iPad Apple can afford to put a 5nm A14 in a mid-range device

[kshitijshah]

Apple scale of processor manufacturing has become so big that they can afford to throw in a top of line, world’s first 5nm processor A14 in what is technically mid range iPad. No Snapdragon is going to even come close to matching this performance level. Apple is killing competition with scale and performance.

I shudder to think what the top end Apple Silicon in Macs will do or what silicon the 2021 iPad Pros will be.

 

[Fred Zed]

No they can’t , hence why they bumped they bumped up the price and make you pay for it. Reference to your title.

 

[bill-p]

The iPad Air is $599 now. That's not "midrange".

 

[eric89074]

The iPad Air is $599 now. That's not "midrange".

The new iPad Pro will probably start at $899 at best. Keep in mind the first iPad was $499.

 

[bodonnell202]

Yields on 5 nm have been high compared to 7 nm and it looks like this is a die shrink to the A13 with some tweaks and enhancements, so it the cost difference between the A13 and A14 is probably minimal. It just means that the yields and production of 5 nm chips have been high enough that Apple isn't concerned about putting them in both iPhones and iPads right off the hop.

 

[JPack]

It's the chip design that costs the most money, not the production.

In fact, by applying the A14 design across iPad, iPhone, and Mac, Apple recoups their R&D costs more quickly. That's how everybody in the industry does it, from Intel to Qualcomm.

The correct statement should be, how can Apple not afford to put A14 into iPad Air? Gone are the days of A6, where it was only used in 2 devices.

 

[AutomaticApple]

The iPad Air is $599 now. That's not "midrange".

That is more like... higher-midrange... 😅

 

[ejin222]

It's the chip design that costs the most money, not the production.

In fact, by applying the A14 design across iPad, iPhone, and Mac, Apple recoups their R&D costs more quickly. That's how everybody in the industry does it, from Intel to Qualcomm.

The correct statement should be, how can Apple not afford to put A14 into iPad Air? Gone are the days of A6, where it was only used in 2 devices.


View attachment 953424

Ooooo can't wait for the R&D cost to be so high that even the base iPads get the highest chips lol

 

[ian87w]

Apple scale of processor manufacturing has become so big that they can afford to throw in a top of line, world’s first 5nm processor A14 in what is technically mid range iPad. No Snapdragon is going to even come close to matching this performance level. Apple is killing competition with scale and performance.

I shudder to think what the top end Apple Silicon in Macs will do or what silicon the 2021 iPad Pros will be.

The new iPad Air with cellular starts at $729. It is a flagship "lite" model now, not a mid-range.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

No they can’t , hence why they bumped they bumped up the price and make you pay for it. Reference to your title.

The iPad Air is $599 now. That's not "midrange".

The new iPad Air with cellular starts at $729. It is a flagship "lite" model now, not a mid-range.

In the context of Apple’s iPad line-up, both physically and in pricing, it is smack dab in the mid-range. I was really surprised at first that they put the A14 in it and announced it before iPhone, but they made the decision a while ago and probably planned to announce both at the same event before 2020 went all askew.

Yet another screen resolution, sheesh!

Will be really interesting to see the benchmarks vs the current iPad Pro though. An identical redesign for the mini with the exact same internals and hardware, including USB-C, would be a really compelling alternative to the current iPad Pro. But I am now sure they are really going to blow us away with the A14X they will put in those, with mini-LED, etc.