Apple never stops, it seems. It’s only a few weeks since the latest iPad Pro with the cutting-edge M4 chip and iPad Air in two sizes were released. But new clues have been revealed—by Apple—that point to four distinct iPads on their way in the coming months. And one detail is quite a surprise.
Identifiers of iPads which haven’t been seen before have appeared in a reference in Apple’s backend code unearthed by Nicolás Álvarez and reported by @aaronp613 posting on X.
Of course, Apple isn’t so foolish as to name the devices in a way which ties them down too much, so there’s a degree of extrapolation going on here.
iPad And iPad mini
The references are basic: iPad15,7, iPad15,8, iPad16,1 and iPad16,2 are the first four. These almost certainly refer to two iPads, each in two versions, one with wifi only, one with wif and cellular connectivity.
Plenty of rumors have said that Apple will refresh its entire range of iPads this year. We’ve already seen the Pro and Air updated, so the two iPads here are the next generation of regular iPad, the 11th generation, and the seventh version of iPad mini.
The identifiers reveal more: the first pair seem to have the Apple A16 processor, a decent upgrade from the A14 Bionic found in the current 10th-gen iPad. The third and fourth models suggest an A17 processor, which makes sense as the mini has always been more powerful in processor terms than the regular iPad.
More To Come
There’s more. The code shows details of iPads which were perhaps in development but not ultimately released. The processors attached mean the iPads would not now be released, for instance because they include an iPad Pro with M3 processor, which couldn’t possibly appear given the latest model has the M4 chip.
Finally, the details include four more references, to iPad17, which looks like it could be for the next iPad Pro (two sizes and two connectivity options), with, get this, an M5 processor. There is zero chance these next models could be released this year, I’d say, but they may be scheduled for late 2025 or early the year after.
The Hidden Surprise
This is all very exciting but there’s one intriguing feature, as pointed out by Ben Lovejoy at 9to5Mac: if there really is an A16 processor in the next iPad, it won’t be capable of running Apple Intelligence. Since all iPhone 16 models, even the basic ones, are expected to be compatible with Apple Intelligence it would be strange if the next iPad was not. We’ll see.