Apple’s next generation iPad 11 will likely use the A17 Pro chip

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the next generation entry-level iPad will sport the A17 Pro chip. We always expected the iPad 11 to support the Apple Intelligence feature set, though it was unclear which chip Apple would end up putting in the lower-end device.

First generation 3nm process

It’s long been stated that the first generation N3B process, used in the A17 and M3 series of chips, wasn’t going too well for Apple. The process was very costly, had relatively low yields, and didn’t provide much of a performance gain over its predecessors.

For this reason alone, many had speculated that Apple was trying to move away from this process as soon as possible. After all, Apple introduced the M4 chip in the iPad Pro in May 2024, just over 6 months after introducing the first M3 chips in the Mac lineup in November 2023.

Apple had also been practicing a strategy of putting older generation chips in the lower end iPhone. This started with the iPhone 14 lineup, where the base model kept the A15 Bionic chip from the iPhone 13 lineup, and the iPhone 14 Pro got the shiny new A16 Bionic.

However, the iPhone 16 lineup broke this practice, as all models contained the A18 chip. Apple chose to not include the A17 chip in the base iPhone 16 models. Based on all of these signs, it appeared that Apple had finished using the first-generation 3nm process.

A17 Pro in iPads

But then, Apple threw us a curveball by introducing the new iPad mini 7th generation. This iPad had support for Apple Intelligence, but used the A17 Pro chip from iPhone 15 Pro, rather than the newer A18 chip. This move seemingly made sense for iPad mini, since it was a lower volume product.

Apple isn’t stopping there, though. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple will continue using the first generation N3B process, even in the higher volume entry-level iPad:

The new entry-level iPads — J481 and J482 — will get faster processors and Apple Intelligence. The current models have the A14 chip and 4 gigabytes of memory. Look for the new versions to have the A17 Pro chip, matching the iPad mini, and a bump to 8 gigabytes of memory. That’s the minimum needed to support the new AI platform. 

With the iPad mini 7, Apple actually used a binned version with a 5-core GPU, which seemed like a clear justification for Apple utilizing the A17 Pro still. Apple will likely continue to use some form of binned A17 Pro variant in the iPad 11.

As always, Apple is still expected to launch this new iPad model in the spring, alongside new iPad Airs, a new iPhone SE, and new Magic Keyboards.

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