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iPad 2019 10.2 iPad - which CPU?

Howard2k

Howard2k

macrumors 603
Original poster
Mar 10, 2016
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IIRC he said A10 fusion.

So it that the A10? Or the A10X Fusion?
If it's the A10X Fusion that's a decent CPU in an entry level iPad IMO.
A10 is a 100% pass for me.
 
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A10 when the iPhone is on A13? Why so far behind? Still touchid? Really, really?

Another year with my iPad Air 2, me thinks!
 
dawesie1 said:
A10 when the iPhone is on A13? Why so far behind? Still touchid? Really, really?

Another year with my iPad Air 2, me thinks!
Click to expand...
With the A8X not being very far behind the A10, one can hope that the iPad Air 2 gets iPadOS 14 also. The speed seems to be fine.
 
My guess with keeping A10 and Retina is they didn't want to blur the lines with Air and Pro. There has to be some clear technical differences as upgrade steps to justify higher prices.
 
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Richard8655 said:
My guess with keeping A10 and Retina is they didn't want to blur the lines with Air and Pro. There has to be some clear technical differences as upgrade steps to justify higher prices.
Click to expand...
True, but what is the difference between this iPad and the air released earlier in the year?

I know it’s apple but I can’t get my head around a new device having a 3 year old chip.
 
dawesie1 said:
True, but what is the difference between this iPad and the air released earlier in the year?

I know it’s apple but I can’t get my head around a new device having a 3 year old chip.
Click to expand...

Yep, still mostly regular iPad carried over. I think they just want to encourage upgrading to higher model lines. But then they did do the 10.2 display as a way to show something got improved.
 
dawesie1 said:
True, but what is the difference between this iPad and the air released earlier in the year?

I know it’s apple but I can’t get my head around a new device having a 3 year old chip.
Click to expand...

The iPad Air has A12 bionic chip which is newer than the 7th Gen iPad. The only difference between the 6th and 7th Gen iPad is the screen size (9.7 vs 10.2) and Smart connector (that I know of). I'm not even sure whether it has more RAM than the 6th Gen iPad since the RAM is yet to be confirmed.
 
rosyapple said:
The iPad Air has A12 bionic chip which is newer than the 7th Gen iPad. The only difference between the 6th and 7th Gen iPad is the screen size (9.7 vs 10.2) and Smart connector (that I know of). I'm not even sure whether it has more RAM than the 6th Gen iPad since the RAM is yet to be confirmed.
Click to expand...

So it’s a newer device but with a chip that is about 2 years older? I’m lost.
 
dawesie1 said:
So it’s a newer device but with a chip that is about 2 years older? I’m lost.
Click to expand...
Because they want to offer the same price, and not encroach the territory of iPad Air. Technically, 7th Gen iPad is more like a small update. On the bright side, that means my current 6th Gen iPad will have a longer support, since they are still selling devices with A10 chip almost 1 and a half years after they release the 6th Gen iPad.
 
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rosyapple said:
Because they want to offer the same price, and not encroach the territory of iPad Air. Technically, 7th Gen iPad is more like a small update. On the bright side, that means my current 6th Gen iPad will have a longer support, since they are still selling devices with A10 chip almost 1 and a half years after they release the 6th Gen iPad.
Click to expand...
I guess so. I guess storage plays a massive part as you can’t compare like for like. But assuming 64gb is sufficient, the air 64gb is only £30 more than the newer 128gb version but is probably much faster. If 64 is sufficient, why would anyone go for a slower model to save £30?
 
dawesie1 said:
A10 when the iPhone is on A13? Why so far behind? Still touchid? Really, really?

Another year with my iPad Air 2, me thinks!
Click to expand...

Its a basic cheap ipad with basic components for basic task. A13 is way more power for their target demographic. You want more power, the air and pros are available. Its not that hard to use your brain and think logically.
 
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Macintoshrumors said:
Its a basic cheap ipad with basic components for basic task. A13 is way more power for their target demographic. You want more power, the air and pros are available. Its not that hard to use your brain and think logically.
Click to expand...

I get it but surely it should be a great deal cheaper than the air, not just around £30. For something so inferior you’ve got to b looking at a £100 less, surely? When spending over £400, the logical person will pay another £30 for a more powerful bit of kit, even if it is 6 months older.
 
ShowsOn said:
I think it is silly Apple left the SOC as the A10. not even the A11 or A12?

I know it is a budget device, by Apple's standards, but to leave the SOC as the same as in the iPhone 7 / 6th generation iPad is just weird.
Click to expand...
It’s truly bizarre. If it was £300 I could understand it but it’s not. Ok, 32gb is £349 but who on earth buys a 32gb these days? Hopefully the sales figures will show it up to be a shocker of a product.
 
dawesie1 said:
A10 when the iPhone is on A13? Why so far behind? Still touchid? Really, really?

Another year with my iPad Air 2, me thinks!
Click to expand...

Also it’s first gen Touch ID. I’m at least hoping it has 3 GB of RAM. When they stop supporting the iPhone 7, the iPad 6 and 7 will go along with it (if the 10.2 has 2 GB of RAM), which I don’t suspect it’ll be the typical 5 year cycle, but I could be and hoping to be wrong as the A9 is doing pretty dang well.

Shoot, even the A9X is slightly better than the A10, which would be cheaper for them to make. Or am I wrong?
 
Freakonomics101 said:
Also it’s first gen Touch ID. I’m at least hoping it has 3 GB of RAM. When they stop supporting the iPhone 7, the iPad 6 and 7 will go along with it (if the 10.2 has 2 GB of RAM), which I don’t suspect it’ll be the typical 5 year cycle, but I could be and hoping to be wrong as the A9 is doing pretty dang well.

Shoot, even the A9X is slightly better than the A10, which would be cheaper for them to make. Or am I wrong?
Click to expand...
I'm am not a chip guru, but here are my 2 cents:

A9X is 16 nm and 147 mm2.
A10 is 16 nm and 125 mm2.

If the process is the same, the more bigger die size usually means more expensive to manufacture. So A9X is more expensive to manufacture than A10.

Interestingly, A10X is only 96.4 mm2. However, it's built on a 10 nm process.
A12 is even smaller at 83.3 mm2, but built on a 7 nm process.

While size matters, so does process, with the smaller process often costing more, partially due to yield issues.
 
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EugW said:
I'm am not a chip guru, but here are my 2 cents:

A9X is 16 nm and 147 mm2.
A10 is 16 nm and 125 mm2.

If the process is the same, the more bigger die size usually means more expensive to manufacture. So A9X is more expensive to manufacture than A10.

Interestingly, A10X is only 96.4 mm2. However, it's built on a 10 nm process.
A12 is even smaller at 83.3 mm2, but built on a 7 nm process.

While size matters, so does process, with the smaller process often costing more, partially due to yield issues.
Click to expand...
Agree with this - A10 would be cheaper to make than the A9X just based on it being a smaller die on the same process.
Company's like Apple typically pay for chip manufacturing by the wafer, so the more chips you can fit on a wafer (i.e. a smaller chip means more chips per wafer) the cheaper the chip is. Wafer costs are generally higher for cutting edge processes, with costs going down over time as the process matures (partially due to yields improving as a process matures and partially due to chip manufactures such as TSMC charging a premium for cutting edge/smaller processes).
16 nm is very mature at this point, so it's likely a lot cheaper to use than either 10 nm (which both the A10x and A11 are built on) or 7 nm (A12, and A13 is built on a newer revision of 7 nm). It does get somewhat more complicated with A10X, A11 and A12 all being smaller die sizes than the A10, but I suspect A10 on the older process is still the cheapest to manufacture overall given the higher premium for 10 nm and 7 nm manufacturing.
 
Freakonomics101 said:
Also it’s first gen Touch ID. I’m at least hoping it has 3 GB of RAM. When they stop supporting the iPhone 7, the iPad 6 and 7 will go along with it (if the 10.2 has 2 GB of RAM), which I don’t suspect it’ll be the typical 5 year cycle, but I could be and hoping to be wrong as the A9 is doing pretty dang well.

Shoot, even the A9X is slightly better than the A10, which would be cheaper for them to make. Or am I wrong?
Click to expand...

Wow, that’s even worse. Touch ID itself is so yesterday, let alone first gen. I really do hope this iPad flops.
 
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