The rumored iPad Pro 2022 could arrive this fall with a new Apple M2 chip inside it.
That’s according to Bloomberg reporter and reliable tipster Mark Gurman, who noted in his latest Power On newsletter that he expects Apple to have a big update for the iPad Pro range this fall.
Gurman said this change would be akin to the redesign of the iPad Pro range in 2018, which introduced a new design language to Apple's tablets and set the standard for other iPads to follow, with the exception of the entry-level model.
One big design change tipped is the use of MagSafe charging. This tallies with previous rumors that the next iPad Pro could charge wirelessly via a glass logo on its back; the rest of the tablet is expected to be made of aluminum.
As for the M2 chip upgrade, that’s a tricky one to parse. We had been expecting to see the M2 chip at the last Apple event, but the company showed off the M1 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio. So far, the M2 chip remains a strong rumor, but nothing more.
It would make a lot of sense for a new iPad Pro to also get a new chip, as Apple nearly always upgrades the silicon in its new devices. But the current iPad Pro with the Apple M1 chip hardly struggled on the performance side, and iPadOS isn’t really designed to support apps and tasks that require masses of processing power.
That said, if Apple wants to position the iPad Pro as a true laptop replacement then giving it some extra power could be the key, perhaps combined with some tweaks to iPadOS in order to make it more desktop-like.
Other iPad Pro 2022 details are currently thin on the ground, though we have heard rumors that mini-LED will be reserved for only the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and not the 11-inch model. There’s also speculation that the iPad Pro could use a display notch to hold its Face ID tech, an approach not dissimilar to that of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
