A12 Bionic in New iPad Paired With 3GB RAM, Clocks in at Same Speed as Latest iPhones

[rui no onna]

It's called learning from the past. That poorly performing 1Gb device was equipped the maximum RAM of *any* iOS device when it was released just 5 years ago. It performed extremely well at that point. You couldn't buy a better ipad (or tablet generally for that matter).

The next year, the iPad Air 2 doubled that RAM to 2Gb and iOS and its apps grew to fill it. You're talking about how current 2 or 3Gb ipads will perform for "many years to come" - in truth that iPad Air was struggling after one year. Although it still runs current iOS, it has for "many years" struggled with insufficient RAM.

1GB was already barely sufficient even when it was released.

I think the current scenario is more akin to the iPad Pro 9.7 having only 2GB. A lot of people blasted it for not having 4GB saying it'll quickly go obsolete. Sure there are some multi-tasking features that were omitted (which weren't particularly useful on the smaller display anyway) but performance-wise, it's actually still doing quite well.

 

[Dented]

1GB was already barely sufficient even when it was released.

I think the current scenario is more akin to the iPad Pro 9.7 having only 2GB. A lot of people blasted it for not having 4GB saying it'll quickly go obsolete. Sure there are some multi-tasking features that were omitted (which weren't particularly useful on the smaller display anyway) but performance-wise, it's actually still doing quite well.

The 9.7 Pro has had what, all of three updates so far, including one the first year it was released? The fact that it only lasted a year in the lineup doesn't bode well for its longevity.

 

[rui no onna]

Well, the iPhone 3G has only 128 Mb, However, even if you think 512 MB is the proper minimum for the era, that means RAM minimums now are still 4X as much as before.

BTW, I upgraded my 2008 MacBook, which is just our kitchen surfing and recipe machine, from 4 GB to 8 GB, and it made a noticeable improvement.

I had guessed that 4 GB would be fine and indeed it actually was fine but I was already used to an 8 GB 2009 MacBook Pro and “fine” wasn’t quite good enough. I made sure to get 16 GB for my 2017 MacBook.

On the Windows 7 and Windows 10 side, 4 GB is an enormous improvement over 3 GB.

On iOS, memory is managed differently but nonetheless Apple already thinks 4 GB is a useful configuration to have, and 4 GB being a 33% increase over 3 GB is nothing to sneeze at.

Windows is a memory hog to begin with. I build my own PCs and have installed 8GB base since 2010 (Nehalem) and switched to 16GB base around 2012/2013 (Ivy Bridge). Now we're at Windows 10 and I actually still find 8-16GB to be quite comfortable.

The original iPhone and the iPhone 3G had 128MB (which was woefully insufficient). The iPhone 3GS had 256MB. To be honest, I think 2GB/32GB should've already been base level for the iPad Air.

I'm quite familiar with how Apple skimps on RAM. All things considered, the current situation isn't as bad as it used to be.
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The 9.7 Pro has had what, all of three updates so far, including one the first year it was released? The fact that it only lasted a year in the lineup doesn't bode well for its longevity.

The 9.7 Pro is already 3 years old. I'd say it's already served its purpose and additional years of service is gravy. At the same age, the iPad 2 was already performing quite poorly.

I think I've said it before but the iPad Air 2 really was Apple's first longevity model.

 

[Refasin]

If it's the same A12 + (pseudo) 3 GB DRAM setup as in the XR, then it's NOT a true 3 GB DRAM device !

Specifically, the XR does NOT act like a true 3 GB DRAM device ! ... that has been proven !

However, many won't notice the issue since neither the new 10.5" Air or 7.9" mini include a 12 Mpx image sensor ... specifically here, for those who don't know, a sufficient amount of DRAM is required when capturing Full-Res 12 Mpx photos ... this is where most will notice the Diff between 2 GB vs 3 GB vs 4 GB.

Both of the new iPads include the same set of cameras, 8 Mpx on the Back, & 7 Mpx on the Front ... so, 3 GB is ok with both.

I believe AAPL learned from their XR mistake.

The XR would have been fine with 4 GB of DRAM, but is a Dog / Performance Lemon with it's current (pseudo) 3 GB DRAM setup.

Few in the General Public know this.

Could you please post a link or something that backsup what you write i would love more information

 

[realtuner]

It's called learning from the past.

The one thing I’ve learned from the past is that people have ALWAYS complained about there not being enough RAM in iOS devices and that those devices weren’t future-proof because of the lack of RAM. Yet none of those predictions has come true yet. Why do you think it will suddenly come true now?

Then we have Apple releasing iOS 12 which breathed new life back into older devices. It seems much more likely to me that future iOS versions will follow this trend with additional optimizations to ensure the latest version of iOS can continue to run properly in the widest range of devices.

 

[EugW]

The one thing I’ve learned from the past is that people have ALWAYS complained about there not being enough RAM in iOS devices and that those devices weren’t future-proof because of the lack of RAM. Yet none of those predictions has come true yet. Why do you think it will suddenly come true now?

My iPhone 5S was RAM starved even way back in 2015.

Yes it can run even the current version if iOS, but 1 GB on iOS 12 is just annoying. (Yes it's better than 1 GB on iOS 11, but it's still annoying. It's just less annoying.)

 

[Dented]

The 9.7 Pro is already 3 years old. I'd say it's already served its purpose and additional years of service is gravy. At the same age, the iPad 2 was already performing quite poorly.

It's just three years old (at the end of this month) and no, I don't think or expect three years of use to have "served its purpose" especially for a Pro model, and I doubt many other ipad users do either.

 

[JetTester]

Nice! I'm in.

 

[Dented]

The one thing I’ve learned from the past is that people have ALWAYS complained about there not being enough RAM in iOS devices and that those devices weren’t future-proof because of the lack of RAM. Yet none of those predictions has come true yet. Why do you think it will suddenly come true now?

Those predictions certainly came true with the first iPad, and with the iPad Air, and arguably some of the iPhones. Not sure what history you've been studying.

Then we have Apple releasing iOS 12 which breathed new life back into older devices. It seems much more likely to me that future iOS versions will follow this trend with additional optimizations to ensure the latest version of iOS can continue to run properly in the widest range of devices.

iOS 12 isn't the first version to focus on improving performance on older (and newer) devices, and those kinds of updates are always welcome, but they generally come after at least a couple of iOS generations which pile on the features and drag those older devices down. That will happen again, especially if we see more convergence in the near future between iOS and future ARM based Macs, and especially if - ironically - all the Neural based goodness you're imagining really gets unlocked and realised.

 

[I7guy]

Can people who think more than 3 GB of RAM is useless please explain why Apple put 4 GB in the XS?

Underspecced is obviously worse than overspecced. Overspecced means you’re paying for hardware not needed, underspecced your compromising your customers future satisfaction.

 

[rui no onna]

It's just three years old (at the end of this month) and no, I don't think or expect three years of use to have "served its purpose" especially for a Pro model, and I doubt many other ipad users do either.

At the time of Pro 9.7's release, 3 years was the best you could expect from iOS devices and by year 3, they would already be quite slow (often frustratingly so). Performance was one of the reasons I used to upgrade my phones every year.

I've been using iOS devices since the first iPhone and my experience on older models has been:
Year 1: good
Year 2: tolerable
Year 3: get rid of it

I know many people tout the iPad 2 as a longevity model but based on performance, I'd say we didn't really get any longevity models that performed very well by the time year 3 rolled around never mind past that until the iPad Air 2 came along. The Air 2 on iOS 11/12 isn't merely tolerable. It's (surprisingly) good so I don't think performance will devolve straight into unbearable territory in the next year or two. That means some leeway for other 2GB+ devices.

Besides, the 2019 iPad Air and mini are not Pro devices. They're mid-range with features cut to get to the desired pricing. Unfortunately, RAM was one of the casualties. More RAM is certainly better. I just don't see 3GB as being the unmitigated disaster that people make it seem.

Sure, between Pro 10.5 at ~$500 and iPad Air, I'd opt for the Pro. I expect we'll see $399 sales on the 2019 iPad Air during by the time the holidays roll around, though.

 

[Ringo_Ghou]

RAM should be a concern if you plan to use the iPad for a very long time. Apple weeds out old devices by RAM instead of SoC if you look back. They should at least make the new iPad Air 4gb and all the 2018 iPad Pros 6gb instead of only the 1Tb model.

I think the iPad Pro 10.5 is the one that people should get over the new Air at this moment.

 

[rui no onna]

RAM should be a concern if you plan to use the iPad for a very long time. Apple weeds out old devices by RAM instead of SoC if you look back. I think they should at least make the new iPad Air 4gb and all the 2018 iPad Pros 6gb instead of only the 1Tb model. I think the iPad Pro 10.5 is the one that people should get over the new Air at this moment.

• original iPhone: age (3G with same SoC and RAM got iOS 4)
• iPhone 3G: likely both
• iPhone 3GS: likely both
• iPhone 4: SoC
• iPhone 4S: SoC
• iPhone 5: SoC

• original iPad: RAM (3GS with 256MB still received firmware updates after OG iPad)
• iPad 2/3: SoC
• iPad 4: SoC

A7/1GB is still supported as of iOS 12 (granted, I certainly wouldn't enjoy using those).

 

[racerhomie]

not at this stage for an iPad. you still get some refreshing on the air 2

That’s due to A8X. Newer iOS A9 & newer have NVMe based storage , so they are much faster.

 

[rui no onna]

That’s due to A8X. Newer iOS A9 & newer have NVMe based storage , so they are much faster.

What's that got to do with frequency of refreshing? They might be faster at refreshing but they're still refreshing instead of keeping data in RAM.

 

[alpi123]

Woah, it's not like they share the same processor.

 

[ztw2002]

I rather not. It doesn’t make any sense. If you already have 10.5 Pro, fine. This new iPad won’t worth the upgrade but to say it’s better to pay $200-300 more for 10.5 Pro? No chance.

Sorry, I meant the 11 inch iPad Pro with 120 Hz display, face ID, slim bezel and pencil 2 support.

 

[HarryWild]

I don't get why they are differentiating products with ram. It's stupid iMHO

It is the amount of RAM that does both the future proofing of the mobile device as well as the major determinant of the mobile devices speed. The SoC is for most numerical and graphics computations like playing video games, doing complex math equations, etc... Apple has separate the graphics engine into a separate chip a few years ago to reduce the complexity of the chip design.
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The one thing I’ve learned from the past is that people have ALWAYS complained about there not being enough RAM in iOS devices and that those devices weren’t future-proof because of the lack of RAM. Yet none of those predictions has come true yet. Why do you think it will suddenly come true now?

Then we have Apple releasing iOS 12 which breathed new life back into older devices. It seems much more likely to me that future iOS versions will follow this trend with additional optimizations to ensure the latest version of iOS can continue to run properly in the widest range of devices.

The reason for the new life has to do with the EU government lawsuit against Apple. Apple promise as part of the settlement with EU to take out the barriers that slow the performance of their mobile devices!

 

[realtuner]

The reason for the new life has to do with the EU government lawsuit against Apple. Apple promise as part of the settlement with EU to take out the barriers that slow the performance of their mobile devices!

Say what? Going to need a source for that.

 

[matrix07]

Sorry, I meant the 11 inch iPad Pro with 120 Hz display, face ID, slim bezel and pencil 2 support.

Yeah to choose between the two is really hard. I like the price of the new Air but everything else just points to the Pro.

 

[mprime_17]

The A10X is slightly slower in CPU and slightly faster in GPU making them very similar. However, the A10X is missing one important feature the A12 has - an NPU. That’s going to make it better in the future than an extra gig of RAM.

Nah, they actually dont show any real advantage of that NPU besides camera. Heck, Apple hasnt even give developers an API to use the NPU on the A11 like they did with the A12, why?
Besides that, the NPU is just a way to accelerate -certain- stuff (not even all), meaning that you can actually do, whatever apple will intend to do, on the CPU or -preferable- GPU too. It would be slower yes, but you wont lose any extra functionality.

An extra gig on RAM will make everything more fluid in the future. An NPU will make some workloads faster, what kind of workloads? We dont even know!
Ill take that Gig anytime.

 

[EugW]

I posted this in a thread in the iPad forum, but I thought it'd be appropriate here too:

---

Wow! I got my 10.5" Pro today and it's all true:

1. Four speakers is great. However, it's also true I won't use them all that much because most of the time I use headphones. But, for the times I do want speakers, this is a nice bonus. Not only is the sound better, if sound gets blocked on one side, there is still clear sound on the other.

2. The camera is quite decent. I'm impressed. Basically the iPad Air 2's camera is just OK, but it's very nice on the 10.5" Pro. Having a flash is also a nice bonus.

3. I'm really, really liking ProMotion. There is much less interface lag when swiping across the screen, and scrolling in applications (esp. Safari) is way smoother. Instead of a blurry mess of text when fast scrolling MacRumors, it's very clear.

The iPad does feel noticeably faster than my iPad Air 2 as well, although I can't say the iPad Air 2 is slow. The iPad Air 2 is good minimum threshold for a decent 2019 iPad, but the iPad Pro 10.5 is just speedier. That should come as no surprise though since Geekbench 4 gives me about 4000/9600 on my iPad Pro (iPad7,3 with J207AP motherboard), as compared to about 1850/4525 on my iPad Air 2 (iPad 5,3 with J81AP motherboard). Not quite the psychological 10000 threshold I wanted to achieve with my next iPad, but close enough. And yes, I have my 4 GB RAM.

I'm going to have to check out the iPad Air in person just to see how much swiping and scrolling lag there is without ProMotion. Maybe it's a bit better than the iPad Air 2, I dunno, but without the 120 Hz support, it's likely still will be quite noticeable.

Price of my 64 GB WiFi iPad Pro 10.5 was CAD$619 refurb, which is approximately US$465.

BTW, the box I got was a nice white box. I don't remember my other refurbs like this. My last Apple refurb was many years ago, and it came in a non-descript brown box.

 

[KevinN206]

I’ve got an old iPhone 6S and it runs pretty damn good on iOS 12. You are aware the iPhone 6 Plus has only 1GB, right? Do you have the 6 Plus or did you misspell and actually have the 6S Plus?

Last years “budget” iPad had the A10 and 2GB of RAM, and although I haven’t tried it personally all the reviews say the performance is very good.

Now we have a new iPad with a much faster A12 and 50% more RAM and people are claiming it’s not enough?

Sorry, not buying it.

The iPad is a multitasking machine capable of now running Photoshop, two split-screen apps, and even a third if you watch a video with PiP. It needs more RAM than your phone because of these capabilities while driving more resolution pixels. The iPad Pro even runs at 120 Hz. Very resolution + 120 Hz take away memory that could be used for the apps. Apple has some of the highest margins on consumer electronics not by accident. They're stingy on RAM and starting storage.

IMO the iPad should be tiered like so:

iPad budget = 3 GB ($280)
iPad mid-range = 4 GB ($500)
iPad Pro = 6 GB ($800)
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Yet another useless feature Android users are always hyping up. I don’t need to watch some dinky little video in PIP on a phone screen nor do I want to cut my Apps in half just so I can see two at once.

I remember a forum here were people were bashing the split-screen of Windows tablets saying it's a useless gimmick. Yet, here we are today. Of course I don't use it daily, but it's there when I had used it before. Typically, watching a streaming sports game while browsing reddit or browser.

 

[HarryWild]

Say what? Going to need a source for that.

https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/28/technology/apple-battery-apology/index.html

“
"First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades," the post said.

Related: What to do if you think Apple's slowing down your phone

A year ago, some iPhone users reported their devices were shutting down unexpectedly even when they showed some battery power left. It wasn't caused by defective batteries, according to Apple, but normal issues with aging lithium ion batteries.

To address the issue, Apple included an update in iOS that would slow down a phone during peak processing events to prevent the battery from shutting off. It affected the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE. Apple later rolled out the same update for iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus devices. It did not tell customers how the update worked at the time.

Apple says users began reporting slower performance in the fall, when iOS 11 was released. The company said it first assumed it was caused by a "normal, temporary" lag caused by a new operating system update, and small bugs in the iOS.

"We now believe that another contributor to these user experiences is the continued chemical aging of the batteries in older iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s devices," said the company.

Apple calls its lithium ion batteries "consumable components" in the post, meaning they're meant to be replaced. But because of the iPhone's design, the process is not as simple as popping in a fresh battery.

To switch out a battery on an iPhone, you have to go to an Apple retailer or ship your phone to Apple. You can also use a third-party service or order a kit to do it yourself, though those options will void an existing warranty.

Upgrading to a new battery will clear up any slowdowns related to the update, said Apple.
“

 

[rui no onna]

Apple has some of the highest margins on consumer electronics not by accident. They're stingy on RAM and starting storage.

IMO the iPad should be tiered like so:

iPad budget = 3 GB ($280)
iPad mid-range = 4 GB ($500)
iPad Pro = 6 GB ($800)

Much as I'd like the same, that's just wishful thinking since, as you've mentioned, Apple's quite stingy when it comes to RAM and base storage.

Sadly, the reality is:

iPad entry level: 2GB ($330+)
iPad mid-range: 3GB ($500+)
iPad Pro: 4GB ($800+)
iPad Pro 1TB: 6GB ($1550+)