iPad A8x

[MartinAppleGuy]

With leaked images showcasing an A8X CPU for the iPad Air 2, what do you expect to be different? 2GB of RAM? A higher clock speed? 6 core GPU?

I suspect it will be all of the above, with the clock speed being either 1.5Ghz to 1.7Ghz.

All just guesswork, but I am at least hoping for 2GB of RAM.

 

[Rodster]

A8X means stay the hell away, take it from an A5X customer. It could me Apple decides to up the resolution on the next gen Air and performance could match the current Air. If they do up the resolution 3X as rumored i'll wait for two hardware update cycles.

 

[Menel]

With leaked images showcasing an A8X CPU for the iPad Air 2, what do you expect to be different? 2GB of RAM? A higher clock speed? 6 core GPU?

I suspect it will be all of the above, with the clock speed being either 1.5Ghz to 1.7Ghz.

All just guesswork, but I am at least hoping for 2GB of RAM.

2GB, and 6core very possible.
A clock speed bump wouldnt be necessary.

 

[Traverse]

A8X means stay the hell away, take it from an A5X customer. It could me Apple decides to up the resolution on the next gen Air and performance could match the current Air. If they do up the resolution 3X as rumored i'll wait for two hardware update cycles.

I don't know how accurate this is. The SoC has come a long way. What will impact performance more than the chip is if any scaling is introduced.

 

[Rodster]

I don't know how accurate this is. The SoC has come a long way. What will impact performance more than the chip is if any scaling is introduced.

It's not really a hardware issue but more so software as was the case with the iPad 3. It was a marginal performing device and with further OS upgrades it impacted performance. The iPad 2 handles iOS 7 much better than an iPad 3.

 

[Count Blah]

Up the DPI, and still keep the measly 1Gig of RAM - Pretty Please.


I could use the year long laugh.

 

[TheDeviceUser]

It's not really a hardware issue but more so software as was the case with the iPad 3. It was a marginal performing device and with further OS upgrades it impacted performance. The iPad 2 handles iOS 7 much better than an iPad 3.

Yes, I agree. The iPad 3 ran iOS 5 & iOS 6 pretty seamlessly, I never thought 'Oh god this is so slow' until I upgraded it to iOS 7. 7.1 made big improvements and 8 has killed it again. Hence, why I'll be upgrading to The new iPad Air in less than two weeks time.

Also, I don't think the fact we have an A8X will be a huge problem. As people have said, chips have come a long way, and remember, this is a 50% jump in the CPU + the extra 'X' graphics. If Apple was only putting in an A7X (Like they did with the iPad 3 where they didn't upgrade the CPU), then I would be worried. However, I'm not! It'll run absolutely fine and I doubt Apple will upgrade the PPI to 400+. I think it'll go to the 326 of the iPhone 6.

----------

Up the DPI, and still keep the measly 1Gig of RAM - Pretty Please.


I could use the year long laugh.

I'm fairly certain now that The new iPad Air will come with 2GB RAM. However, this will be a feature which Apple won't announce at the event.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Yes, I agree. The iPad 3 ran iOS 5 & iOS 6 pretty seamlessly, I never thought 'Oh god this is so slow' until I upgraded it to iOS 7. 7.1 made big improvements and 8 has killed it again. Hence, why I'll be upgrading to The new iPad Air in less than two weeks time.

Also, I don't think the fact we have an A8X will be a huge problem. As people have said, chips have come a long way, and remember, this is a 50% jump in the CPU + the extra 'X' graphics. If Apple was only putting in an A7X (Like they did with the iPad 3 where they didn't upgrade the CPU), then I would be worried. However, I'm not! It'll run absolutely fine and I doubt Apple will upgrade the PPI to 400+. I think it'll go to the 326 of the iPhone 6.

----------



I'm fairly certain now that The new iPad Air will come with 2GB RAM. However, this will be a feature which Apple won't announce at the event.

I agree, we will all have to wait for AnandTech's review for the confirmation haha

 

[SHirsch999]

A8X means stay the hell away, take it from an A5X customer. It could me Apple decides to up the resolution on the next gen Air and performance could match the current Air. If they do up the resolution 3X as rumored i'll wait for two hardware update cycles.

The A6X in the iPad 4 was, and still is, an excellent chip. The A5X chip was a variant on the chip used in the iPad 2. It had no business trying to adequately power a retina display. I have no fear and no reason to avoid an A8X chip, and am eagerly looking forward to using it.

 

[TheDeviceUser]

The A6X in the iPad 4 was, and still is, an excellent chip. The A5X chip was a variant on the chip used in the iPad 2. It had no business trying to adequately power a retina display. I have no fear and no reason to avoid an A8X chip, and am eagerly looking forward to using it.

I agree. If Apple had only been adding a variant of the A7, e.g an A7X, then i'd be concerned, but with this chip you are getting the extra power of the A8's 50% faster graphics + potentially quad or 6 core graphics. That could lead to a 150% GPU increase over the A7. There is nothing to worry about.

 

[betabeta]

Why did that board have to be for the Air? Maybe it's for the iPad plus/pro. Was there anything proving the board was for the Air?

 

[TheDeviceUser]

Why did that board have to be for the Air? Maybe it's for the iPad plus/pro. Was there anything proving the board was for the Air?

Possible. But judging by the fact we've seen virtually no part leaks for the iPad Plus/Pro, and the general consensus is that it probably won't be announced at this event, I would say it's unlikely to be for the iPad Pro/Plus. Also, an A8X has been rumoured for a while for the new iPad Air, especially with the rumours Apple would be including a Retina HD Display.

 

[magicMac]

the A6X was a very capable chip so no reason to dismiss all A*X chips. The A5X chip was designed for the retina iPad 3 (A5X) to match the graphics performance of the non-retina iPad 2 (A5) despite the higher screen resolution..

 

[dlewis23]

I doubt Apple will upgrade the PPI to 400+. I think it'll go to the 326 of the iPhone 6.

If they go to @3x it will go to 396 PPI.

 

[Bathplug]

I'll pass. Regretfully bought the iPad 3 which got an x chip for the retina display.

 

[mabaker]

I think they should actually go retro and cut the RAM to 256 MB. The X in A8X would then symbolise a cutting through the boundless expectations of MacRumors posters.

 

[iMacmatician]

With leaked images showcasing an A8X CPU for the iPad Air 2, what do you expect to be different? 2GB of RAM? A higher clock speed? 6 core GPU?

2 GB RAM
PowerVR GX6650
Probably ~10% higher clocks compared to the A8

 

[Count Blah]

I'll pass. Regretfully bought the iPad 3 which got an x chip for the retina display.

The A6X of the iPad 4 is pretty darn good. So it's not a 100% given to be a dud.

 

[Bathplug]

The A6X of the iPad 4 is pretty darn good. So it's not a 100% given to be a dud.

I know but the a6x was enough for the current retina display. The a5x wasn't. If the new iPad air has a new retina hd display as some rumours suggest. Then I'd rather pass on this upgrade instead of finding out the device feels slow within a year.

 

[betabeta]

Possible. But judging by the fact we've seen virtually no part leaks for the iPad Plus/Pro, and the general consensus is that it probably won't be announced at this event, I would say it's unlikely to be for the iPad Pro/Plus. Also, an A8X has been rumoured for a while for the new iPad Air, especially with the rumours Apple would be including a Retina HD Display.

That's the interesting thing, we didn't really see any leaked parts for the 5.5 iphone, and we had the same rumor that the 5.5 would slip to next year and bingo we got the plus. So now we don't see any parts for the pro, and now it's rumored to slip into next year. Sounds like a pattern

One things for sure Tim Cook likes to surprise, also doesn't mind putting out a very limited release. I also think the 3x ipad assets are for the 12.9 iPad.

 

[iPadDad]

I think the A8X chip will give at the very least twice the performance of the current A7 Chip found in the iPad Air, which will would be incredible.

I think this will be the case for a few reasons;

1.) Evolution of apps, dev's limited to current hardware specs
2.) Competitiveness within he tablet industry
3.) Growth of business & productivity usage

 

[daijholt]

I think 2GB of RAM is a definite, given the push into major business use over the next year. That extra memory will make intensive enterprise apps run like butter.

I have no doubt they could manage with 1gb, but they'll want the best real world performance to impress the big spending businesses. Plus, why bother calling it the a8x if they didn't change something significant?

 

[Charliebird]

The 'x' stands for anything we want it to stand for until Thursday.

 

[Abazigal]

A8X means stay the hell away, take it from an A5X customer. It could me Apple decides to up the resolution on the next gen Air and performance could match the current Air. If they do up the resolution 3X as rumored i'll wait for two hardware update cycles.

Depends on the resolution it is powering. The A7 more than suffices in powering the iPad's 2048x1536 display, an A8x would have no problems as well.

Unless the A8x is for some iPad pro with a much higher resolution. And to be fair, the ipad4 ran a A6x processor, which supported the retina display just nicely. So the A5x was just an unfortunate anomaly.

 

[TheDeviceUser]

Depends on the resolution it is powering. The A7 more than suffices in powering the iPad's 2048x1536 display, an A8x would have no problems as well.

Unless the A8x is for some iPad pro with a much higher resolution. And to be fair, the ipad4 ran a A6x processor, which supported the retina display just nicely. So the A5x was just an unfortunate anomaly.

Thing is, I don't think the A5X was a terrible chip. Certainly not in terms of running iOS 5 & 6. I think it was the CPU which was only an A5 that became pretty old and tired by the time iOS 7 came out which killed it.