Rumor: iPad Air 5 to gain M-series Mac processor

The star of the show

Peek performance indeed. We’ve all anticipated Apple will upgrade the iPad Air with a more powerful A15 series chip, but now a late arriving rumor from 9to5Mac claims it will put Mac chips inside them.

iPad Air – Mmmmm

Apple already puts M-series Mac processors inside iPad Pro devices. They equip its pro tablets with enough computational performance to handle big tasks. The move also lays the foundation for further software innovation later as deployment grows.

Now we learn Apple may put an M-series chip inside the all-new iPad Air it will announce today.

If true, this could be highly significant. It suggests that all iPads will deliver similar performance improvement in the next couple of years.

The future?

You see, I think it hints that every iPad will eventually run M-series chips. With that in mind it’s also possible to speculate iPhones may migrate to those processors one day. I imagine the 3nm production process will be an important advance to enable that, as that will further improve thermal performance (That’s all highly speculative and I could be proved wrong. But I feel good about the prediction.)

Returning to the iPad Air, Apple’s decision to pump the tablet up with the M series processor boosts the status of the product.

I think I’ve used almost every iPad, iPad Pros and iPad Air over the years, and for me the model I keep coming back to is the Air.

Apple’s high-end pro tablets do deliver more for professional users in computationally intensive fields such as video, photography and so on. I accept that the Pros also enjoy the best tablet screens and low latency. But for me, the Air provides a compelling balance between performance and price.

Certainly since Air 4 it has become the model I usually recommend.

iPad Air already delivers, and will deliver more

Now it’s getting even better than I originally expected it would. Not only might it get the M-series chip (rather than the also great A-series everyone expected), but you’ll see 5G, Center Stage support and an improved camera.

So, IF 9to5Mac is correct, what will the M-series chip bring? That report estimates a 70% performance improvement in comparison to the current iPad Air model. Logically, this should extend to a tangible graphics performance boost as the M1 chip has an 8-core CPU and 7-core GPU.

This may be clocked down for the tablet form factor but should deliver a great deal more capability. Such as the capacity to drive one of Apple’s also expected new displays, I imagine.

We’ll find out more at Apple’s news announcement March 8.

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