For the past few years, Apple has been mostly focused on improving its iPhone lineup, offering bigger specs after every flagship launch. This time around, it is speculated that the Cupertino-based tech giant is looking into the next-gen iPad Pro with a more powerful processor. It is expected that the iPad Pro 3 2018 will boast an octa-core A11X Bionic chip.
As reported by Tech Radar, the 2018 iPad Pro model using an octa-core A11X Bionic processor would open more ways to improve the iPad experience. To give an idea how powerful this rumored iPad Pro 3 chipset can be, the current iPhone X and 10.5-inch iPad Pro 2017 version use a hexa-core A11 Bionic chip and hexa-core A10X Fusion chip, respectively.
Rumors about the new A11X Bionic chipset in the iPad Pro 3 2018 originated from the Chinese tech website MyDrivers, which also claims that the upcoming octa-core processor will be made using an intricate 7nm process. This gives the A11X Bionic processor an edge over the previously launched Apple chipsets that were made using a 10nm process.
The iPad Pro 3's A11X Bionic chipset will have its cores split into three high-power "Monsoon" cores and 5 "Mistral" cores, which will be responsible for reducing the processor's energy consumption. In comparison, the A11 Bionic chip has one less of each core types. Moreover, the octa-core A11X Bionic will be supported by an M11 motion co-processor and a neural processing unit (NPU) specialized for artificial intelligence (AI) features. With this, the 2018 iPad Pro version having the iPhone X's Face ID system is getting more likely.
Apple last refreshed the iPad Pro series last June with the launch of 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro. These premium tablets were not officially tagged as the iPad Pro 2, although the significant specs boost shows that the 2017 models are already the next-gen upgrade from the first iPad Pro, Value Walk reported.
It is rumored that the iPad Pro 3 will be released in mid-2018, although other sources claim that the tablet may be launched as early as March or April next year.
