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When Apple introduced the iPad Air in September this year, the main point of interest was not its appearance, but what was inside the tablet. It housed Apple’s new A14 Bionic chip, the company’s first chip built on the 5nm process and features 11.8 billion transistors, 3 billion more than the A13. This is also the same chip that will power Apple’s upcoming iPhone 12 series.
In a recent interview with Engadget, Apple’s Vice President of Platform Architecture Tim Millet shared that Apple managed to pack more efficient CPU and GPU cores into the processor, as well as make subtle improvements to the overall performance of the device.
But this has also raised questions about whether the new mid-range iPad is more powerful than its current iPad Pro that runs on the A12Z Bionic chip.
According to Millet, the iPad Pro with A12Z has more CPU and GPU cores (8 of each) than the A14 (6 and 4, respectively). Therefore, the A12Z, with twice the number of GPU cores compared to the A14, would offer the best performance for graphics intensive jobs.
However, as the A14 comes with Apple’s next-gen CPU cores, Millet said it can outperform the A12Z on some tasks.
Apple has yet to directly compare the A14 to the A13, but said the chip that powers the latest iPad Air is up to 40% faster than the A12 chip, meaning users would see a 30% gain in performance. graphic. More will definitely be revealed during the iPhone 12 event.
Apple’s A14 may be the world’s first commercially available 5nm chip, but its rivals are not far behind with Qualcomm preparing to unveil its Snapdragon 875, a mobile 5nm chipset. Similarly, Samsung is preparing to announce its Exynos 1080 chipset.
But in addition to the raw performance gains, Apple is considering designing its chips to work well on different devices. Millet said the company focused on the energy efficiency of all the products they make.
“We try to focus on energy efficiency because that applies to all the products we make. By making that a fundamental focus of its chip designs, Apple doesn’t have to worry about a situation where it “focused on energy efficiency for the phone. [in a way] that is not going to work on an iPad Air. Of course, it will work. “
The Engadget story also references a rumored iPad Pro that is said to be powered by a high-performance version of the A14 called the A14X. Some suggest that this chip will make its debut in early 2021. This may reflect the steps that Apple took with the third generation iPad Pro with its A12X chipset which was released shortly after the launch of the iPhone XS series that was powered by the A12 chip. .
So what do you think about Apple’s new A14 processors? Will they deliver a significant performance gain and force you to upgrade your devices? Let us know in the comments below.
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