Apple may launch the M5 chip at the end of next year, and the new iPad Pro is expected to be launched simultaneously

[ Gearbest Technology News]According to the latest news, Apple will launch a series of new MacBook Pro products equipped with M4 chips on October 28, and updates to the MacBook Air series are expected to be released next year. Such a dense rhythm of new product releases means that Apple will be busy launching new products in the next year.

However, according to the latest report, Apple is expected to “take a breath” in the fourth quarter of next year, when it will launch a new M5 chip and apply it to multiple product lines, including the much-anticipated iPad Pro series.

According to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman’s revelations in the latest “Power On” newsletter, Apple has been developing the M5 chip since 2023, and the development of the A19 Pro is also ongoing at the same time. It predicts that Apple may officially release the M5 chip at the end of 2025, and the new generation of iPad Pro series is also expected to be unveiled at that time. However, for the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro that will be equipped with M5 chips, the industry generally believes that there will not be much change in appearance or functionality.

In 2023, Apple will adopt a different strategy for its high-end tablet product line. Apple was the first to apply the M4 chip to the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro, and then equipped the MacBook Pro with the same chip. With the launch of the M5 chip, it is expected that the new generation of iPad Pro will be equipped with this new chip. However, judging from Apple’s consistent product update strategy, the iPad Pro series was just updated about half a year ago, so this hardware improvement may It will be the only major change, and major exterior design changes are unlikely.

At the same time, some analysts pointed out that the M5 chip launched by Apple in 2024 is unlikely to use TSMC’s 2nm process. Previously, well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had predicted that Apple would not switch to this cutting-edge process until 2026, mainly due to the high cost of 2nm wafers. However, even so, the M5 chip will still be significantly different from its predecessors. It is reported that the M5 chip will use TSMC’s SoIC (Small Integrated Circuit Package) technology, which has excellent performance in heat dissipation, leakage and electrical performance thanks to its three-dimensional chip stacking structure since its introduction in 2018.

Compared with traditional two-dimensional chip design, SoIC packaging technology can effectively improve heat dissipation management, reduce current leakage, and improve electrical performance, providing higher optimization space for the M5 chip in terms of efficiency and performance. This upgrade undoubtedly adds a competitive advantage to Apple in the increasingly fierce chip market, and also brings greater performance improvement potential to the future iPad Pro series.