Rumor: new iPads will have M4

[Cmaier]

Gurman is reporting the M4 will be announced on May 7 and will be in the new iPad Pro. If so, this is obviously a huge acceleration in the Apple Silicon roadmap, putting M’s ahead of A’s (which, I hope, will stop people from saying “M_ is based on A_,” which we all know is a pet peeve of mine.

Gurman: New iPad Pro may actually be powered by the M4 chip, touting AI features - 9to5Mac

In a surprise move, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today in his Power On newsletter that the upcoming iPad Pro may...

9to5mac.com

 

[Jimmyjames]

I’m struggling with this rumor.

On the one hand, who doesn’t love a new ‘M’ chip! Lots of details to explore and benchmarks to see. I would be fascinated by a release so soon after the M3.

On the other hand, I just don’t understand the purpose of an M4 now. If anything the iPad needs software attention more than hardware attention (in terms of cpu/gpu). The M3 is more than good enough for the iPad. What would it achieve? Does it really help sales?

I always bet on the methodical, logical releases when it comes to Apple and an annual update in terms of soc makes more sense to me.

We’ll see soon enough.

 

[B01L]

Apple probably wants to move from N3B to N3E, but does not want to "redo" the M3-series for N3E, so they are deciding to just move to M4-series SoCs on the N3E process...

Plus, they get the opportunity to fix any hardware security issues, boost the Neural Engine core count for more AI processing power, etc. ...

Oh, and the monolithic M4 Ultra SoC...! ;^p

Mn Extreme may be pushed until the M5-series, possible utilization of the N3X process...?

 

[Yoused]

Gurman is reporting the M4 will be announced on May 7 and will be in the new iPad Pro.

Gurman is so FoS. The new iPad will either have an A17 or a 2+4 binned M3; the Air will have M3; the 12" iPad Pro will have an M3 Pro. iPadOS will have improved features that bring it a little closer be being a Mac-like UI.

 

[dada_dave]

I’m in two minds: it’d be fun to see the M4 early and we’re in the timeframe where Gurman’s predictions are typically more accurate (< 2-3 weeks before release), but it does seem hard to believe that the M4 is quite this early.

I’m struggling with this rumor.

On the one hand, who doesn’t love a new ‘M’ chip! Lots of details to explore and benchmarks to see. I would be fascinated by a release so soon after the M3.

On the other hand, I just don’t understand the purpose of an M4 now. If anything the iPad needs software attention more than hardware attention (in terms of cpu/gpu). The M3 is more than good enough for the iPad. What would it achieve? Does it really help sales?

I always bet on the methodical, logical releases when it comes to Apple and an annual update in terms of soc makes more sense to me.

We’ll see soon enough.

Gurman is claiming it’s for the new AI capabilities. Maybe they want to have relevant hardware before showing off new AI software at WWDC? Still feels unlikely, but … possible?

Gurman is reporting the M4 will be announced on May 7 and will be in the new iPad Pro. If so, this is obviously a huge acceleration in the Apple Silicon roadmap, putting M’s ahead of A’s (which, I hope, will stop people from saying “M_ is based on A_,” which we all know is a pet peeve of mine.

Gurman: New iPad Pro may actually be powered by the M4 chip, touting AI features - 9to5Mac

In a surprise move, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports today in his Power On newsletter that the upcoming iPad Pro may...

9to5mac.com

I could write that the M4 is based on the upcoming A18 … just for you.

 

[leman]

That would be very odd indeed. The Air with M3 was launched what, not even two months ago?

 

[Jimmyjames]

While I am very sceptical of this happening, it would be mildly amusing if a M4 is released that takes the shine off Qualcomm’s upcoming release.

 

[dada_dave]

While I am very sceptical of this happening, it would be mildly amusing if a M4 is released that takes the shine off Qualcomm’s upcoming release.

While I’m not certain that Apple is quite petty enough to create a release date just for that (maybe), I’m very certain they wouldn’t mind the “coincidence” raining on Qualcomm’s parade. “Oh you like comparing to the M2 and M3? Here’s the M4.”

 

[mr_roboto]

While I’m not certain that Apple is quite petty enough to create a release date just for that (maybe), I’m very certain they wouldn’t mind the “coincidence” raining on Qualcomm’s parade. “Oh you like comparing to the M2 and M3? Here’s the M4.”

It isn't usually a good idea to advance chip release dates for spite purposes. There are a lot of steps in the design and validation pipeline which inherently take time, and trying to cut corners to move the release date up is risky.

Not saying it can't happen as sometimes irrational decisions are taken, but it's not a great idea!

 

[leman]

One thing that comes to my mind: Apple did publish a lot of NPU-related patents last year. Maybe the new NPU didn’t make the cut for M3, but it is possible that the iPad will use a new revision of the SoC with the new NPU included? They could call it M3 with AI engine or something.

 

[dada_dave]

It isn't usually a good idea to advance chip release dates for spite purposes. There are a lot of steps in the design and validation pipeline which inherently take time, and trying to cut corners to move the release date up is risky.

Not saying it can't happen as sometimes irrational decisions are taken, but it's not a great idea!

For the record ... I was kidding ... sorta

One thing that comes to my mind: Apple did publish a lot of NPU-related patents last year. Maybe the new NPU didn’t make the cut for M3, but it is possible that the iPad will use a new revision of the SoC with the new NPU included? They could call it M3 with AI engine or something.

Yeah if they're rushing a new chip generation out so soon after the M3, it almost certainly is for the AI capabilities (petty mean girl spite merely being a bonus! ). But if that means "M3, now with more AI! New recipe!" or actually M4 or none of this is true and Gurman is just full of it as @Yoused said, .

 

[Cmaier]

FWIW, Gruber doubts this rumor. His argument, mainly, is that Gurman also reported these iPad Pros were supposed to release in March, and it would be even more absurd for Macbook Air to just recently get M3 and right after than iPad Pros get M4.

Of course, one reason for the delay from March could be that they needed more time to stock up on M4s

Personally, I would tend to doubt this rumor. Only thing that gives me pause is that Gurman is usually most accurate when he publishes something a week before the announcement.

 

[amonduin]

Gurman is so FoS. The new iPad will either have an A17 or a 2+4 binned M3; the Air will have M3; the 12" iPad Pro will have an M3 Pro. iPadOS will have improved features that bring it a little closer be being a Mac-like UI.

God I hope not. The problem with the iPad is not its UI but rather the underlying capabilities of the system.
1. Long running background tasks
2. Let apps run for longer in the background (before suspending them even if they don't have a long running task)
3. iCloud needs to stop trying to sync files that I am actively working on and crashing the app
4. Files needs to keep a local cache of the iCloud file and folder hierarchy
5. Bring split-view and slide-over to external display (instead of only stage manager)
6. Virtual memory support for more iPads
7. Better XPC systems to allow more complex apps
etc...
The iPad UI is really great for the form factor, there are limitations with the underlying OS but nothing insurmountable.

 

[Yoused]

The problem with the iPad is not its UI but rather the underlying capabilities of the system.

Which could be easily solvable. All Apple has to do is give us a way to adjust those things. Out of the box, it would function as it always has, but if you go 3 layers deep into system settings, you might be given access to background functionality and iCloud behavior and other things, perhaps even to the extent that you could have switches in the control center pull-down thingy. Or they could provide those features for an extra $40 – I think there are a fairly large number of people who would pay a little extra for greater control over their device.

 

[thenewperson]

M4 iPad Pro: Will Apple put a brand new chip in its next iPad?

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman broke the internet on Sunday by claiming that the next generation iPad Pro, expected to be announced...

9to5mac.com

9to5’s compilation of evidence for the M4 iPad Pro has me kinda convinced.

 

[amonduin]

Which could be easily solvable. All Apple has to do is give us a way to adjust those things. Out of the box, it would function as it always has, but if you go 3 layers deep into system settings, you might be given access to background functionality and iCloud behavior and other things, perhaps even to the extent that you could have switches in the control center pull-down thingy. Or they could provide those features for an extra $40 – I think there are a fairly large number of people who would pay a little extra for greater control over their device.

Yeah, there are straightforwards solutions to some but I think a rethink of the sync architecture used in iCloud is a little larger of a task (or maybe not, maybe they just need to wait for longer between file edits before syncing)? Allowing XPC between apps from the same developer would be another medium sized fix for multitasking.

 

[Andropov]

On the other hand, I just don’t understand the purpose of an M4 now. If anything the iPad needs software attention more than hardware attention (in terms of cpu/gpu). The M3 is more than good enough for the iPad. What would it achieve? Does it really help sales?

Yeah, if anything the iPad seems to have too powerful of a processor for its capabilities. It'd be odd to release a new one with the M4 but have the MacBook Air stuck on the M3. And there's no way they update the MacBook Air twice in 3 months.

 

[dada_dave]

Yeah, if anything the iPad seems to have too powerful of a processor for its capabilities. It'd be odd to release a new one with the M4 but have the MacBook Air stuck on the M3. And there's no way they update the MacBook Air twice in 3 months.

The 9to5 article @thenewperson linked to is fairly convincing though I’d have to admit I’d be much more convinced if it weren’t so strange an idea to begin with!

The only thing I can think of, and I’m not saying that this is a great justification and is mostly conjecture, is that they don’t have a good stockpile of M4’s and want to release early to make sure they have some iOS/iPadOS hardware for developers to run the upcoming AI features during beta testing before iPhones and Macs launch in the fall. While an update for the iPad is overdue and thus demand a bit higher, iPad Pros may still sell at lower volumes than MacBook Airs so that overall supply won’t be as constrained as it would be if the MacBook Air got it.

If this rumor is true that’s all I got but I’m definitely open to other explanations.

 

[throAU]

On the other hand, I just don’t understand the purpose of an M4 now. If anything the iPad needs software attention more than hardware attention (in terms of cpu/gpu). The M3 is more than good enough for the iPad. What would it achieve? Does it really help sales?

Race to sleep. Also GPU power for AR, etc.

Better battery life when you're doing workloads that you'd normally push an m1/2/3 on. ultimately able to be more responsive at higher end workloads.

But yes, software is an issue, I'm really hoping for something advanced in iPadOS 18. It may be the tipping point for me to go iPad instead of MacBook Pro. I've been on the edge for ages... if a 12.9 Pro can hook up to some peripherals (mostly external storage) via my thunderbolt dock, and make actual use of a larger display... it could eventually be my do almost everything device - with the heavier lifting left to a desktop/server running somewhere other than my desk.

 

[leman]

Usually there is a flurry of new patents before new SoC release. Nothing like that happened on the last few months.

There were a bunch of new NPU-related patents last year, so again, I can imagine that the iPad gets some sort of M3 AI edition, but nothing beyond that.