Apple
is
preparing
for
its
big
AI
coming
out
party
in
this
year’s
Worldwide
Developer
Conference;
that
much
you
can
count
on.
But
apparently,
the
company
is
going
to
start
that
party
a
little
early
with
the
OLED
iPad
Pro
that
it’s
expected
to
unveil
on
May
7th.
According
to
Bloomberg’s
Mark
Gurman,
there’s
“a
strong
possibility”
the
tablet
will
launch
with
an
M4
chip
and
its
accompanying
neural
engine,
making
it
Apple’s
“first
truly
AI-powered
device.”
Writing
in
his
Power
On
newsletter
today,
Gurman
said
the
company
could
use
its
May
event
to
explain
“its
AI
chip
strategy
without
distraction,”
freeing
it
to
focus
on
exactly
how
the
iPad
Pro
and
its
other
M4
devices
will
use
the
company’s
AI
offerings
in
iPadOS
18.
Those
could
include
on-device
Apple-developed
features
and
deeply-integrated
chatbots
from
one
or
more
other
companies
like
Google
or
OpenAI.
Of
course,
both
of
the
next
Pro
models
are
also
expected
to
get
a
big
OLED
upgrade
and
some
new
accessories.
One
of
those
accessories
—
the
next
Apple
Pencil
—
will
have
haptic
feedback,
Gurman
writes.
What
would
be
the
point
of
the
haptic
feedback?
He
doesn’t
say,
but
just
noodling
on
the
idea
here,
I
could
see
some
fun
applications
like
adding
a
sort
of
simulated
texture
feature
when
drawing
with
the
Pencil.
(Imagine
drawing
in
Photoshop
and
“feeling”
the
roughness
of
the
paper!)
I
can’t
imagine
driving
a
tiny
motor
all
the
time
would
be
great
for
the
Pencil’s
battery
life,
though.
Maybe
that’s
where
rumors
of
Apple
Pencil
support
for
the
Vision
Pro
come
in.
Who
knows
exactly
what
Apple
is
planning
there
if
that’s
true,
but
haptics
would
make
sense
for
helping
you
feel
a
little
more
connected
to
what
you’re
doing
in
virtual
space.
That’s
all
in
addition
to
rumors
of
a
new
squeeze
gesture
and
magnetic
tips
that
allow
users
to
swap
them
quickly
for
different
styles
for
different
purposes.
Back
to
the
iPad
Pro,
though,
Gurman
has
been
calling
this
the
most
significant
redesign
of
the
iPad
Pro
since
2018,
but
most
people
may
not
see
what
it
has
in
its
guts
as
part
of
that.
In
his
reporting
today,
he
only
called
out
the
OLED
screen
as
the
other
noteworthy
part
of
the
new
tablet.
As
much
as
I
think
it
should
do
more,
I’m
pretty
OLED-pilled
and
that
might
be
enough
for
me
to
begrudgingly
upgrade.
But
is
it
enough
for
others?
CAD
drawings
that
showed
up
in
February
pointed
to
a
slightly
thinner
iPad
with
rounded
edges
like
the
iPhone
15
Pro,
but
for
plenty
of
people,
that
wasn’t
much
of
a
redesign
at
all,
and
they
might
take
an
iPad
Pro
with
that
look
the
same
way.
But
Apple
making
the
tablet
the
point
of
its
AI
spear
could
help
answer
the
question
of
who
the
next
iPad
Pro
is
for,
since,
I’d
wager,
the
Venn
diagram
of
people
interested
in
AI
and
those
who
want
to
buy
an
overpowered
tablet
probably
has
decent
overlap.
But
I
don’t
expect
most
people
will
go
for
the
iPad
Pro
for
its
AI
features
when
a
bigger
iPad
Air
is
(probably)
sitting
right
there,
(most
likely)
being
much
cheaper,
though.
But
hey,
maybe
that
changes
once
Apple
finally
tells
the
story
of
its
on-device
AI
features,
or
at
least
once
the
reality
of
those
features
becomes
clear
when
iPadOS
18
shows
up
in
the
fall.
(Originally posted by Wes Davis)
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