Apple publishes two hardware bars for Apple Intelligence on iPad, not one. The first is M1 or later, plus iPad mini with A17 Pro, and it covers the bulk of the feature set. The second is an iPad with M4 or later and 12GB or more of unified memory, and Apple attaches it to exactly two things.
That 12GB line is the only place Apple puts a memory figure in front of an iPad owner, and it appears in a footnote rather than in the marketing copy. It matters because unified memory is fixed at purchase, so it is the one requirement an iPad cannot grow into. Both bars apply from September 14, when iPadOS 27 ships.
Key facts
| Item | What Apple publishes |
|---|---|
| Baseline hardware | iPad Pro and iPad Air with M1 or later, iPad mini with A17 Pro |
| Higher tier hardware | iPad with M4 or later and 12GB or more of unified memory |
| Features behind the higher tier | Siri voice customisation and improved on-device Dictation |
| Languages | 16, counting Simplified and Traditional Chinese separately |
| Siri AI status | Beta, English first, not initially available in the EU on iPadOS |
| Cost | Free with iPadOS 27, with daily limits on some server features |
The baseline bar, in Apple’s own shorthand
Apple’s device line reads: “iPad mini (A17 Pro), iPad models with M1 and later.” That is the bar for Siri AI, Image Playground, Genmoji, the Photos editing tools, Writing Tools, Live Translation and the rest of the Apple Intelligence set on iPad.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
One wrinkle is worth knowing before you check your own iPad. The compatibility footnote on Apple’s iPadOS 27 page describes iPad Air as 4th generation and later, M2 and later, while the Apple Intelligence page says M1 and later for the same family. Apple has not published anything reconciling the two, and we are not going to guess which one governs.
The second bar, and what sits behind it
Apple describes the higher tier as running an advanced on-device model. The hardware list is short, and it spans platforms.
| Platform | Requirement for the advanced on-device model |
|---|---|
| iPad | M4 or later with 12GB or more of unified memory |
| Mac | M3 or later with 12GB or more of unified memory |
| iPhone | iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, Duo, 17 Pro, 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air |
| Apple Vision Pro | M5 |
The two features it unlocks are Siri voice customisation, which lets you set pitch, speed, tone and accent, and an improved on-device Dictation model that Apple says understands you better. Nothing else on Apple’s pages is gated this way. The iPhone side of that list is the same silicon story we covered in our piece on the A20 Pro and Apple’s move to 2nm.
What the 12GB figure does not settle
Apple states the floor without publishing, on these pages, which iPad models and storage configurations meet it. There is no Apple table that says an iPad Pro at one capacity has 12GB and another does not, so the only reliable check is the memory figure on your own device’s tech specs.
Apple also does not say what happens on an M4 iPad that falls below the line. The wording is a requirement, not a graceful degradation note, and Apple has published no fallback behaviour for either feature.
The limits that apply to every eligible iPad
- Server-backed features carry daily usage limits, and Apple names Siri AI, its intelligent photo editing tools, Image Playground and cloud models in Shortcuts among them.
- Apple says limits vary by feature, request complexity and system demand, and that expanded access will be available for a fee in the future.
- Most iCloud+ plans already include increased access, along with Apple Intelligence support for compatible Home cameras.
- Siri AI is not initially available in the EU on iPadOS. Mac and Vision Pro owners in the EU do get it when set to a supported language.
- Apple says Siri AI and the other new Apple Intelligence features will not be available in China while it works through regulatory requirements.
What Apple has not said
Apple has not published a per-feature requirements list for iPad, so there is no source that tells you which of the shared iPadOS 27 features need an Apple Intelligence iPad at all. It has not priced the future paid tier, named a date for it, or said what the daily limits actually are in numbers.
It has also given no end date for the EU exclusion, saying only that it is working hard to find a path forward that preserves privacy and security. Everything Apple did confirm on September 9 is collected in our event recap and alongside the iPhone 18 Pro announcement.
iPadOS 27 arrives on Monday, September 14. Check Settings for your iPad’s chip and memory before then, because that pair of numbers, not the model year, is what Apple’s two bars are written against.
