Earlier this month, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said the iPad 11 will support Apple Intelligence, but a new leak has added uncertainty to the rumor.
According to a private account on social media platform X, with a good track record of sharing iOS-related information, the iPad 11 will be equipped with a chip that has the identifier T8120. That identifier corresponds with the A16 chip, which does not support the Apple Intelligence suite of artificial intelligence features. Existing devices with the A16 chip include the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus.
We continue to respect the account owner’s request to not link to its posts, as they wish to remain anonymous and maintain a low profile.
Gurman said to look for the iPad 11 to have the A17 Pro chip and 8GB of RAM, which are currently the minimum iPad specs for Apple Intelligence. The latest iPad mini also has the A17 Pro and 8GB of RAM. However, if the anonymous account is correct, the next entry-level iPad will actually use the A16 chip, which has 6GB of RAM. That means either no Apple Intelligence, or Apple curiously lowers the minimum iPad specs for it.
We don’t know who is right here: Gurman, or the anonymous account. Both sources have good track records with Apple rumors, with the occasional miss.
Or, could both sources be right? We are purely speculating, but Apple could end up offering multiple iPad 11 configurations and price points.
Apple will likely announce the iPad 11 by March or April, and no major changes are expected for the device beyond the improved specs. According to Gurman, Apple is also planning to release an updated Magic Keyboard accessory for the iPad 11.
