Apple is upgrading every iPad in 2027. Here's what we know about the big hardware upgrades coming to your workhorse or creative-focussed iPad.
Apple plans major hardware upgrades for the entire iPad lineup next year
Apple recently updated the iPad mini and confirmed that. Now it looks like they're going to make some big hardware updates to the rest of their iPad models. So if you've been waiting for better screens or faster chip options – now you'll have something to look forward to as early as H1 2027.
- iPad mini: Apple A20 Pro processor, 60 Hz OLED panel
- iPad (base model): Model J581, faster processor expected
- iPad Air: OLED display, 11-inch (J807) and 13-inch (J837) models
- iPad Pro: Apple M6 processor, vapor chamber cooling
These updates are going to be focused on the base iPad, iPad Air, and iPad Pro. Each one is going to be getting a big hardware upgrade. For the base iPad (the cheap one which has the model number J581 internally), we're getting a successor as early as Q1 2027. This new base iPad is going to focus on getting a new processor for a much faster experience for your day-to-day tasks.
The iPad Air will be getting an upgrade to OLED screens for the first time. So your mid-range iPads will be getting a big visual improvement. According to the report, the new iPad Air is going to come in two sizes – 11-inch (J807) and 13-inch (J837).
The top-tier iPad Pro is getting Apple's M6 processor and a vapor chamber cooling system to keep things cool when you're doing heavy-duty work. Apple is looking to take advantage of this new vapor chamber cooling system in the iPad Pro to give you significantly better performance when you're doing a lot of work. This will help the thin tablet perform better when you're loading it down with things like gaming, AI-focussed applications, or exporting videos. Remember that these upgrades on the base and iPad Air are focused on the quality of the display and the speed of processing – but not so much on advanced cooling technology.
Keep an eye out for the base iPad coming out in Q1 of 2027. And spring 2027 for the iPad Air announcement. Though note that they haven't shared specific dates for the iPad Air and iPad Pro announcements.
It looks like the sources are using phrasing that suggests these are expected dates and not set dates. And we don't have specific details around the processing speeds for the new base iPad either from these reports.
Source: NotebookCheck
Vapor chamber in a tablet is a massive deal for sustained workloads. Finally some thermal headroom for the Pro line.