Here Are 8 Things to Know About Apple's New iPad With the A16 Chip
While the headline feature of Apple's new lowest-cost iPad is an A16 chip, the device has some other new features and changes.
Apple's official name for the new entry-level iPad is iPad (A16), but we are referring to the device as the iPad 11 in this article.
Below, we recap eight smaller iPad 11 details you might have missed.
- In the iPad 11, the A16 chip has a 5-core CPU and a 4-core GPU, whereas the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 15, and iPhone 15 Plus has a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU.
- The iPad 11 does not support Apple Intelligence.
- The iPad 11 is the first entry-level iPad with a 512GB storage option.
- The iPad 11 supports Smart HDR 4, up from Smart HDR 3 on the previous model. Smart HDR 4 makes photos look "even more detailed and vivid."
- The iPad 11 supports Bluetooth 5.3, up from Bluetooth 5.2 for the previous model.
- While cellular iPad 10 models have a SIM card slot in all countries, the iPad 11 relies entirely on eSIM technology worldwide.
- The iPad 11 is still compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil.
- Apple says the iPad 11 has an 11-inch display, while the iPad 10 is listed as having a 10.9-inch display. However, Apple is simply rounding up more with the iPad 11, as both devices actually have a 10.86-inch display.
Apple makes no mention of the iPad 11 having its custom C1 modem, so cellular models might still have a Qualcomm modem. We await teardowns.
It is also unclear how much RAM is in the iPad 11, but we are working to confirm this detail as soon as possible. iPhones with the A16 Bionic chip have 6GB of RAM, but the iPad 11 has a regular A16 chip with reduced CPU and GPU specifications, so it is unclear if the iPad 11 has 6GB of RAM. The iPad 10 has 4GB of RAM.
The new iPad can be pre-ordered now, and it will launch on Wednesday, March 12. In the U.S., the Wi-Fi model starts at $349.
Popular Stories
Apple plans to cut production of the iPhone Air amid underwhelming sales performance, Japan's Mizuho Securities believes (via The Elec).
The Japanese investment banking and securities firm claims that the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are seeing higher sales than their predecessors during the same period last year, while the standard iPhone 17 is a major success, performing...
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year.
The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across the Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, Clock, and Safari apps.
More features and changes will follow in future ...
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below.
MacBook Pro
M5...
Apple's software engineers continue to internally test iOS 26.0.2, according to MacRumors logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.0.2 will be a minor update that addresses bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, but we do not know any specific details yet.
The update will likely be released by the end of next week.
Last month, Apple released iOS 26.0.1,...
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with an M5 chip, and there are two key storage-related upgrades beyond that chip bump.
First, Apple says the new 14-inch MacBook Pro offers up to 2× faster SSD performance than the equivalent previous-generation model, so read and write speeds should get a significant boost. Apple says it is using "the latest storage technology," ...
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips.
The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models.
In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB.
Like...
Apple plans to launch MacBook Air models equipped with the new M5 chip in spring 2026, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple is also working on M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models that will come early in the year.
Neither the MacBook Pro models nor the MacBook Air models are expected to get design changes, with Apple focusing on simple chip upgrades. In the case of the MacBook Pro, a m...
