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I think both yes and no make an equal amount of sense. Yes, they’re looking to harmonize product capabilities across everything released from September 2024 on… no, they aren’t looking to add it to the base iPad because they’re focused on price control for that device.

But then again… even if it’s A16, it should be able to handle it. Since it works on an M1, the A16 has a faster neural engine, and if there are RAM limitations on A16 phones… maybe they could address that with the iPad? I don’t know, that’s just a spitball.
 
In fact, I *was* planning on buying the next iPhone SE immediately when it comes out, but now I will wait until Apple changes their policy with regard to AI. At this point AI is probably costing them more sales than they are gaining. Recent studies show new iPhone buyers don't care about it, and aren't buying it because of that. But if some people are *not* buying products because of it, that's not good for Apple.
Apple Intelligence is NOT opt out, it's opt in. Or in other words it's completely disabled until you turn it on.

When I went to try it out I had to wait for everything to download before I could use it. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether it would ever pre-download to speed the process of enabling it up.
 
A16 supports AI. We've been through this before.

NPU in A16 is 17 TOPS. NPU in M1 is 11 TOPS.

The limitation has always been RAM. If iPad A16 gets 8GB, it will support AI.
 
A16 supports AI. We've been through this before.

NPU in A16 is 17 TOPS. NPU in M1 is 11 TOPS.

The limitation has always been RAM. If iPad A16 gets 8GB, it will support AI.
Perhaps, but Apple explicitly states it must have A17 Pro or later. To put it another way, there's nothing stopping Apple from sticking to this requirement, whether or not it's technically necessary.
 
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On the other hand, the iPhone SE is expected to handle AI. I don’t see why the new iPad 11 wouldn’t.

Because there are way too many iPad Models for now that can handle AI Compared to 3 iPhone Models with 8GB of RAM hence why IMO
 
I was under the impression that the A14 chip or higher could support it as long as adequate RAM is provided. After all AI is supported on the A14 equivalent M1.

Perhaps this base iPad will have a different amount of RAM similar to the iPhone SE 2, allowing for AI.
 
Perhaps, but Apple explicitly states it must have A17 Pro or later. To put it another way, there's nothing stopping Apple from sticking to this requirement, whether or not it's technically necessary.

Yes and as you're aware, the conflating point is A17 devices come with 8GB RAM.

I just don't see why Apple would not enable AI on A16 iPad. The 10th gen launched at $449 so if component cost is a concern, Apple can bump it from the current $349.
 
If the iPad 11 doesn't support AI, I think it will be a disaster. At that point, it would just be a slightly faster iPad 10, so everyone may as well keep their old iPads (or buy the 10s for much less than the 11).

The iPhone 15 has an A16 with 6GB of RAM and it doesn't support AI, so I would expect that iPad 11 would be better than that. Maybe they will have an A16X with 8GB of RAM and a faster Neural Engine?
 
What’s preventing them from using 8GB of Ram with the A16 and giving it Apple Intelligence?
Probably nothing. The A16 also has an NPU, though not as performant as later designs.

The main assertion in this thread headline is dubious.
 
If the iPad 11 doesn't support AI, I think it will be a disaster. At that point, it would just be a slightly faster iPad 10, so everyone may as well keep their old iPads (or buy the 10s for much less than the 11).

The iPhone 15 has an A16 with 6GB of RAM and it doesn't support AI, so I would expect that iPad 11 would be better than that. Maybe they will have an A16X with 8GB of RAM and a faster Neural Engine?
People who buy base iPads generally don’t upgrade every cycle. Many use them until they die. This model exists simply to satisfy demand at the bottom of the market. If you care about having AI this early on, Apple will happily sell you a mini, Air or Pro instead.

I’ve wracked my brain on how Apple could provide AI on the base iPad this year, while maintaining the price and performance structure they currently offer, and I couldn’t find a solution that didn’t tank any value the Mini has. Sure Apple could retroactively start allowing AI on devices with 6GB ram, but that would raise a lot of questions, so it makes sense that they just don’t offer it. The education field probably prefers that anyway.
 
Our iPad Pro 10.5" with A10X and 4 GB RAM does not support iPadOS 18.
Our iPad 7th gen with A10 and 3 GB RAM supports iPadOS 18.

I'm pretty sure the iPadOS team would have preferred to drop the iPad 7 at the same time, but education support expectations spared it for another year.
 
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If the base iPhone 16 can have AI features I don’t see why the base iPad can’t have them.
 
It will, it has to. AI has been out for months now, and heavily advertised – can’t release a new product now without these features.
Yes, this. They are all in on apple intelligence. They even spec bumped the MacBook Air mid cycle to let Apple Intelligence run better, and they never do that. We aren’t going to see any new devices that don’t run AI, so either it’s an a17 pro, a18, or they lower the requirements in iOS 19.
 
If the iPad 11 doesn't support AI, I think it will be a disaster. At that point, it would just be a slightly faster iPad 10, so everyone may as well keep their old iPads (or buy the 10s for much less than the 11).
People who buy base iPads generally don’t upgrade every cycle. Many use them until they die. This model exists simply to satisfy demand at the bottom of the market. If you care about having AI this early on, Apple will happily sell you a mini, Air or Pro instead.
@paradox00

Indeed. I personally don’t give a chit whether or not the iPad 11 has AI support for our usage. Well, I wouldn’t mind getting the extra RAM, but just for general usage, not for AI. The reason for the iPad 11 purchase this year in our household is to replace an eleven year old iPad Air 2 from 2014.

Actually, I already have an M4 iPad Pro as well, but I turned off AI support.
 
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This seems nonsense.

I dont think there is any way whatsoever that a brand new iPad - replacing a model thats a few years old now, would NOT support their new tentpole feature.

Every apple device has been updated for AI. The entry iPad is one of the few remaining devices that cannot.

If Apple want AI to be a success they cannot possibly suggest that what is presumably their best selling iPad (as the cheapest option) would not be able to access AI.
 
Nothing about all this is making sense. For a year now we've been hearing how Apple and TSMC are very eager to get off the N3B process which was exclusively used to make the A17 Pro & M3 chips. I sort of get that the iPad Mini gets a binned A17 Pro because it is estimated to make up <10% of the iPads sold so there is likely enough excess A17 Pro (both chips with only 4 working GPU cores and excess inventory 5 GPU core chips that will have a core disabled). But the base iPad sells around 4x as many units (and more than the iPad Air) so Apple would likely have to keep the A17 Pro production lines going and it's possible that TSMC discontinues the line.

However, I see the iPad Mini as being above the base iPad in the lineup (hence the higher price for a smaller screen), but if the base iPad gets the A18 that puts the Mini right at the bottom of the pile (with a more expensive price).

The A16 is a possibility, but given Apple are very likely to bring Apple Intelligence to the low end iPhone SE and have focussed the majority of their advertising on Apple Intelligence, does it make sense to introduce a new base iPad that doesn't support AI?
 
Yes, this. They are all in on apple intelligence. They even spec bumped the MacBook Air mid cycle to let Apple Intelligence run better, and they never do that. We aren’t going to see any new devices that don’t run AI, so either it’s an a17 pro, a18, or they lower the requirements in iOS 19.

Even $599 Mac mini got its memory doubled. We're only talking bumping from 4GB to 8GB for iPad.

If Apple wants to increase the selling price by $20 or $30, so be it. Would be a strategic mistake to save $5 on BOM and leave out AI.
 
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Nothing about all this is making sense. For a year now we've been hearing how Apple and TSMC are very eager to get off the N3B process which was exclusively used to make the A17 Pro & M3 chips. I sort of get that the iPad Mini gets a binned A17 Pro because it is estimated to make up <10% of the iPads sold so there is likely enough excess A17 Pro (both chips with only 4 working GPU cores and excess inventory 5 GPU core chips that will have a core disabled). But the base iPad sells around 4x as many units (and more than the iPad Air) so Apple would likely have to keep the A17 Pro production lines going and it's possible that TSMC discontinues the line.

It costs $1B to tape out an N3 chip. Just because the unit cost of N3B is higher than expected doesn't mean Apple will dump multiple $1B investments overnight.

iPad mini has been proven to be using brand new, freshly fabbed A17 Pro chips made in mid-2024.

Intel is using N3B right now for Lunar Lake. Apple will be using M3 in iPad Air and may continue selling M3 MacBook Air when M4 launches.

Some people are treating N3B like a disaster when it's obviously not.
 
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it was stated here as far back as in July of 2024 that iPad 11 is going to get the A16 based on device identifiers


Secondly there are enough iPads for now to get Apple intelligence compared to 3 iPhone Models
 
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If the iPad 11 doesn't support AI, I think it will be a disaster. At that point, it would just be a slightly faster iPad 10, so everyone may as well keep their old iPads (or buy the 10s for much less than the 11).

The iPhone 15 has an A16 with 6GB of RAM and it doesn't support AI, so I would expect that iPad 11 would be better than that. Maybe they will have an A16X with 8GB of RAM and a faster Neural Engine?

M2 is “A15X”
M3 is “A17X”

There is no point on an “A16X”
 
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