Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
A12Z Chip in iPad Pro Confirmed to Be Same As A12X, But With Extra GPU Core Enabled
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Quite. I bought a 3rd gen 12.9” from the Apple refurb store last week, and saved $500 (AU) over the 4th gen model.
Not if they did not represent it as functional.
Many chips have redundancy in the circuitry that can be selectively enabled at the die test stage to increase die yields.
Thank you!
Almost every electronic product is updated on a yearly or regular schedule. Dell releases new computers yearly... Samsung releases new TVs yearly, etc. It's just how it is.
But you are NOT expected to buy yearly.
Often we hear "I already bought last year's model... why would I buy this?"
And the answer is... you don't have to. It's not for you.
Companies don't release new products just for people who own last year's model. You're right... it's for people who have 2 or 3 year old devices... or who don't have the product at all.
To those people who already have the 2018 iPad Pro... congratulations! You have an amazing iPad! You don't have to buy the 2020 iPad Pro.
But to those who have an earlier model... or who don't have an iPad Pro at all... this might be the time to jump in.
Are you ever going to stop with this crap?
You caught my attention, would you care to elaborate? It sounds interesting to know more.
iPads and iPhones are like macs now. Minor updates every 1-1.5 years. Bigger leaps every 2-3. It’s a mature product category.
This is very standard practice in order to increase yields
[automerge]1586824968[/automerge]
the s5 chip is basically the same as series 4
the s6 will have an updated chip based on current (credible) rumour mill
[automerge]1586825080[/automerge]
yep. and of all the people who own a 2018 iPad Pro, the percentage of users who actually utilize the full power of the A12X are (very likely) in a minority
[automerge]1586825155[/automerge]
Thank you!
Almost every electronic product is updated on a yearly or regular schedule. Dell releases new computers yearly... Samsung releases new TVs yearly, etc. It's just how it is.
But you are NOT expected to buy yearly.
Often we hear "I already bought last year's model... why would I buy this?"
And the answer is... you don't have to. It's not for you.
Companies don't release new products just for people who own last year's model. You're right... it's for people who have 2 or 3 year old devices... or who don't have the product at all.
To those people who already have the 2018 iPad Pro... congratulations! You have an amazing iPad! You don't have to buy the 2020 iPad Pro.
But to those who have an earlier model... or who don't have an iPad Pro at all... this might be the time to jump in.
a lot of this annual treadmill stuff is spurned by the large and influential tech YouTube community, who make minor Geekbench scores seem like you need it to open Microsoft office a microsecond faster
Because they improved their yields and it allowed them to manufacture more CPUs that passed QA with all 8 GPU cores active than not, whereas before, they did not. This is old hat, a 5700XT simply passed validation for all CUs, AMD disables the cores that didn’t pass and sell it as the 5700.
the A11 and A12 are a much improved design over the A10. That fusion chip, for one thing, was effectively a dual core processor due to the design
Never mind the fact that the a11 and 12 are true multi core processors as well as their additional Neural functions and Management of thermals bringing some pretty significant contributions to apples mobile processor
And never mind that they are both much more powerful to begin with than the A10
the A10 is still a great chip but you are focusing on one very small element in a comparatively weaker processor with a weaker design
Apple: "Intel's milking their chips and releasing things slowly on purpose."
Also Apple: "So we're going to release the same chip from 2 years ago in a new model and just unlock a GPU core."
Also Apple: "So we're going to release the same chip from 2 years ago in a new model and just unlock a GPU core."
Folks around here are quite delusional to think the A Series is going to keep churning out major improvements. This dog is on its last legs. The next design will have to try and license technologies from AMD in the area of chiplet designs, and I doubt AMD will do that.
A-Series will have less dramatic improvements as is, and Intel is going to get blitzkrieg'd in September by Zen 3. Apple needs to move to AMD for significant performance improvements to increase Mac sales, period.
A-Series will have less dramatic improvements as is, and Intel is going to get blitzkrieg'd in September by Zen 3. Apple needs to move to AMD for significant performance improvements to increase Mac sales, period.
And all those points might mean something if A) the 2018 model wasn’t going to a healthy discount right now or B) you don’t already own a 2018 like me.
Ive been telling everyone that asks me to just pick up a 2018 Pro. None of the things you mention are worth the hundreds of dollars more for most people. Hell I use mine daily and I think I’ve used the built in rear camera maybe twice. ToF? Don’t care about AR as it’s just another gimmick. More RAM would be nice but it’s going to be a long time before Apple releases an OS that actually utilizes what the 2018 ships with, let alone the 2020 mode.
So, in other words, the A12Z is what the A12X should have been?
So basically this iPad exists so Apple could get LiDAR out before the new iPhones and the new keyboard was ready and they wanted it out before fall or spring 2021.
Pointless upgrade? Not if you want the improved rear camera which is now 2 cameras instead of 1 and they are wide angle. The 2018 rear camera was NOT wide angle. Also some people are really interested in augmented reality and measuring objects accurately and quickly which is where the lidar scanner comes in. Also don't forget the 2020 iPad has "studio" quality microphones vs the 2018 iPad having "regular" microphones. Lastly there's now that 8th GPU core unlocked which allows for slightly better graphics.
I know nothing groundbreaking. However, the 2020 iPad does have improvemnet even when compared to the 2018 iPad 1TB model that had 6GB of Ram.
Yeah, except Intel CPUs are generally things I'm looking at for laptops, desktops or servers. This is for a tablet device, where most apps don't even require anywhere near the CPU power they have available to them on ANY iteration of the iPad Pro. I still have the original iPad Pro over here and it's still running everything just fine that I want to use with it.
Yep. I bought a 2018 12.9 for myself to use with my 2017 10.5 two months ago from the refurb store. I also bought my wife a 2018 12.9 to replace her 2015 12.9. We don’t feel like we’re missing anything for what we use our iPads for.
No, its not the same because the label on the tin for the 2018 iPP did not say "8 cores" on it. They didn't even mention it anywhere for that matter.
Yes, but almost nobody needs to upgrade within one generation anyways. iPad Pros can last at least 3 or 4 years before needing to be replaced. My 10.5 inch pro is showing no sign of slowing down and it can do basically everything the 2018 or 2020 models can, with the exception of USB C.
Yep, I finally bit the bullet and replaced my aging iPad Air 2 with a discounted refurbed IPP 2018 model...