Apple has four new iPad Pro models in testing for a spring 2027 launch, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, but the most interesting part of the leak is what stays the same. The 11-inch and 13-inch sizes carry over, with the work focused on internal upgrades led by faster chips. Anyone weighing up the current M5 Pro now has a rough date to plan around.
A spring debut also means the tablet you can buy today carries you well into next year. For a line Apple keeps pitching at professionals, a chip bump with no new screen or shape feels like a holding pattern. I want more, and the leak so far suggests I’ll have to wait.
Four models, one season: iPad Pro spring 2027
Gurman reports four iPad Pro units in testing, all aimed at spring 2027 and all keeping the current 11-inch and 13-inch panels. Apple has leaned on spring for a while now as a way to spread launches across the year, and the iPad Pro fits into that rhythm. The count is the eye-catcher for me, since four variants across two sizes points to the usual Wi-Fi and cellular split rather than any fresh tier.
The silicon puzzle: M6 or M7
The processor is the one missing piece. Gurman says the iPad Pro gets a faster chip but stops short of naming the model. He also expects Apple to introduce the M7 in 2027 as part of a busy hardware year that includes a second-generation iPhone Air and a new entry-level iPhone. Same window, no processor name, so M6 and M7 both remain possible.
My hunch leans M6, with Apple saving the M7 headline for a Mac, though I’d love to be wrong. Either way, a chip-only upgrade asks a lot of buyers when the M5 Pro already runs local models and 4K exports without breaking a sweat. Raw speed stopped being the iPad Pro’s problem a couple of generations ago.
Keeping cool: vapor chamber cooling
One hardware change could matter more than the chip badge. Bloomberg says Apple has already tested a vapor chamber cooling system for the tablets, meant to hold performance under load and cut overheating. A thermal upgrade like that would let sustained workloads run without throttling, which is the kind of pro-grade claim Apple keeps making for the iPad Pro. I’d rather see cooling that backs up the marketing than another fractional gain in benchmark scores.
The price problem after last week’s hike
Money hangs over all of it. In late June, Apple raised iPad prices by 15% to 25%, pushing the iPad Pro up $200 to a $1,199 starting point. Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal that the increases had become unavoidable as memory and storage chip costs quadrupled over 12 months, and Bloomberg adds that shortages have left several product schedules in flux.
A spec-bump Pro launching from a higher floor worries me. Buyers already balk at four figures for a tablet, and a spring 2027 model with faster silicon and little else would need to justify the outlay all over again. Should the memory crunch push the tag even higher, the M5 Pro on discount starts to look like the smarter pickup.
Apple iPad Pro 11‑inch (M5)
Background: the M5 Pro and Apple’s cadence
Context helps here. Apple last refreshed the iPad Pro in October 2025 with the M5, tandem OLED screens, its first fast-charging support on the line, and a chassis barely 5 mm thick. The current models already pack 12 GB of RAM at the base tiers and Face ID, so the 2027 update inherits a strong starting point.
The 18-month gap between Pro refreshes also makes spring 2027 the natural slot, about a year and a half on from the M5. What the leaks still won’t confirm is the final chip, any design tweak such as slimmer bezels, or where RAM and storage settle. Until Apple commits, I’d treat the spring 2027 window as the one solid detail and everything around it as a work in progress.
Grigor Baklajyan is a copywriter covering technology at Gadget Flow. His contributions include product reviews, buying guides, how-to articles, and more.