New iPad 12 and iPad Air 8 reportedly 'coming soon,' and expect one major upgrade

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Apple’s spring surprise?

iPad 11
(Image credit: Future / Tom's Guide)

Now may be the worst time to buy an iPad, as Apple is reportedly set to reveal all-new models in the near future — and it may even come with a first for the entry-level tablet.

Apple's next iPad 12 and iPad Air 8 are "coming soon," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Both tablets are expected to see major chip upgrades, including an A18 or A19 for the base iPad, and a mighty M4 processor for the upcoming Air.

What upgrades can we expect?

An iPad mini 7 in hand in front of a sliding glass door

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

While significant design changes aren't expected over the current iPad 11 and iPad Air M3, previous leaks have hinted that Apple's lower-cost tablet will feature an A19 chip — the same silicon found in the iPhone 17. Compared to the A16, this would see a 50% performance boost, but it will also finally bring Apple Intelligence features to the tablet.

It isn't certain if Apple will manage to equip the iPad 12 with an A19 chip, as other reports have indicated that it will feature an A18 instead. Regardless, this will still deliver AI to the base tablet, and considering that Siri will now be powered by Google's Gemini, we could see some exciting software upgrades once it arrives.

Another rumored performance boost coming to the iPad 12 is a move to 8GB of RAM, compared to the usual 6GB. This makes sense, seeing as the iPhone 17 comes with 8GB of RAM, and would be yet another jump between base iPad models, as the iPad 10 came with 4GB.

iPad Air M3

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

As for the iPad Air 8, we can expect the next-gen tablet to feature an M4 chip, meaning we'll find the power of a MacBook Air M4 in the form of a tablet. That should give it around a 20%+ performance increase, but we may also see Apple's custom N1 wireless chip make an appearance, delivering a substantial upgrade to Wi-Fi connectivity.

With both the iPad 12 and iPad Air 8 now tipped to be heading our way soon, it's likely these tablets will launch in spring. Both the 11th-gen iPad and M3-powered iPad Air launched in March 2025, and the Cupertino tech giant may follow suit with its latest entries. That's not all, as the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models are also expected to launch in March.

A simple refresh (with big performance gains)

iPad Air M3

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Aside from the chip upgrades, Apple Intelligence features and possible N1 wireless chip, expect the iPad 12 and iPad Air with M4 to look largely the same.

That means identical designs (11-inch for the iPad, 11- and 13-inch for the iPad Air), same 12MP cameras and Liquid Retina display (2360 x 1640) displays. As with past generations, the next tablets are set to be more of a performance upgrade.

It will be interesting to see if the base iPad 12 either gets an A18 or A19 chipset, as Apple previously jumped a single generation for its entry-level tablet; the iPad 11 received an A16 upgrade over the iPad 10's A14 chip. However, the key feature here will be Apple Intelligence support, making the whole iPad lineup deliver AI capabilities.

While there's still no word on the anticipated iPad mini 8, which is tipped to see even bigger upgrades that include an OLED display, more iPads are around the corner — and finally catching up to the iPad Pro M5.

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Darragh Murphy
Darragh Murphy
Computing Editor

Darragh is Tom’s Guide’s Computing Editor and is fascinated by all things bizarre in tech. His work can be seen in Laptop Mag, Mashable, Android Police, Shortlist Dubai, Proton, theBit.nz, ReviewsFire and more. When he's not checking out the latest devices and all things computing, he can be found going for dreaded long runs, watching terrible shark movies and trying to find time to game

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