Upcoming iPad Air Rumored to Feature M1 Chip

[Zdigital2015]

I swear Apple always fu**s with the iPad mini every time I think the iPad Air and mini are gonna be similar in benchmarks they upgrade the air and leave the mini in the dust

In the dust?! Please. The new iPad mini is sporting the same SoC as the iPhone 13/13 Pro. The mini is going to be a great ipad
For a good many years. Besides, it just doesn’t sell in the volume that the other larger iPads sell in. That we still have a mini is a miracle at this point.

 

[sevoneone]

This is great news for iOS. The more devices with M1 chips the more opportunity for developers to take the chance and create more robust apps for the iPad.
It’s when a company puts less powerful chips in its devices when we have to worry. It’s called stagnation.

It never works that way though. Developers have incentive to make their apps work with the widest range of devices possible and, historically, most people wait to upgrade their iPad until they absolutely have to. So the majority of Apps being released today are probably still targeting A9 or A10, maybe even A8, chipsets from 5 years ago.

Also, putting the M1 in the iPad Air would actually be more stagnation than putting in the A15. They say M1 is based on A13, so there are a bunch of improvements, efficiencies and capabilities the iPad Air would miss out on that make a lot more sense to have in an iPad than raw compute horsepower that would be wasted 99% of the time.

 

[SenorWhyMe]

If it can dual-boot Mac and iPad OS, I'll take it!
Plus whatever keyboard that goes with it...

never going to happen sadly

 

[UltimateSyn]

Personally I would've rather it stolen the ProMotion feature from the Pros instead of the M-series chip. I think that's more useful on a consumption-oriented device.

 

[cmaier]

Personally I would've rather it stolen the ProMotion feature from the Pros instead of the M-series chip. I think that's more useful on a consumption-oriented device.

A large percentage of people can’t see the difference with promotion (i.e. higher frame rates. The use of promotion for battery savings is a different issue). Higher performance will, over time, raise the least-common-denominator iPad performance and lead to a vastly improved software ecosystem.

 

[UltimateSyn]

A large percentage of people can’t see the difference with promotion (i.e. higher frame rates. The use of promotion for battery savings is a different issue). Higher performance will, over time, raise the least-common-denominator iPad performance and lead to a vastly improved software ecosystem.

That's a very fair argument. I guess I'm just selfish for the here and now.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Also, putting the M1 in the iPad Air would actually be more stagnation than putting in the A15. They say M1 is based on A13, so there are a bunch of improvements, efficiencies and capabilities the iPad Air would miss out on that make a lot more sense to have in an iPad than raw compute horsepower that would be wasted 99% of the time.

I believe M1 is based on A14, which came out around the same time. And if true, A14 and A15 aren't dramatically different. So going from an A14 in the Air 4 to M1 in Air 5 would be a nice boost under certain circumstances.

 

[RajBan]

If they do give M1 into iPad Air, then they may bump up the price a bit bringing it very close to M1 iPad Pro. In that scenario I expect people will simply by the pro version as opposed to the air. On the other hand if they are able to maintain the price same as today on Air along with M1 then iPad Pro sales will slump altogether.

Personally I will be happy and may go for air if they include Promotion and quad speakers with A15 chip. That is sweet spot for me. I would have loved a 12 in display as well like Samsung S8 + but Apple usually takes time to make such changes.

I did go to a Samsung store in the weekend to take a peek at the S8+ tab and it's awesome. Buttery smooth, great display, dex mode and it gives S pen(this pen is actually an awesome product) and keyboard free as part of launch offer here in India. If the use case is primarily media consumption, studying, note taking, browsing then at that price S8+ is an excellent deal. The key question is whether it will survive that performance for 6-7 years like how typically an iPad does. Samsung is committed to offer next 4 Android updates(Android 12 just came few months back) taking it to 5 years if solid support, so it has kept me interested so far and I will take a final call in next 48 hrs once the Air specs are known.

 

[dgdosen]

I think they're doing this because they've got a glut of M1s. Apple agreed to pick up TSMCs capacity when TSMC had to kick Huawei to the curb (because of sanctions)... That means Apple received a lot more M1s.

 

[yitwail]

M1 iPad Air would be wonderful, if it gets 8GB RAM. And before everyone dismisses that idea, all M1 SOC ever made had minimum 8GB, so doubt they would create an M1 4GB version just for iPad Air 5.

 

[cmaier]

I believe M1 is based on A14, which came out around the same time. And if true, A14 and A15 aren't dramatically different. So going from an A14 in the Air 4 to M1 in Air 5 would be a nice boost under certain circumstances.

A14 and A15 are quite different. The performance of the performance cores is similar, bu the A15 performance cores are more efficient. The efficiency cores on A15 are much faster than the efficiency cores on A14.

 

[George Dawes]

Look on the bright side, it’d be a really impressive portable gaming machine , like a switch on steroids

 

[SactoGuy18]

I have my doubts about the new iPad Air getting the M1. Especially if they want to keep battery life reasonable.

 

[subjonas]

If it can dual-boot Mac and iPad OS, I'll take it!
Plus whatever keyboard that goes with it...

A long as it’s called an iPad, I don’t see it ever dual booting. I think it would have to be a whole new product line.

 

[Homme]

It never works that way though. Developers have incentive to make their apps work with the widest range of devices possible and, historically, most people wait to upgrade their iPad until they absolutely have to. So the majority of Apps being released today are probably still targeting A9 or A10, maybe even A8, chipsets from 5 years ago.

Also, putting the M1 in the iPad Air would actually be more stagnation than putting in the A15. They say M1 is based on A13, so there are a bunch of improvements, efficiencies and capabilities the iPad Air would miss out on that make a lot more sense to have in an iPad than raw compute horsepower that would be wasted 99% of the time.

“maybe A8 Chipsets….” It’s pretty obvious A8 Microarchitecture counts in this considering iPad Mini 4 and iPad Air 2 are still being supported with iPadOS 15 so apps of virtual importance count

M1 is based on A14

 

[Chancha]

Personally I would've rather it stolen the ProMotion feature from the Pros instead of the M-series chip. I think that's more useful on a consumption-oriented device.

If that happens then the only advantage of the Pro will be cameras, speakers, and RAM. Then they may as well axe the 11" Pro, or merge the Air and Pro to be the same device since they are way too similar.

 

[Realityck]

iPad Air: M1 Chip + Pro-Motion + Mini-LED display would be an instant buy for me.

Why bother to make and sell a iPad Pro if that came to be is my first thought.

 

[Crow_Servo]

A14 and A15 are quite different. The performance of the performance cores is similar, bu the A15 performance cores are more efficient. The efficiency cores on A15 are much faster than the efficiency cores on A14.

That's good. I didn't know that. But the M1 would still be a much bigger leap from A14, wouldn't it? I don't actually know, but I suspect so.

I think whatever chip they put into the new Air, it'll be solid, but it would be more buzz-worthy if they go with M1.

We'll find out in less than twelve hours.

 

[dooyou]

iPad Air: M1 Chip + Pro-Motion + Mini-LED display would be an instant buy for me.

Already exists and is called ipad pro.

 

[Crow_Servo]

Already exists and is called ipad pro.

Yes, yes and no. The 11" Pro doesn't have Mini LED, only the 12.9" does. So it would still make the Air a unique choice, and likely render the current 11" Pro irrelevant when it comes to Apple's online store.

 

[Isengardtom]

Why bother to make and sell a iPad Pro if that came to be is my first thought.

Mini LED later this year


But I agree, this seems pretty crazy.
Apple does put good chips in its iPads though. The iPad 9 has a very respectable A13.

Maybe long term they want do go the route of the iPhone SE. Latest A chip in the base model, and then M1/M2 in the Air and Pro models.

This is going to make me hope for vast iPadOS improvements again. Better not get my hopes up on that front

 

[UBS28]

Really??? The mid range consumer iPad will have the same processor as Apples computers? And iPad Pro’s. I can’t believe this one I’m afraid. I mean I know economy of scale for the M1 is important but it’s in several Mac devices now. If this is true I would certainly expect a price increase.

So what if it is in Mac devices? Mac's simply got the A14X from the iPad Pro, it is not that the iPads got the M1 from the Mac.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Who the hell is coming up with these rumors the last few days? Am I the only one who thinks most of the stuff coming out the last few days has just been complete bull? I mean half of this sh*t doesn’t even make sense on any level.

I’m beginning to see this as well.

iPad Air to have M1?! Like WHY?! That would completely kill off iPad Pro 11” sales!! I cannot believe 7 posts before yours, and including yours still hasn’t grasped this?!

Like what would be the purpose to have an 11“ iPad Pro vs an iPad Air 11” both having Apple Pencil 2 support and M1 within?!
- the differences would be VERY minimal, lidar on the Pro would and still is considered negligible.

 

[DeepIn2U]

A15 or M1 there is very little difference. In practice no difference on an iPad.

Peoples are seing things that are not there. It was probably just that there had more M1 chips available at this time then A15 chips.

The difference now is most likely Apple doesn’t have that many M1 chips available to them for placing into the iPad Air. It’ll just raise the cost without a real need by the target consumer.

 

[dooyou]

Apple outdoes itself from year to year with increased CPU and GPU performances. What use is all this if the iPad OS can hardly use this performance in a meaningful way? On top of that, the external monitor support is still a disaster.