Apple's next entry-level iPad is expected to gain the A18 chip, a change that appears modest on paper but would enable Apple Intelligence on the company's most affordable tablet for the first time.
Apple last refreshed the entry-level iPad in March 2025, adding the A16 chip. Apple Intelligence is supported by devices with the A17 Pro or newer, or Apple's M-series chips, due to the processing, memory bandwidth, and neural engine performance required to run on-device and hybrid AI workloads. The A16 in the current entry-level iPad falls just short of this threshold, leaving the product outside Apple's AI rollout despite its relatively recent update.
Apple introduced Apple Intelligence in 2024 as a set of features spanning its various operating systems. The company described the platform as "personal intelligence for everyday tasks," built around on-device processing combined with Private Cloud Compute for more demanding workloads. Apple said the system is designed to deliver "powerful capabilities while protecting user privacy."
The growing feature set initially included systemwide writing tools capable of rewriting, summarizing, and proofreading text across apps, image generation tools that allow users to create images and custom emoji from text prompts, and more.
By the end of 2026, it will enhance Siri with contextual awareness and deeper integration across apps, enabling the assistant to take actions based on onscreen content and personal data stored on the device. There are even bigger changes rumored for Siri as part of iOS 27, with Apple aiming to turn the assistant into a true chatbot, along with even deeper integration with the system.
Unlike apps like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, Apple Intelligence operates at the system level, so hardware support determines whether a device can participate in the platform at all. Moving to the A18 therefore brings the entry-level iPad into the same feature set as newer iPhones and iPads rather than merely improving speed or battery efficiency.
This is particularly significant given the role of the entry-level iPad in Apple's lineup. The device is positioned as the most accessible iPad and is widely used in education, families, and large-scale deployments. Expanding Apple Intelligence support to this model will significantly increase the number of devices capable of running Apple's AI features and users exposed to it.
All of the iPhones, Macs, and other iPad models available from Apple today support Apple Intelligence, leaving the entry-level iPad as an outlier. Bringing Apple Intelligence support to the device thus completes support of the platform across Apple's major devices, eliminates fragmentation, and ensures better future-proofing.
Moving from the A16 to the A18 will also bring a full two-generation leap in Apple silicon, delivering a newer CPU built on a more advanced process node, a next-generation GPU with hardware ray tracing and mesh shading support, a substantially faster Neural Engine, and a newer media engine with improved hardware acceleration.
The newer chip architecture also features improved memory bandwidth and efficiency. Its efficiency gains should translate into better sustained performance under load and potentially longer battery life in everyday use, making the refresh worthwhile even for many users who do not actively use Apple Intelligence.
Apple could announce the 12th-generation iPad as soon as March 4, when it is planning to hold an "experience" for the media in New York, London, and Shanghai. The device's launch is rumored to be imminent.
