The next-generation consumer-friendly iPad will reportedly use a new SoC, Macworld reports. The publication claims to have stumbled upon an “internal Apple code document” that reveals detailed information about the iPad lineup for 2026.
According to Macworld, the upcoming entry-level iPad model (which will be the 12th-gen for those curious) will receive a major upgrade in the form of Apple’s own A19 chipset. The news outlet stated that this information came from a “code for an internal pre-release build of iOS 26”. These new iPads in particular have the codenames J581 and J582.
If you’ve kept up with Apple and its tablet lineup, then it should be needless to say that this is a major upgrade. The current iPad 11, which was released earlier this year, is outfitted with the A16 chipset, which has been in use since the iPhone 14 back in 2022. The A16 is undoubtedly a powerful chipset, but it lacks the support necessary for Apple Intelligence, something the company has been working on for sometime now.
Macworld stated that the A19 is 50% more powerful than the A16, with additional RAM to boot (the A19 has 8GB of RAM compared to the A16’s 6GB of RAM). This bump in performance naturally makes the device better at multitasking as well as performing AI-based features. Additionally, the publication also mentioned that the device will be receiving Apple’s N1 wireless chip, which was introduced in the iPhone 17 series, enabling Wi-Fi 7 functionality for the tablet.
This is very fitting, as the upgrade has not only been a long time coming but is also appropriate, given that the iPad Pro received the M5 chip earlier this year and may receive the M6 in 2027. Circling back to the base iPad, unfortunately, Macworld also reported that everything else about the iPad 12th-gen will remain the same.
The news outlet also mentioned the iPad Air, noting that it too will receive a spec upgrade, moving from the M3 chip to the M4. This is not a major performance improvement, but it is a bump nonetheless. Much like the upcoming 12th-gen iPad, the new iPad Air will remain largely the same as the current model, aside from the addition of the N1 wireless chip. The device may also launch sometime next year.
As for other tablets, which are the iPad mini and the aforementioned Pro models, Macworld stated that “there’s no mention of them in this piece of internal code”. Further, the tech news portal noted that these models in particular have a more sporadic release schedule compared to the iPad and iPad Air and may even skip 2026 altogether.
(Source: Macworld)
