2018 iPad Pro Rumors: Faster A11X Chip Could Power Next Year's Pro Tablet Line
The 9.7-inch iPad Pro is one of only several iPad versions that Apple has kept around after they got rid of some of their other models. Industry watchers are now waiting to see how the new technologies introduced with the iPhone X could cause a major update to the unchanging iPad design.
Apple has always treated the iPhone line as its testbed for new designs and technologies, some as obvious as the iPhone X notch, or perhaps less obvious like its Face ID feature and A11 Bionic chip.
The iPad Pro, meanwhile, has remained relatively unchanged over its generations, aside from adding a 12.9-inch model or the introduction of ProMotion and the Apple Pencil, as mentioned by MacWorld.
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Inside, the changes have been more radical. The newer iPad models now come with new A-series chips, similar to those powering the iPhones a generation behind. This year's iPad Pro has an A10X chip with six processor cores, 12 graphics cores and up to 4 GB of memory.
The A10 chip this design was based on is the platform that currently powers the iPhone 7, and has four processor cores, six graphics cores and up to 3 GB of memory.
Looking at this trend, the 2018 iPad Pro could have a chip based on the A11 Bionic chips found in the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. The A11 bionic has six processor cores already, and rumors indicate that the new A11X chip that will go into the new iPad Pros could have eight processor cores and a cutting-edge 7 nm process.
This is a big upgrade to this year's iPad Pro, and the new iPad might need every bit of it. Next year's models could come with updated Face ID and slim bezels, according to sources.
The company may be thinking twice about its supply of OLED screens since, as sources report, the 2018 iPad Pro could keep its LCD display as it is.
