Rumour | Apple to release 5G and A14X Bionic-powered iPad Pros this year

There have been rumours for months now about Apple releasing 5G iPhones this year, with the company being one of the last OEMs to bring 5G-capabilities to its smartphones. However, now MacRumors and DigiTimes are reporting that Apple is planning to introduce 5G-capable iPad Pros this Fall. This, contradicts Ming-Chi Kuo, for reference, who claimed that Apple and Qualcomm would not bring 5G connectivity to the iPad Pro range until 2021.

According to MacRumors, DigiTimes proffers that current 5G product roadmaps place Apple releasing "new iOS devices, including iPhones and iPads" in September. Citing industry sources, DigiTimes claims that Qualcomm will provide Apple with its Snapdragon X55 modem for "new iPhones devices in 2020".

Moreover, MacRumors states that this information would "pave the way for the 5G iPad Pro models with an A14X chip". It also opines that these devices would be additional high-end SKUs to the iPad Pros that Apple is rumoured to announce next month. The iPad Pro 2020 series that @iGeeksBlog and @OnLeaks leaked last month is said to be running on the A13X Bionic, for reference. 5G functionality and a newer SoC would be the only changes, apparently.

Presumably, the A14X Bionic would offer a huge step up in performance over the A13X Bionic, meaning that there would be a gulf between the 5G and non-5G iPad Pros. We would question why Apple would equip the same generation with two SoCs, too. In short, this seems like a spurious rumour with little merit.