Apple’s 2027 iPad Pro to Debut First-Ever Vapor Chamber Cooling
Apple is planning a significant improvement for the iPad Pro in 2027: The tablet will receive the first vapor chamber cooling in the iPad series. The system comes from the iPhone 17 Pro and promises significantly better performance without a fan.
Vapor chamber for better performance
Apple is working on a significant innovation for the iPad Pro: The tablet will have vapor chamber cooling for the first time, which is already used in the iPhone 17 Pro. The system will be introduced with the M6 chip and could come onto the market in spring 2027. The technology uses evaporating liquid in a sealed chamber to efficiently dissipate heat from the processor. The current iPad Pro with M4 chip is considered one of the fastest tablets in its class, but its performance is limited by passive cooling.
The clock speed drops significantly during prolonged use such as gaming or professional video editing. Tests show that the M4 iPad Pro begins throttling after just nine minutes, while even the MacBook Pro with the M4 chip shows signs of thermal throttling before reaching peak performance. In his PowerOn newsletter Bloomberg writes Mark Gurman that vapor chamber technology is of course not really new. Samsung began experimenting with advanced cooling systems that combined graphite foils and copper heat pipes with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Samsung even integrated this type of cooling into the Galaxy Tab S9 from 2023.
Vapor chamber functionality
Vapor chamber cooling relies on a special liquid in a sealed chamber that evaporates at the hot spot on the processor. This transports the heat to cooler areas and condenses there again. The resulting condensate flows back to the starting point via tiny capillaries – a closed circuit without moving parts. The effect is quite significant: With the iPhone 17 Pro, a similar solution enables around 15 percent higher thermal power loss compared to the previous generation. The vapor chamber could mean that Apple can maintain the full performance of the M6 chip even under continuous load – a decisive advantage over the current M4 model.
Coupled with the new two-nanometer manufacturing process, which promises greater energy efficiency, the tablet would be significantly more attractive for power users. Professional video editing, 3D rendering or longer gaming sessions could be possible without sacrificing performance. Apple follows an 18-month upgrade cycle for the iPad Pro range, meaning the vapor chamber could arrive around spring 2027. The system could help Apple further differentiate the iPad Pro from the iPad Air lineup while advancing its vision of a true laptop replacement.
