Apple has unveiled its latest iPad Pro, a device equipped with a new chip designed for artificial intelligence computing, as it eagerly looks to catch up with its tech giant rivals in the emerging technology field of artificial intelligence.
Apple's unusual choice to debut the new chip on a tablet rather than its Mac laptops suggests to analysts that Apple is eager to give app developers a head start on developing AI-related software ahead of its annual developer conference next month.
Despite these new moves, Apple's share price was not affected much, ending up only about 0.5 percent higher, after having risen as much as 1.8 percent at one point.
While companies like Microsoft and Alphabet have gone all-in on AI and driven their share prices to record highs, Apple's shares have fallen 5% so far this year. This is largely due to weak demand for iPhones in the market, while investors are expecting Apple to show how it can utilize AI technology.
Apple announced that its premium iPad Pro will come with an upgraded display, starting at $1,000 for the 11-inch version and $1,300 for the 13-inch version.
The new iPad Pro will be powered by the M4 chip, which has a more powerful "neural network engine" built in, part of a specially designed computation required for AI functions such as generating text or images.
Apple's chips have included neural network engines since 2017, but in the meantime, its rivals such as Intel and Qualcomm have competing technology they call neural processing units (NPUs) for use in personal computers.
Tim Millett, Apple's vice president of platform architecture, said at a product demonstration, "Based on this level of performance, our neural engine and the M4 chip are more powerful than the neural processing unit in any AI PC on the market today."
Apple has also updated its moderately priced iPad Air lineup, which will now be available in a larger 13-inch screen version for $800, as well as the 11-inch version that was available before for $600. These new tablets come with Apple's M2 chip, which debuted in Apple's MacBook lineup in 2022.
As for what AI features the new M4 chip can power, it probably won't be revealed until June 10 at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where Apple typically shows off its voice assistant, Siri, as well as other new features of its operating system.
Commenting on the product launch, the chief executive of Creative Strategies consulting firm said, "Basically, Apple has given a lot of foreshadowing of what it's going to do or planning to do in terms of generative AI hardware."
However, many of the current AI features - such as automatically zooming in on a user's screen during a video call - may not be enough to inspire consumers to upgrade, according to some analysts.
Analysts at Goldner Consulting said, "Are these features really enough to entice people to purchase? Probably not. It has to provide some kind of extraordinary experience."
Apple CEO Tim Cook said last week that the company was "very bullish" about opportunities in generative AI, and plans to make more announcements about it later this year.
