Apple’s rumoured upcoming update to its flagship iPad Pro is set to include some big performance gains, if the latest rumours are to be believed.
According to reports, the iPad Pro 2022 will be powered by the as-yet-unreleased M2 chipset and likely see a release towards the end of the year.
That M2 chip is also set to appear in multiple other new Apple releases over the next 12 months, including the highly-anticipated MacBook Air refresh. Leaks have suggested this could be a huge year for Apple’s entry-level laptop, with a hefty redesign apparently on the cards.
Does the iPad Pro need all this power?
This report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his weekly Power On newsletter (via MacRumors) ultimately comes as no surprise, as it makes sense for Apple to create a single chip that’s widely used across its product range.
While it was shocking at first to see Apple utilise the M1 chip in the previous iPad Pro, considering until then all Apple’s tablets had run on an A series chip, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t continue to update it as new silicon is released.
Sticking the M2 in the iPad Pro will also give it an upper hand over the iPad Air, which is now also powered by the M1. There currently seem only a few standout reasons to buy the Pro over the Air and that will likely change with the next iteration.
The big question though is whether an iPad Pro needs the sort of power the M2 will likely give. While actual leaks about the power of what the M2 could possess are thin on the ground, we can predict that it’ll be an upgrade in base performance over the M1 in both efficiency and GPU. But it doesn’t really feel like the M1 is currently being pushed to its limit and it’s not one of the areas of that iPad Pro that needs huge upgrades.
What else do we know about the iPad Pro 2022?
Previous rumours, also from Gurman, have suggested this could be the first iPad to include some form of wireless charging, possibly using the MagSafe branding Apple has used for iPhones and MacBooks in the past. It was also rumoured that the addition of wireless charging would result in a switch to a glass back, however 9to5Mac has reported that this alteration may have been scrapped.
The same report also suggests that the next iPad Pro would have a larger battery and a rejigged camera module that could look a lot more like the iPhone 13.
Trusted Take – More focus on the software, please
Putting faster and faster chips inside tablets is fine – what I really want to see from Apple though is software that can properly utilise it.
iPad OS is great on the cheaper iPads, yet it feels hamstrung on these more powerful machines. I’m not asking for Mac OS on a tablet, just a comfortably middle-ground where more ‘Pro’ focussed apps can fully take advantage of what’s on offer.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
