Those eagerly awaiting the next major evolutionary leap for the iPad Pro lineup may need to temper their expectations.
According to the latest rumors from the Asian supply chain, Apple has no plans for substantial updates to its flagship tablets for several years.
iPad Pro slows down, Apple will wait before introducing significant updates
The news, spread by the well-known leaker Instant Digital, suggests that the current 11- and 13-inch iPad Pro generation, recently updated with the M5 chip, will remain the reference point of Cupertino’s catalog for a long period without undergoing radical cosmetic or functional changes.
This conservative strategy isn’t entirely new for the California company, historically inclined to keep the design unchanged after introducing significant changes.
However, the reasons behind this particular pause seem more complex and tied to specific economic and technological factors that are influencing the entire sector.
The iPad Pro saw its first major aesthetic renewal in 2018, abandoning the Home button for a full-screen design that has remained iconic for more than five years.
Only in 2024 did the company decide to intervene again in a massive way, introducing the generation M4 characterized by an ultra-thin profile and, above all, by new OLED panels.
The current M5-chip iteration represents a further refinement of that base, but according to sources we will see nothing but internal enhancements for a long time.
The pace of hardware updates seems set to lengthen, moving away from the yearly frenzy that characterizes the smartphone market to embrace a lifecycle more similar to that of laptops.
The cost burden of production
The real knot of the matter lies in display technology. The current models mount Ultra Retina Tandem OLED displays, an advanced engineering solution that stacks two OLED layers to guarantee unprecedented brightness and greater panel longevity.
On one hand this technical choice offers excellent visual quality; on the other, it has significantly driven up production costs.
Sources indicate that the price of these components is not dropping as expected. Apple therefore finds itself in a position of having to amortize the investment made in this technology before it can introduce a new one or modify its form factor.
To this is added a sales growth rate that, while solid, does not justify immediate investments in a new industrial redesign.
Giving up the race toward thinner bezels
Another interesting detail from the report concerns the competition over bezel sizes. While competitors like Samsung and Huawei are pushing toward displays with almost invisible borders, Apple has decided not to participate in this race.
The company believes that the current screen-to-body ratio is optimal for the ergonomics of a tablet, which must be held without accidentally touching the active display area.
Consequently, the next iPad Pro update, realistically expected between the end of this year and 2027, will focus exclusively on computing power.
An M6 chip is likely to arrive that will further improve performance and power efficiency, but the device’s exterior appearance will remain faithful to what we know today.
