A12Z Chip in iPad Pro Confirmed to Be Same As A12X, But With Extra GPU Core Enabled

[IIGS User]

So, I bought an iPad Pro in the beginning of 2019 with the inclination that it would be "future proof".

Here we are. April 2020. It's here. THE FUTURE! When I bought this thing, I was certain that by now I would be either dead, a liver transplant recipient, on disability at best if I survived heart and liver surgery.

Right now. I'm sitting (at my desk, at work) with my service weapon on my hip (I have a job where I have to carry a gun. Trust me, after 20 years, it gets old. And the physical training associated with it isn't as easy as it was when I was in my 30's). My heart surgery done with a cutting edge procedure that was a rousing success, and my liver sufficiently recovered that I no longer qualify for a transplant.

Shiet. I did yard work this weekend. I'm not talking riding the tractor in circles yard work. I got out the pruning pole and chainsaw.

Only thing that happened as planned is my iPad Pro 2018 was INDEED future proof. If the person who was designated in my will to get this thing knew they were supposed to get it if I died knew, they would be dissapointed I was alive. Sort of.

If Apple had re vamped the entire thing and made it so it could re boot life as we know it, drag the stars down from heaven, and unlock the mysteries of time travel. People would bitch their 2018 iPad pro was a waste of money.......

 

[Bandaman]

So everyone is okay that it’s not based on A13 architecture?

 

[cmaier]

So everyone is okay that it’s not based on A13 architecture?

Never had a situation where I was using my ipad, and I couldn’t get something done, and i was like ”man, stupid ipad can‘t complete this task, or is too slow, because it doesn‘t have an A13 architecture”

 

[Bandaman]

Never had a situation where I was using my ipad, and I couldn’t get something done, and i was like ”man, stupid ipad can‘t complete this task, or is too slow, because it doesn‘t have an A13 architecture”

Brilliant.

 

[chucker23n1]

I can't see anything making the 4th gen "so much better" except RAM. The A12Z has an extra core, yes, does that translate to a massive speed increase? No.
The 4th gen is absolutely an update, but not a great one, by any means.

I think OP was calling the 2018 model 4th-gen, and the 2020 model 5th-gen.

They shouldn't have, because Apple doesn't agree with that naming. There were releases in September 2015, March 2016, June 2017, October 2018, and March 2020, but the March 2016 one only added the 9.7 model (which had some unique features like TrueTone), so Apple doesn't count that one as its own gen.

 

[Zdigital2015]

So everyone is okay that it’s not based on A13 architecture?

Yes...except for you, who seems to be having an apoplectic reaction.

TSMC and Samsung have seemingly vaulted to 5nm quickly and I think Apple wants to capitalize on it, which means that spending time on an A13X is unproductive and unprofitable versus going all in on getting the A14 and A14X completed and into production. The A12X was a beast and after whatever minor refinements got us to the A12Z, the race to the A14 finish line is way more important than the time to come up with an A13X

You’re fixating on something that is really inconsequential. The 2018 iPad Pro is still way ahead on the power curve relative to where iPadOS is in terms of features to take advantage of the A12X/Z CPU.

 

[Bandaman]

Yes...except for you, who seems to be having an apoplectic reaction.

TSMC and Samsung have seemingly vaulted to 5nm quickly and I think Apple wants to capitalize on it, which means that spending time on an A13X is unproductive and unprofitable versus going all in on getting the A14 and A14X completed and into production. The A12X was a beast and after whatever minor refinements got us to the A12Z, the race to the A14 finish line is way more important than the time to come up with an A13X

You’re fixating on something that is really inconsequential. The 2018 iPad Pro is still way ahead on the power curve relative to where iPadOS is in terms of features to take advantage of the A12X/Z CPU.

Pretty sure I'm not the only one, but thanks.

 

[chucker23n1]

Never had a situation where I was using my ipad, and I couldn’t get something done, and i was like ”man, stupid ipad can‘t complete this task, or is too slow, because it doesn‘t have an A13 architecture”

Speak for yourself. The other day, I did a swipe gesture, and it took 0.1 seconds longer than it should have, and I threw the garbage out of the window. This wouldn't have happened with A13.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Pretty sure I'm not the only one, but thanks.

You and like 5 others.

You’re welcome!

 

[Bandaman]

You and like 5 others.

You’re welcome!

If you like paying for mediocre spec bumps after two years, more power to you.

 

[Zdigital2015]

If you like paying for mediocre spec bumps after two years, more power to you.

Again, you seem to have trouble with dates and time. The 2018 iPad Pro came out October 30, 2018. On sale right after that, so 17 months the 2018 iPad Pro was on sale.

As other have said, if 50% more DRAM across all storage sizes, doubling the base storage, adding a second camera lens, LiDAR, better microphones, etc is simply mediocre to you, then your expectations need to be tempered by reality. Not just you, but quite a few others who want everything to change with every single new model and then moms in because everything changed and now your previous accessories and such no longer work. I have never seen such a bunch of people who say they want change and then when change occurs, they whiff on it and whine like little girls that Apple went too far.

Last thing, with all the crap CPU updates Intel has been putting out over the past 8 years, I’ve had to accept mediocre...but it sure hasn’t been from Apple.

 

[Bandaman]

Again, you seem to have trouble with dates and time. The 2018 iPad Pro came out October 30, 2018. On sale right after that, so 17 months the 2018 iPad Pro was on sale.

As other have said, if 50% more DRAM across all storage sizes, doubling the base storage, adding a second camera lens, LiDAR, better microphones, etc is simply mediocre to you, then your expectations need to be tempered by reality. Not just you, but quite a few others who want everything to change with every single new model and then moms in because everything changed and now your previous accessories and such no longer work. I have never seen such a bunch of people who say they want change and then when change occurs, they whiff on it and whine like little girls that Apple went too far.

Last thing, with all the crap CPU updates Intel has been putting out over the past 8 years, I’ve had to accept mediocre...but it sure hasn’t been from Apple.

And again you’re okay with mediocre spec bumps.

 

[Zdigital2015]

And again you’re play with mediocre spec bumps.

And all you’ll ever end up doing is chasing the wind. Good Luck.

 

[Bandaman]

And all you’ll ever end up doing is chasing the wind. Good Luck.

Sure. Let’s go with that.

 

[FlyingDutch]

The chip in early 2020 IPP is brand new but it is almost same as A12X that some people are right to infer as an old SoC from 2018.

Nope, it still is wrong.
The SoC is brand new and it is different from the previous ( you have an additional gpu core).
You can argue that it is a very small incremental upgrade, and I agree 100% with you on that ( I own a 2018 iPP and not going to upgrade), but the new iPad Pro doesn’t use a “two years old SoC” (not to mention it didn’t even exists two years ago)
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If you like paying for mediocre spec bumps after two years, more power to you.

You still speaking about two years... I don’t think you need an iPad Pro for basic maths

 

[chucker23n1]

Sure. Let’s go with that.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill here.

 

[PickUrPoison]

I think OP was calling the 2018 model 4th-gen, and the 2020 model 5th-gen.

They shouldn't have, because Apple doesn't agree with that naming. There were releases in September 2015, March 2016, June 2017, October 2018, and March 2020, but the March 2016 one only added the 9.7 model (which had some unique features like TrueTone), so Apple doesn't count that one as its own gen.

No, I was calling this 2020 4th gen. I’m saying it’s “so much better” than 2018’s third gen (because of all the various improvements) compared to how the next (5th) gen improvements will be to this one.

With this 4th gen, we got meaningful improvements—lower prices at all SSD capacities, 6GB vs 4GB RAM, new dual camera, new LiDAR scanner and WiFi 6. Also a couple less meaningful throw-ins like A12Z, more and better microphones and (supposedly) better thermal management.

What are we rumored to be getting in the 5th gen? A better processor that almost no one needs, and a better display that almost no one really needs (and with possibly a higher price tag).

In short, 3rd to 4th is very possibly a better overall upgrade than will be 4th to 5th.

If people complain this much about better prices, more RAM, more cameras, new sensors etc. they’re going to go through the roof with just a better SoC and display, both of which they may have trouble even noticing 🤷‍♂️

 

[Bandaman]

You're making a mountain out of a molehill here.

You’re making a molehill out of a mountain.

 

[chucker23n1]

You’re making a molehill out of a mountain.

Indulge us. Why is the 2020 iPad Pro not having an A13X a huge deal?

 

[Bandaman]

Indulge us. Why is the 2020 iPad Pro not having an A13X a huge deal?

Please indulge us why you're content with the 2020 iPad Pro not having the same architecture as last year's iPhone? The A14 is going to be out this year. How is this okay?

 

[chucker23n1]

Please indulge us why you're content with the 2020 iPad Pro not having the same architecture as last year's iPhone? The A14 is going to be out this year. How is this okay?

Because the 2018 iPad Pro was already plenty powerful. Because iPads Pro were never on an annual cycle to begin with. Because one alternative would have been no 2020 model at all, in which case we'd have the same CPU anyway.

Yeah, there's a possible alternate timeline with a 2020 iPad Pro with an A14X, but at that point, there's a whole lot of things to discuss. Why is HomePod on an A8? Why is Apple TV 4K on an A10X? Why is there no 13-inch MacBook Pro with Comet Lake-U?

Answer: because Apple doesn't synchronize their annual hardware schedules like that at all, and never has.

 

[Abazigal]

Please indulge us why you're content with the 2020 iPad Pro not having the same architecture as last year's iPhone? The A14 is going to be out this year. How is this okay?

The 12X is still faster than the A13 in benchmarks.

If you are bemoaning the absence of a A13X chip, I guess that yeah, given a choice of A12Z or A13x, I would opt for the latter, but as was mentioned above, Apple is likely working on the A14X chip right now even as we speak, and so they decided to give the A13x a miss because it simply wasn't worth the time to develop a chip that would just be outdated in a few months.

Besides, this isn't like the A5x situation unlike the iPad 3, the A12X is still powerful enough to handle anything you throw at your iPad Pro, but now and in the near foreseeable future.

It is what it is.

 

[Wolfpup]

I think the Pentium 2 (that's the one before Pentium 3 before Pentium 4 before Core before Core2 before Core2 Duo which was in the 2006 MacBook) came in variants with and without FPU. They were built identically. If the FPU passed testing, it became Pentium 2 with FPU, otherwise it became Pentium 2 without FPU.

I think the last Intel CPU that could be purchased without an FPU was the 486. Pentium 1 in 1993 definitely never had a variant without one.

but he larger point is that this is SUPER common among CPUs and GPUs, with various coaches and compute units disabled and sold as different parts to increase yield.

[/QUOTE]

So everyone is okay that it’s not based on A13 architecture?

I’m not. These things are crazy expensive, and Apple so far has never supported a CPU more than 6 years from it’s first use. I care more about that than I do about the missing performance from not having an A13x, though for this much money I'd prefer it for the performance too.

Seems weird to go a year and a half and just get a stopgap basically the same thing again.

I’m still unsure what ipad I’d buy....base one is running an almost 4 year old cpu that might be dead as early as next fall. Air is pricy and meh. Pro is nice hardware but costs a fortune. Lightning jack is super unreliable, but I don’t know if apple’s implementation of usb is any better on the pro. Mini is pretty good now too, but I’m not sure I could go from 9.7” to 7.9 or not.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Please indulge us why you're content with the 2020 iPad Pro not having the same architecture as last year's iPhone? The A14 is going to be out this year. How is this okay?

You want an iPad Pro with A13X instead of A12Z. Why? What is the value of that? What would have been the relative value of an SoC we didn’t get, compared to the value of all the upgrades that we did get?

Some people keep saying the next model (2021) is going to be the one to get. But the only upgrade we might see is A14X—nothing else.

I can only imagine the bitching and moaning there will be here if that’s what comes to pass. No additional camera. No new LiDAR sensor. No increase in WiFi speeds. No RAM bump. No base storage bump. No across the board price decreases. Nothing like the feature upgrades we just got—which wasn’t enough for some.

But you’ll get an A14X 🤷‍♂️

At some point, people will realize a one-generation CPU upgrade is no big deal. And that the big upgrade of iPad was last month’s 3rd gen to 4th, not next year’s 4th to 5th.

 

[Bandaman]

You want an iPad Pro with A13X instead of A12Z. Why? What is the value of that? What would have been the relative value of an SoC we didn’t get, compared to the value of all the upgrades that we did get?

Some people keep saying the next model (2021) is going to be the one to get. But the only upgrade we might see is A14X—nothing else.

I can only imagine the bitching and moaning there will be here if that’s what comes to pass. No additional camera. No new LiDAR sensor. No increase in WiFi speeds. No RAM bump. No base storage bump. No across the board price decreases. Nothing like the feature upgrades we just got—which wasn’t enough for some.

But you’ll get an A14X 🤷‍♂️

At some point, people will realize a one-generation CPU upgrade is no big deal. And that the big upgrade of iPad was last month’s 3rd gen to 4th, not next year’s 4th to 5th.

You seem to prefer seeing all the words you can type on the screen over having an actual discussion.