I don’t see iPads as a competitor to a machine using Mac OS. They are different machines for different purposes. And to make it clear an iPad to me is not a tool I would use for some of the tasks I see other people see as part or the iPad’s remit. Its OS is too clumsy and the interface is completely useless to me. Good luck to you but the majority of people I see using an iPad ae content consumers but I am also aware the some people use them for serious work. Good luck and my post reflects my view and mine alone. I suspect I am surprised that Apple have so many power users that they feel an M5 is a valid update given the reaction to the M4 release.
An amazing number of people do not like my post here, which is interesting since I made the point that for me it was a personal view that I am not going to change. However I think the point being made here by the 'disagree' crowd is that these 'disagree' people think that there IS a good reasons to upgrade the processor and working RAM. Good luck to you and I am glad you have a use for it, I just made the point that I do not see the point and that Apple must have seen something I do not. For me the iPad is, and will remain for the forseeable future, a device for consumption. I can see that maybe Apple Intelligence may require more RAM and processor capability but at the moment that is a totally unrealized target.
To me the tablet format has still not realized it's potential and so long as it is portable (meaning, thin, light and long battery life), it can be a consumption device for email, internet browsing and messaging. After that the interface is, to me, completely, useless. I cannot get the degree of precision or target accuracy that a touch interface needs.
But if you see a value, good luck. I do not, and I wish Apple would focus on the primary, for me, requirements of llght, long battery life and robustness that would not make the device self destruct if dropped. Same as an iPhone in fact.
3000 for 7 years is about 430 a year, not bad i would say, and I bet that iPad is still going strong and would may be passed down and live another 2-3 years so a good investment in the long run.
I also work 99 % of my stuff on iPad only and make money out of it, seemed the right approach when I started and my bet was right for my needs.
Ended up being cheaper in the long run and more practical for my needs.
A much more important question:
What new software features will be reserved for the M5?
Perhaps another small bonus that was already available twenty years ago (Stage Manager), an AI feature that Apple still can't deliver even after a year or will the M5 be necessary to switch between LG and an ergonomic GUI?
I don't know. But I do know that the fan bubble will come up with enough reasons why the features can't work with the M4 or M2. Until Apple releases them.
What new software features will be reserved for the M5?
Perhaps another small bonus that was already available twenty years ago (Stage Manager), an AI feature that Apple still can't deliver even after a year or will the M5 be necessary to switch between LG and an ergonomic GUI?
I don't know. But I do know that the fan bubble will come up with enough reasons why the features can't work with the M4 or M2. Until Apple releases them.
You may have forgotten, but more RAM doesn't help at all if developers can't or aren't allowed to use it.
We already had that game.
Apple puts more RAM in its devices, but because Apple of course limits the maximum amount of RAM for the software, there are actually no apps that can take advantage of the extra RAM.
I think two or three have it now, including DaVinci.
So what do you want with even more RAM if Apple “forgets” to release this performance to the competition again?
I use my iPad for most of my daily tasks (combined with the magic keyboard). This is mostly down to the built in 5G which means I don’t have to faff around connecting to client’s wifi networks. Reading papers, reports is great in tablet mode and the keyboard is (just about) big enough to touch type for extended periods.
However, it cannot replace my laptop (macbook). It would be very close if I could run VMs on it. Apple don’t allow JiT which makes a VM uselessly slow for anything more than DOS (which isn’t useful). This used to annoy me but I do understand why. Unless there is a serious amount of RAM, VMs are likely to perform poorly anyway. And an M5 with 32gb is likely to cost so much as to not make any sense: with the built in cellular, combined with the magic keyboard the cost would likely be 2030% higher than the top end Macbook Air is now. I just don’t think there’s a market big enough to justify the confusion.
That said, I fully expect to have an iPad in a few years that is capable of running VMs (or, our currently large, local vision models).
The only thing I am concerned is with Safari tabs reloading. Have not experienced it yet on my 256GB M4 iPad Pro with its 8GB RAM. That being said, I don't think there will be anything noticeable immediately with the increase in RAM.
I have heard that iPadOS26 / iOS26 have started to unlock memory usage for paging / swap, not sure how accessible this is for 3rd party devs, but for Safari wouldn't it be the first to take advantage of this?
If so having extra RAM will have meaningful advantages.
Just grab the m4 ipad pro at Costco on sale. Great deal. 90 day return policy.
12GB up from 8GB is great, but realistically what apps on ipad will actually utilize this?
12GB up from 8GB is great, but realistically what apps on ipad will actually utilize this?
Historically, Apple has increased per app RAM availabilty over time with major OS updates.
Also, multitasking support is important.
I guess all I'm saying is $1049 for m4 ipad pro 13" is a good deal considering (based on the early Russian guy leaks) there doesn't seem to be that much difference besides cpu and ram. If that's worth $250 more for the retail, than I guess that's good.
Also I get iOS 26 has more options for multitasking support. But to be honest it's pretty cumbersome to use the different window sizes together. I actually find the full screen to be much more easier to navigate unfortunately.
More RAM will allow more windows open without refreshing, content creation software will allow more layers, apple intelligence, games etc. There is use for it but iPad OS is very efficient with RAM, so 8 GB can still go a long way.
Whilst 12gb is welcome it would have been nice if they increased it to 16gb to have parity with base macs rather than the pro phones. I think 12gb is more than required currently but if they were ever thinking of allowing mac apps to port across to ipad 16gb would have been sweet and coukd be positioned more as a mac alternative depending what they do with ipad os 27
Buddy, you act like Apple can do anything about it. They're in Russia.
RAM is not expensive. Apple just overcharges for it. And I personally need both a desktop Mac and a Windows PC because Apple's GPU solution is no match for Nvidia external GPU's. I use the iPad Pro for certain tasks with the Apple Pencil, which work great on simple things, but gives up when limited by the low amount of RAM.
Which is sad, and a manufactured limitation by Apple.
