New iPad Pro might have M4 chip

Apple is finally announcing new tablets on May 7, and the oft-rumored next-gen iPad Pro will be there of course, in two sizes as always.

A new report from the usually reliable Mark Gurman over at Bloomberg now claims that the next iPad Pro could in fact use Apple's M4 chipset, skipping over the M3 entirely.

Earlier this month Gurman outlined the M4's release timeline but that only covered new Macs, the first of which are expected to arrive late this year, followed by others in 2025.

Launching the M4 with the new iPad Pro would mean this would be positioned as Apple's "first truly AI-powered device", according to Gurman. There is, he says, "a strong possibility" for this to happen, and if it does, then it might explain, at least in part, why we had to wait for so long for new iPads.

The new iPad Pro will have an OLED display for the first time on an Apple tablet, and that will enable it to be the thinnest iPad ever. Gurman says Apple will "focus on how the M4 chip and new iPad Pros will take advantage of the AI software and services coming as part of iPadOS 18 in the fall" during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.