Apple iPad Pro (7th generation): Release date, specs, price, rumors, and more

Apple currently has an extensive iPad lineup. You have the standard iPads, the iPad Air, the iPad mini, and the iPad Pros. Clearly, Apple isn’t looking to streamline its tablet business anytime soon. And it has good reason not to. The company is currently the leader in the tablet market, with Samsung a distant second, but gaining in popularity. It is perhaps Apple’s prerogative to offer tablets at different price points to keep customers from switching over to the Android tablet side.

Nevertheless, it looks like Apple is on track to refresh its iPad Pro lineup soon. The iPad Pro (2024), also deemed the iPad Pro (7th generation), is still some time away, but rumors about the upcoming tablets are in full swing already. Here’s everything we know.

All signs point to the existence of a new generation of iPad Pro tablets. The company reportedly plans to start production for two models in the iPad Pro (7th generation) lineup in the first quarter of next year. Apple typically announces new Pro iPads every one or two years. The previous generation of Apple M2-powered iPad Pros launched in 2022, so a 2024 launch for the next-generation iPad Pros seems like a logical next step for the company, especially with rumors of the new M3 chips in development.

• Apple iPad Pro (1st generation): September 9, 2015
• Apple iPad Pro (2nd generation): June 5, 2017
• Apple iPad Pro (3rd generation): October 30, 2018
• Apple iPad Pro (4th generation): March 18, 2020
• Apple iPad Pro (5th generation): April 20, 2021
• Apple iPad Pro (6th generation): October 18, 2022

Apple doesn’t have a set timeline for the launch of new iPads. The previous iPad Pro (6th generation) tablets launched in October. Before that, the fifth-gen iPad Pros made their debut in April. We’ve also seen Apple announce new iPad Pro models in March, September, and November. So when it comes to the iPad Pro (2024) series, there’s no way to predict a specific release date.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman doesn’t think Apple will launch new Pro tablets in 2023, and we’ve already told you about the report expecting the tablets to go into production in the first quarter of next year. All of this gives Apple plenty of time to prepare the new iPad Pro models for June 2024 to coincide with its annual WWDC developer conference. Alternatively, the company could once again go for a September/October launch — perhaps alongside the iPhone 15. It’s all up in the air right now, but we’ll be closely tracking the iPad Pro (7th generation) and will update this hub when we know more about its launch date or month.

One of the key upgrades expected on the new iPad Pro (7th generation) is the use of OLED panels. Apple is reportedly planning low-temperature multi-crystalline oxide (LTPO) OLED screens for the 2024 iPad Pros.

Apple currently uses Mini LED-backlit LCD panels on its iPad Pro models, but switching to OLED could mean even better contrast and black levels on the new tablets. Add LTPO tech to the mix and the seventh-gen iPad Pro could one-up the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, with a more power-efficient display. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. After all, these are just rumors as of now. They have a strong foundation, but we’ll have to wait for further confirmation before we start dreaming of OLED iPads.

As for the display size, the iPad Pro (7th generation) is expected to come in 11.1-inch and 13-inch variants, which will make them slightly bigger than the present iPad Pro variant. The information was separately reported by display analyst Ross Young and The Elec.

Apple is rumored to be working on its M3 chips. The current iPad Pros are powered by the company’s M2 silicon. So it’s only natural to presume that the next iPad Pro generation will upgrade to the new M3 processor. The chip is expected to bring a major boost over the M2 by switching to a new fabrication process for enhanced performance and efficiency. Information from Bloomberg suggests the Apple M3 will include an 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. Then again, Apple could also use an M2 Pro or M2 Max chip on the iPad Pro 2024. Those weren’t available when the previous Pro iPads launched.

• Apple iPad Pro (1st generation): $599 starting (9.7-inch), $799 starting (12.9-inch)
• Apple iPad Pro (2nd generation): $646 starting (10.5-inch), $799 starting (12.9-inch)
• Apple iPad Pro (3rd generation): $799 starting (11-inch), $999 starting (12.9-inch)
• Apple iPad Pro (4th generation): $799 starting (11-inch), $999 starting (12.9-inch)
• Apple iPad Pro (5th generation): $799 starting (11-inch), $1,099 starting (12.9-inch)
• Apple iPad Pro (6th generation): $799 starting (11-inch), $1,099 starting (12.9-inch)

The 2022 iPad Pro started at $799 for the base 11-inch model and $1,099 for the 12.9-inch variant. Those were the same prices the company had for the 2021 iPad Pro base models. One would expect Apple to stick to the same prices for the iPad Pro 2024 lineup, but that might not be the case. Apple is expected to increase the prices of the iPhone 15 Pro models this year. Smartphone and tablet makers are increasingly pushing up rates to improve profitability owing to a worldwide market decline. Considering this, we might see more expensive iPad Pro models in 2024.

In fact, a report from The Elec suggests we could see iPad Pro prices go up by as much as $700. That would make the 11-inch model cost around $1,500 and the 13-inch variant around $1,800. And these are prices for the base models. The top-of-the-line iPad Pro (7th generation) with 2TB storage could very well breach the $3,000 mark.

The current iPad Pro lineup is pretty powerful. There’s a lot to like about the tablets, including their laptop-beating performance, great display, booming speakers, and more. You can read our iPad Pro (6th generation) review and see for yourself that it’s the very best iPad in this day and age.

But should you be okay paying a premium for the 2024 iPad Pro, you can hold off your purchase. With rumors suggesting a significant display and performance upgrade, the iPad Pro (7th generation) will likely be leaps ahead of the current generation. That said, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the upcoming slates, including information on the battery, charging, cameras, and more. Some of those aspects left us wanting when we reviewed the 2022 iPad Pro.

It would be prudent to wait for more information about the new iPad Pro before you strap yourselves in for the wait till next year. As we said before, if an impressive iPad is what you’re after right now, you already have the option of buying the iPad Pro (6th generation)$786 at Amazon.

Faster charging and wireless charging

Apple was expected to bring wireless charging to the 2022 iPad Pros, but that didn’t happen. We’re hoping to see the feature on the iPad Pro (7th generation) tablets. Not only would wireless charging be a welcome upgrade, but we would also like to see reverse wireless charging on the tablets. Wouldn’t it be great to use all that surface area for charging AirPods and iPhones?

Even the regular wired charging on the Pro iPads could do with an upgrade. It takes well over two hours to charge the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and that’s just not cutting it in a world where the 11,200mAh battery of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra charges in just over an hour

Better camera placement

The cameras on the current iPad Pro are placed on the shorter side of the tablet. That means they awkwardly come to the left of the screen when the tablet is placed in landscape mode. We hope Apple changes that and puts the cameras on the longer side so it’s better to use for things like video calls.

Same great display across variants

The present 12.9-inch iPad Pro packs a stunning Liquid Retina XDR, “ProMotion,” mini-LED display with a peak brightness of up to 1,600 nits for HDR content. It also boasts 2,500 individually controlled local dimming zones to deliver ultra-deep blacks and high contrast. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t give the same treatment to the 11-inch iPad Pro in the series. While the display of the 11-inch model was pretty good, it wasn’t on par with the AMOLED panels on Samsung’s high-end Galaxy Tab S8 series, and that’s still true of the Tab S9 family. Apple’s got to change that and bring display uniformity to the iPad Pro to compete with the Tab S9. Especially, if it plans to charge a lot of cash for them.