iPad Pro A12X Chip even Powerful than the A13 Chip ? Really ?

[augustya]

Hi Guys,

I have spent last 2 years since the October-2018 when the 3rd generation iPad Pro were released I have spent these years hearing this legendary story going all over the Internet that well the 2018 iPad Pro are really beast as a machine, with the Hardware that they have inside them. But me as a Layman, I am yet to come across a real life example which I can feel, see and measure as in how is this Powerful hardware helping in day to day tasks. Because otherwise a common man really does not know a hell of what these so called Tech Gurus keep saying that the iPad Pro are beast with the hardware inside it.

Now this guy a YouTuber has gone even further and said that the A12X chip inside the 2018 iPad Pro is even powerful than the A13 chipused in the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. I don’t have any freakin idea what does that mean to a layman. As in what sense is it powerful. I am yet to come across any examples which can make me feel, see and believe so any of you guys know of any such thing which I can measure please let me know. He also shared this data in his Video.

Link to the Video

 

[ericwn]

Hi Guys,

I have spent last 2 years since the October-2018 when the 3rd generation iPad Pro were released I have spent these years hearing this legendary story going all over the Internet that well the 2018 iPad Pro are really beast as a machine, with the Hardware that they have inside them. But me as a Layman, I am yet to come across a real life example which I can feel, see and measure as in how is this Powerful hardware helping in day to day tasks. Because otherwise a common man really does not know a hell of what these so called Tech Gurus keep saying that the iPad Pro are beast with the hardware inside it.

Now this guy a YouTuber has gone even further and said that the A12X chip inside the 2018 iPad Pro is even powerful than the A13 chipused in the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. I don’t have any freakin idea what does that mean to a layman. As in what sense is it powerful. I am yet to come across any examples which can make me feel, see and believe so any of you guys know of any such thing which I can measure please let me know. He also shared this data in his Video.

Link to the Video

I also have no idea how to really push the hardware to see a noticeable difference and as the guy in your link mentions a few times himself the software in most instances isn’t demanding for the hardware anyway.

Not that he would do anything other than summarise the rumors from this site anyway.

 

[augustya]

I also have no idea how to really push the hardware to see a noticeable difference and as the guy in your link mentions a few times himself the software in most instances isn’t demanding for the hardware anyway.

Not that he would do anything other than summarise the rumors from this site anyway.

Yes but apart from simulating an example. How much is the chart that he has posted giving a reference from other tech site, how much is that to be believed ?

 

[AutomaticApple]

Hi Guys,

I have spent last 2 years since the October-2018 when the 3rd generation iPad Pro were released I have spent these years hearing this legendary story going all over the Internet that well the 2018 iPad Pro are really beast as a machine, with the Hardware that they have inside them. But me as a Layman, I am yet to come across a real life example which I can feel, see and measure as in how is this Powerful hardware helping in day to day tasks. Because otherwise a common man really does not know a hell of what these so called Tech Gurus keep saying that the iPad Pro are beast with the hardware inside it.

Now this guy a YouTuber has gone even further and said that the A12X chip inside the 2018 iPad Pro is even powerful than the A13 chipused in the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max. I don’t have any freakin idea what does that mean to a layman. As in what sense is it powerful. I am yet to come across any examples which can make me feel, see and believe so any of you guys know of any such thing which I can measure please let me know. He also shared this data in his Video.

Link to the Video

Doesn't the A13 have a more powerful CPU?

 

[augustya]

Doesn't the A13 have a more powerful CPU?

Ok ! So how does it help over other things ? I am looking for e.g. which would clearly define that X things can be done with the iPad Pro which cannot be done by others !

 

[motulist]

You've never done heavy graphics work then. I often have to wait for my iPad 10.5 to finish doing tasks.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

When it comes to the things most users do with their computing devices (web browsing, email, messaging, media consumption), CPUs have been more than capable of executing those tasks without being overtaxed, for many years.

The new/improved capabilities of the "latest and greatest" CPUs tend to be dedicated to newer tasks, like AI and AR (on all platforms) and "computational photography" (primarily on iPhone).

Computational photography on iPhone includes features like Portrait Mode and Night Mode, improved facial recognition, as well as the automatically-created Memories slideshows. (iPad also has a camera, of course, but it doesn't come with the dual- or triple-lens configurations available in iPhone that are a critical part of many computational photography techniques.)

iPad has been pushing the traditional iPad "envelope" lately, especially in productivity (working in split screen, etc.) and creativity apps - drawing, video and image editing, etc.

The promoted benefits of the A13 tend to focus (so to speak) on computational photography. It's not clear to me whether it significantly improves on the capabilities of the A12X when it comes to the tasks performed with iPad Pro.

Regardless, the CPU is just one part of a computing device. The tasks we ask of it, the software we run, the degree to which which the software and OS are optimized to the capabilities of the CPU, GPU, RAM, data storage, etc., and the data we process are what determines whether the CPU (and the rest of the device) is adequate to the task.

So yes, as a layman, you're probably asking far less of your iPad than it's capable of. That tends to be the way things are. As with most things in life, far less than 10% of the population is likely to push the limits (whatever those limits happen to be). While it may be satisfying to know we have the money/good taste/whatever to own a "beast of a machine," it probably doesn't matter whether we own the biggest beast or the third-biggest beast. Either beast is likely to be more than we need.

 

[augustya]

You've never done heavy graphics work then. I often have to wait for my iPad 10.5 to finish doing tasks.

No I haven't !

 

[HappyIntro]

Doesn't the A13 have a more powerful CPU?

My limited understanding of the differences are that the "X" processors have a more powerful built-in GPU and tend to be clocked a bit higher than non-X processors. This may mean that an A12X may outperform an A13 for most tasks.

 

[ericwn]

You've never done heavy graphics work then. I often have to wait for my iPad 10.5 to finish doing tasks.

That’s interesting, can you elaborate a bit more on what you do specifically? Cheers!

 

[Falhófnir]

My limited understanding of the differences are that the "X" processors have a more powerful built-in GPU and tend to be clocked a bit higher than non-X processors. This may mean that an A12X may outperform an A13 for most tasks.

Nominally since the A10-A10X and A12-A12X the higher clock isn't even the case any more (this is how powerful phone CPUs have become!) though the X chips do have a higher TDP which allows them to run closer to that rated clock on a more sustained basis (it steps down as more cores are activated). Interestingly it seems the A13 is actually efficient enough it can peak at up to 6W, which is inching closer to iPads traditional ~7W TDP.

 

[HappyIntro]

Nominally since the A10-A10X and A12-A12X the higher clock isn't even the case any more (this is how powerful phone CPUs have become!) though the X chips do have a higher TDP which allows them to run closer to that rated clock on a more sustained basis (it steps down as more cores are activated). Interestingly it seems the A13 is actually efficient enough it can peak at up to 6W, which is inching closer to iPads traditional ~7W TDP.

Interesting info, thanks. It amazes me what kind of power they can fit into an iPhone.

 

[Digitalguy]

A13 is slightly faster than A12X in single core and quite a bit slower than A12X in multi-core... What normal people do on ipads is mainly single core... So A13 will feel slightly faster or the same is it's ever put in an ipad. You will only see the additional multi-core speed in apps that can take advantage of it, like lumafusion when rendering, or in benchmarks. Browsing, opening apps etc. is mainly single core... In multi-core tasks no chip is faster than A12x in IOS or Android so far.

 

[muzzy996]

That’s interesting, can you elaborate a bit more on what you do specifically? Cheers!

Page renders while panning into zoomed pages of PDFs based upon vector graphics for example. I sometimes have to wait for a portion of a page to render when i'm reviewing my civil engineering PDFs where there is a lot of vector data (think large topographic maps with many contour lines and designs overlain on top of them). I tried working with the support folks at PDF Expert by giving them samples of my files, their conclusion was that my files were just too complex to work efficiently in their app. Other apps performed similarly, just to varying degrees. I'm sure if I upgrade from a Gen 2 IPP to a Gen 3 I'll see a performance bump but I doubt that the issue will go away altogether.

 

[motulist]

That’s interesting, can you elaborate a bit more on what you do specifically? Cheers!

Vector drawing using apps like Affinity Designer and ArcSite. For example if I select a few hundred lines and move them I have to wait several seconds for it to actually complete the move. Depending on what I'm working on I may have to sit through these delays after every single thing I do, one after another after another. It's not the end of the world, but it's annoying and slows down my work a lot.

 

[ericwn]

Thanks to you both for sharing your real world experience!

 

[motulist]

I'm sure if I upgrade from a Gen 2 IPP to a Gen 3 I'll see a performance bump but I doubt that the issue will go away altogether.

You're very correct. I was on 9.7 ipp and my vector drawing actions often took a lonnng time to complete. When the 10.5 came out Apple advertised it as being like "44% percent faster than the previous iPad Pro!!!" Naw, not even close. Not even remotely. The new iPad completed the same tasks slightly faster, but really only slightly. Like instead of taking 60 seconds it would now take 56 seconds. Don't let Apple fool you, the newer hardware is faster, but not by terribly much.

Over the years the vector software I use got more and more efficient, and THAT made a very big difference. For years I've been on the same iPad running the same OS version, but as the drawing app got newer and newer versions the duration of wait-times shank dramatically. Maybe there's a different app you can find that does what you need but does it more efficiently.

EDIT:
If you think a bit outside the box you might find more efficient software. For instance check out some vector drawing apps like Affinity Designer. It's meant for drawing but can import PDFs as well.

 

[rui no onna]

You're very correct. I was on 9.7 ipp and my vector drawing actions often took a lonnng time to complete. When the 10.5 came out Apple advertised it as being like "44% percent faster than the previous iPad Pro!!!" Naw, not even close. Not even remotely. The new iPad completed the same tasks slightly faster, but really only slightly. Like instead of taking 60 seconds it would now take 56 seconds. Don't let Apple fool you, the newer hardware is faster, but not by terribly much.

That's interesting. I'd expect that behavior from something that may be bottlenecked by storage. Would've expected a more pronounced improvement from tasks that are CPU or GPU bound.

 

[jerwin]

My limited understanding of the differences are that the "X" processors have a more powerful built-in GPU and tend to be clocked a bit higher than non-X processors. This may mean that an A12X may outperform an A13 for most tasks.

A12: 6.9 billion transistors
A12X: 10 billion transistors
A13: 8.5 billion transistors.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/A12X-...vs-A13-Bionic_10881_10166_11496.247596.0.html

More transistors can mean more processing units, more cache, more stream processors, etc. And generally, greater power demands-- which the ipad's larger battery can easily handle.

 

[augustya]

A12: 6.9 billion transistors
A12X: 10 billion transistors
A13: 8.5 billion transistors.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/A12X-...vs-A13-Bionic_10881_10166_11496.247596.0.html

More transistors can mean more processing units, more cache, more stream processors, etc. And generally, greater power demands-- which the ipad's larger battery can easily handle.

So does this means the 2018 iPad Pro is more Powerful than even the 2019 iPhone 11, Pro, and Pro Max ? 👏 ✊ 💪

 

[rui no onna]

So does this means the 2018 iPad Pro is more Powerful than even the 2019 iPhone 11, Pro, and Pro Max ? 👏 ✊ 💪

Depends on the task.

 

[augustya]

Depends on the task.

How about Complicated Multi Tasking, Like 3 APPS open at the same time, Music Playing in one APP (Floating Window/APP), Photo Editing going in One APP, and Web Browsing or Mail in other (Both running side by side in Split Screen ) ?

 

[throAU]

Apple has slowed down on performance improvements in recent years (they're still making great strides vs. everyone else though) but the A--X processors are beasts vs. whatever is in the iphone of that year.

Unless you're doing some task with a new dedicated processing unit on the more recent A-- CPU, the A--X from last year is likely faster due to brute force.

the ipad has a lot more battery and heat dissipation capacity than an iphone to work with.

edit:
see transistor counts above. newer is better, but comparing across different form factors (ipad vs. iphone) things change. The ipad pro units are proper monster chips for mobile, they give mobile i7s in 14-15" machines a run for their money these days.

 

[RoboWarriorSr]

The A12X contain two additional Vertex cores meaning it has two more high performance cores allowing for greater multitasking abilities. In addition, the iPad Pro A12X has been measured to use up to 15 watts of power significantly greater than any phone and inching close to what notebook tend to use. This means A12X is able to throttle less in terms of power usage and has the cooling to dissipate that amount of heat. On top of that, it uses Apple’s custom 7 core GPU which is still more powerful than the 4 core GPU on the A13 and even the large 12 core GPU on the A10X which is slightly more powerful than the A13‘s GPU. Take that as you will.

 

[throAU]

How about Complicated Multi Tasking, Like 3 APPS open at the same time, Music Playing in one APP (Floating Window/APP), Photo Editing going in One APP, and Web Browsing or Mail in other (Both running side by side in Split Screen ) ?

Depends what the apps are doing. the ipad processors have dedicate hardware for things like video encode/decode, encryption, etc.

however if the app running makes use of new hardware acceleration units in the newer phone that did not exist in the ipad pro at the time (e.g., MAYBE the new photo processing stuff for night mode or whatever), then that may give the phone the edge. for that specific task.