Apple Ramping Up M1 Production as New 12.9-inch iPad Pro Expected to Reach Five Million Shipments in 2021

Apple is seemingly expecting high demand for its new M1-powered iPad Pro as the company has asked its main chip supplier, TSMC, to ramp up production of the chip for its new iPad, and newer Mac computers, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.

ipad pro with m1 chip
Earlier this week, Apple unveiled a brand new 11 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro powered by the M1 Apple silicon chip, the same chip powering the newly announced 24-inch iMac, and previously released Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro.

The M1 chip first started shipping in November, and amid an ongoing global chip shortage, demand for the chip is even more pronounced thanks to the new ‌iPad Pro‌. DigiTimes reports that TSMC had a previous goal of 120,000 chip wafers per month for the second half of the year. Thanks to a strong push from Apple, TSMC now has its eyes set on 140,000 to 150,000 monthly chip waters from the second to the fourth quarter of the year.

Even though the new ‌iPad Pro‌ and 24-inch iMac were announced this week, they won't begin shipping until the second half of May. The significant delay between announcement and shipments is likely due to strain put on Apple's suppliers.

Research cited by another ‌DigiTimes‌ report today suggests that the new higher-end 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ which features a new Liquid Retina XDR Display, will reach 5 million shipments this year. The new ‌iPad Pro‌ and 24-inch ‌iMac‌ will be available for pre-order starting Friday, April 30.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer's Guide: iPad Pro (Neutral)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Air Size Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With Rear Camera Bar Allegedly Shown in Leaked Photo

Tuesday January 21, 2025 12:46 pm PST by
A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model. The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone SE Dynamic Island Majin Bu

iPhone SE 4 Leak Shows Dynamic Island, Casts Doubt on Rumored 'iPhone 16E' Name

Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass. In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
ipad pro 2024

New iPad Pro Reportedly Launching This Year

Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously. After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
truecaller

Truecaller iOS Update Rolls Out Real-Time Caller ID Support

Wednesday January 22, 2025 2:07 am PST by
Popular caller ID app Truecaller is rolling out an update that brings real-time caller ID support to its iOS subscribers. Apple introduced Live Caller ID Lookup in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to securely retrieve information about a caller from their servers, hence today's Truecaller update. iPhone users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature by going to Settings ➝ ...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...

Top Rated Comments

Isengardtom Avatar
49 months ago
I suspect something big at WWDC with regards to this. I mean we don’t need M1 + 8GB / 16GB ram to play Grindstone and browse the web
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calstanford Avatar
49 months ago
It's kind of crazy people are using the same (M1) or basically the same (A14) chip from iPhone Mini's all the way to 24" iMacs
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BvizioN Avatar
49 months ago
I just wish the Retina XDR display was on the 11" also. The larger one is just a bit too large for me to travel with.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dumastudetto Avatar
49 months ago

Anyone with prior experience with apple preorders care to share how next Friday will work? What time will the preorders start? Will it be limited, where it could potentially sell out within minutes?
The new 12.9" is the best iPad Apple has ever made. Customer demand to acquire one will be off-the-charts. Stock is expected to be extremely constrained for months, so you'll need to be online the moment orders go live if you want a launch day delivery.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dumastudetto Avatar
49 months ago

As was the prior one. The 2018 and 2020 ones are still overkill for what iPadOS and these apps can do.
For example, people who use Adobe apps will immediately see benefits from these super-performant iPads Pros. Every year we see more and more advanced applications making their way to iPad Pro - with better UI, improved functionality, and delightful experience. These latest updates will only broaden the appeal to developers.

I expect Final Cut Pro and Xcode will be coming soon.

Anything that allows for a richer, smoother, more refined user experience is far from overkill.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
contacos Avatar
49 months ago

Anyone with prior experience with apple preorders care to share how next Friday will work? What time will the preorders start? Will it be limited, where it could potentially sell out within minutes?
Pre-Orders usually start at 5 AM (Cali time) and depending on the product, they usually sell out within minutes in the sense that the delivery days are being pushed further and further
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)