The 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro should get the new Apple M2 chip and wireless charging support in September or October, ahead of a new 14.1-incher in 2023.
- Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is predicting an M2-equipped iPad Pro to arrive in September or October, and it’s expected to feature wireless charging.
- The device apparently rocks a bigger Apple logo (like on the MacBook Pro) made of glass instead of an all-glass rear so that power could be transmitted through it.
- Most iPad models get refreshed once per year. The iPad Pro, however, is not updated as frequently as some of the other models.
When will Apple equip the iPad Pro with its M2 chip?
Apple may be readying updates to the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro around its latest M2 chip, as well as MagSafe wireless charging in both directions. According to the usually well-informed Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, these iPad Pros should drop around September or October. In the newest edition of his Power On newsletter on Bloomberg, Gurman explains that he is holding his fingers crossed for an updated iPad Pro to feature “M2 chips, wireless charging and upgrades to the camera system.” Read: How to connect an iPhone to an iPad to share photos and videos
Is bi-directional charging coming to the iPad Pro?
With bi-directional wireless charging, devices such as AirPods or your iPhone could get power from an iPad Pro’s internal battery. You’d rest your device on the back of an iPad Pro to initiate wireless charging. This would complete a feature Apple added back in 2018, allowing you to charge your iPhone through the iPad Pro’s USB-C port.
An Apple logo cast from glass
In June of 2021, Gurman claimed the iPad Pro would gain a glass back suited for wireless charging. Six months later, however, another report claimed the device wouldn’t sport an all-glass rear side because doing so would make the tablet shatter all too easily upon impact. Instead, the next iPad Pro would utilize a glass Apple logo out the back. Presumably, a glass logo could support Apple’s MagSafe wireless charging system with magnetic alignment (like on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13).
Even bigger iPads are coming in 2023 and beyond
Gurman also reported earlier that future iPad Pro models may gain displays larger than 12.9 inches, including a 15-inch or so OLED iPad Pro model. This was backed recently by Display Supply Chain Consultants analyst Ross Young, who on his Twitter called for a new 14.1-inch iPad Pro featuring a mini-LED display with ProMotion sometime in 2023. And a somewhat reliable leaker added that Apple might configure a 14.1-inch iPad Pro with 512GB of storage and 16GB of memory as standard. That seems plausible given Apple’s new multitasking feature in iPadOS 16, dubbed Stage Manager, requires lots of RAM and fast storage to function.