Ever Trend Zone After being teased by Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday, the company unveiled two new iPad models on Tuesday. Currently, the latest iPad Air has an M3 chip, but the iPad 11 (base model in the lineup) comes with an A16 chip. For this reason, it does not support Apple Intelligence features.
No Apple Intelligence for the new iPad 11
There were no special events to unveil the new iPad. Instead, the company simply put new products in its online store. In a press release, Apple points out that the A16 chip is 50% faster than the previous entry-level iPad’s A13 chip. The company says the iPad 11 has “strong and intelligent features,” but it doesn’t have one major feature.
A comparison page for all iPad models on Apple’s website confirms that the iPad 11 with the A16 chip does not support Apple Intelligence features. This means that customers who buy new iPads will not benefit from creating tools, Genmoji, enhanced Siri, and more.
The A16 chip was first introduced in the iPhone 14 Pro lineup, then brought to the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. The chip only has 6GB of RAM. This is less than the minimum 8GB required by Apple Intelligence. This isn’t the first time Apple has cut software features (such as Stage Manager) from its entry-level iPads, but this decision is somewhat surprising given the company’s recent push for Apple Intelligence.
The A16 chip that drives the new iPad 11 has a 5-core CPU and a 4-core GPU. For comparison, the same chip on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 has an additional CPU and GPU core.
Returning to Apple Intelligence, this feature requires devices with the A17 Pro chip (such as the iPhone 15 Pro or iPad Mini 7) or later.
The iPad 11 starts at $349 in the US and currently has 128GB of storage (twice the previous version). Pre-orders are now available for pre-orders with the official release set on March 12th.
