Apple is about to flood the market with new hardware. Not a trickle of incremental updates — a flood. Sources inside the supply chain tell TechCrunch that the company is prepping at least three new iPad Pro models and a more affordable MacBook Pro for an early 2027 launch. If you just bought an iPad, you might want to sit down.
The iPad Pro Gets a Processor Injection
The next iPad Pro generation will be powered by the M4 chip, sources say. That's the same silicon Apple plans to drop into the MacBook Pro later this year, but it's landing in tablets first. The performance leap over the M2 in the current iPad Pro is significant — think 40% faster CPU and double the neural engine cores. Apple wants these tablets to do real work, not just play Netflix.
Three screen sizes are on the table: an 11-inch, a 12.9-inch, and a new 14.1-inch behemoth aimed at creative professionals who currently lug around a MacBook Pro plus an iPad. The largest model is rumored to have a mini-LED display with a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate, same as the existing 12.9-inch. No OLED yet — Apple is still fighting with supply chain partners over yield rates. Lobbyists in Cupertino are working overtime.
MacBook Pro: The Budget Option Nobody Asked For
More surprising is the rumored budget MacBook Pro. This isn't the mythical 12-inch MacBook revival or a stripped-down Air. Apple is reportedly planning a 14-inch MacBook Pro that starts around $1,499 — that's $500 less than the current entry-level Pro. How? two words: fewer ports. This model will ditch the HDMI port and SD card slot, relying entirely on Thunderbolt 4. The display will be the same Liquid Retina XDR panel, but with a standard 60Hz refresh rate instead of ProMotion. The processor will be last year's M3 Pro. It's a calculated cost cut designed to pull Windows users into the ecosystem.
Apple is cannibalizing its own high-end to capture the mid-range. It's aggressive, risky, and exactly what the market needs right now.
The base model will have 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage — actually a slight bump from the current 8GB/256GB baseline. But the price point makes it a direct rival to Dell's XPS 15 and Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon. Apple wants those corporate contracts, and they're willing to sacrifice hardware margins to get them.
What This Means for You
If you're holding an M1 iPad Pro, now is the time to sell. The trade-in values are about to plummet. The new models will support an updated Magic Keyboard with a larger trackpad and function keys — the same keyboard that leaked last month on Chinese social media. For MacBook Pro buyers, the budget option is compelling but emasculated. You lose the card reader and ProMotion for $500. If you're a video editor, don't buy it. If you're a student or a spreadsheet warrior, it's the best laptop Apple has ever made for the price.
Apple's strategy is clear: flood the high-end with bleeding-edge silicon, then pull down the price ladder to expand the ecosystem. The iPad Pro gets the M4 first because Apple needs to justify the tablet's premium positioning against the MacBook Air. The budget MacBook Pro exists because Apple knows the MacBook Air isn't enough for prosumers, but the $1,999 Pro is too much. This fills the gap.
The early 2027 timeframe is aggressive. It's likely a March event, possibly alongside the long-rumored AR/VR headset. Apple wants a massive launch quarter, and these products are the ammunition. Expect pre-orders in February, shipping in March. And expect the price of the current iPad Pro to drop by $200 on the refurbished store the day the M4 models drop.
One final detail: the sources say Apple is testing a new Space Gray shade that's darker, almost black. It's the same color that leaked in the iPhone 17 design dumps. The industrial design language is converging. Every Apple device will soon look like a slab of obsidian. Functional, yes. Boring? Maybe. But if it's $500 cheaper, nobody will care.
