Apple Pushes Into AI With Launch of New iPad Pro Powered by M4 AI Chip

Apple (AAPL) unveiled an iPad Pro powered by its new M4 chip capable of running artificial intelligence (AI) applications locally, alongside a new Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard on Tuesday. The product announcement marks a key milestone in Apple’s push into AI, with the iPhone maker becoming the latest tech giant to announce in-house AI chips.

Apple’s ‘Most Powerful Neural Engine Ever’

Apple called the latest iPad Pro an “outrageously powerful device for artificial intelligence,” that with the M4 chip features Apple’s “most powerful Neural Engine ever.” Apple said the “Neural Engine in M4 is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today.”

The new iPad Pro models and accessories are available to order starting Tuesday and will be available in stores starting Wednesday, May 15.

Key Milestone in Apple’s AI Push

The iPad Pro and M4 chip unveiling marks a key milestone in Apple’s push into AI, with the iPhone maker becoming the latest big tech company to announce in-house chips to enable running AI locally.

Apple joins Meta (META), Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google, Microsoft (MSFT), and Amazon (AMZN) in making its own AI-capable custom chips. The companies’ custom chips could help them manage the high costs associated with AI and lessen their Nvidia (NVDA) dependency.

Apple shares were little changed, edging 0.3% higher to $182.31 around 1:20 p.m. ET Tuesday. Even with Tuesday’s gains and Apple’s earnings-fueled surge, the stock has lost around 5% so far this year.