Apple recently announced the newest iteration of the iPad Air, which came with an M3 chip and a handful of improvements on the inside. However, the company did not keep up with its schedule and decided to delay the iPad Pro upgrade. We are expecting the company to release a new model of the OLED iPad Pro with an M5 chip later this year, but as it turns out, Apple is already in the early stages of developing its forthcoming iPad Pro housing the highly anticipated M6 chip and a custom 5G modem.
Apple has already started working on its forthcoming M6 iPad Pro, featuring its custom C2 5G modem and much more
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes in his latest Power On newsletter that Apple has already started working on its forthcoming iPad Pro with an M6 chip. The device is slated to be launched in 2027 with significant performance gains and a new custom 5G modem, which is not currently available on any device. Since the modem will be 5G-capable, we expect it to be Apple’s in-house C2 modem, which was also previously reported to arrive next year.
This year, Apple is expected to unveil its highly anticipated M5 iPad Pro, which will potentially house a TSMC-made 2nm SoC with enhanced power efficiency and performance output. The M6 chip in the OLED iPad Pro will also be fabricated using TSMC’s 2nm process, delivering greater graphical and computational output over the M5 chip.
Other than the M6 chip, the OLED iPad Pro will also house Apple’s custom modem, which is capable of 5G capabilities, and we expect it to be the company’s C2 modem. Currently, all cellular iPad models are equipped with Qualcomm modems, and while Apple needs to catch up to the performance levels, we can expect major connectivity performance gains in the next version. The C1 modem is only available on the recently announced iPhone 16e at this stage, and the C2 chip could be the first chip to power an iPad Pro before being standardized across the entire lineup.
Gurman also reports that Apple has started working on a new version of the iPad 12, which could come with upgraded internals and possibly the same design as the current model. Other than this, the analyst also claims that the company has started working on an M5 MacBook Air, which could launch as soon as next year, given Apple just announced the M4 version of the machine. The M6 iPad Pro will potentially arrive in the first half of 2027, as Apple will potentially revert to its original Spring launch time frame. We will share more details on the products soon, so be sure to keep an eye out.
