iPad 11: Here’s what you need to know about Apple’s next iPad

Apple skipped updating their cheapest iPad this year (and last year too) and left it with the more than four-year-old A14 chipset. They dropped the price from $449 to $349 earlier this year, but we should finally see a real refresh next spring. This is what you can expect.

Apple Intelligence

The next-generation entry-level iPad will likely feature support for Apple Intelligence, although it’s unclear which chipset it will use. It will likely be the A18 chip, given that the first-generation 3nm process is expensive. Apple is likely only using the A17 Pro chip in the new iPad mini, as there were readily available chips left over from the iPhone 15 Pro manufacturing process.

That means you can take advantage of features like notification summaries, Image Playground, Genmoji, the all-new Siri, ChatGPT, and more on the new iPad. If it launches next spring, Apple should have launched all Apple Intelligence features by then.

Other upgrades

iPad 11 will likely come with support for newer connectivity standards, including Wi-Fi 6E (or Wi-Fi 7) and Bluetooth 5.3. This would be a step up from Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 on the current entry-level iPad, allowing for lower latency and so on.

Apple is also working on a new, cheaper Magic Keyboard for iPads, which the iPad 11 could potentially support. This would be a more traditional keyboard design, rather than the folio style that the iPad 10 currently has.

We may also see support for Apple Pencil Pro. There are no rumors to suggest this, but Apple could potentially update the magnet placement to enable Pencil Pro support. When Apple released the iPad 10 in 2022, the Apple Pencil 2 couldn’t work with the landscape front camera.

Although it could end up being a cost issue as Apple would also have to add the wireless charging coil. We’ll see.

Release date

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is indeed planning to release the iPad 11 next spring, alongside the iPhone SE, iPad Air and more:

It will have roughly the same design as the current 2022 version, but will get a speed boost. This model is expected to be released around the same time as the new iPhone SE and iPad Air in the spring.

Assuming nothing changes, that means Apple’s lowest iPad will be 2.5 years old when it finally gets refreshed.

Are you excited about the upcoming entry-level iPad? Let us know in the comments.

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