Budget-oriented Apple iPad 11 might feature powerful A17 Pro SoC to afford AI wizardry
It is hard to deny that Apple Intelligence has mostly fallen flat in its attempt to sway customers in favor of AI-assisted software features, considering that the overwhelming majority of its promised features have been greeted with a lukewarm reception at best, far from the revolutionary impact that Apple was looking to pull off.
That said, it appears that Apple's attempt to integrate AI into its entire product range has resulted in an unexpected upside - more RAM and more powerful chipsets, even for low-end devices. We first witnessed this with the Mac lineup, which finally stopped shipping with 8 GB of memory for the base variant. Industry whispers have hinted at a RAM increase for the iPhone SE 4 as well, and now it appears that the entry-level budget iPad is about to get the same treatment.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, in his latest PowerOn newsletter, has revealed that Apple is planning to put the commendably potent A17 Pro SoC in the upcoming iPad 11, along with 8 GB of RAM to make room for Apple Intelligence. For comparison, the currently available iPad 10 sports the A14 SoC with only 4 GB of RAM, which is barely enough even when accounting for Apple's excellent memory management.
In terms of release dates, one can expect the new iPhone SE as well as the new iPad 11 to drop sometime towards the end of this quarter or early next quarter. More capable hardware is always a win for the consumer, whether or not the underlying intention can be deemed enticing.
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