iPad Pro Do M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM actually have 12GB?

[layerstack]

Several people have already torn down the new iPad Pro models and photographed their M4 chips and the RAM alongside them. Most teardown I could find were of the 256GB model, but one website (TechInsights) did the 1TB model as well.

The one 1TB teardown I could find showed 2 RAM chips alongside the M4, each labeled D8DNV. The Micron FBGA and component marking decoder shows these are MT62F1G64D4AS-026 XT:C chips, which are listed on both DigiKey and Mouser. These are 64 gigabit (8 gigabyte) chips, as expected, confirming the 16GB of RAM mentioned on Apple's tech specs page.

Looking at the teardowns of lower capacity models, all the pictures I saw (UFD Tech, JerryRigEverything, iFixit) showed 2 chips labeled Z8DMS instead. Some pictures were blurrier than others, but they all seemed to show the same thing in the end.

On the same Micron site, Z8DMS decodes to MT62F768M64D4AS-026 XT:B, also listed on DigiKey and Mouser. But those product listings mentioned a size of 48 gigabits (6 gigabytes), for a total of 12GB of RAM. Not the 8GB mentioned in Apple's specs.

Maybe RAM density per die has increased so much that true 4GB chips wouldn't have enough dies to supply 120 GB/s of bandwidth, kind of like how the 256GB M2 MacBook Air infamously had much slower SSD speeds than the 512GB+ models because it only had 1 NAND chip instead of 2.

Maybe Micron (and Hynix, and Samsung) didn't offer 4GB chips as a standard size for LPDDR5 or LPDDR5X memory, and Apple couldn't justify the cost of commissioning special 4GB chips just for a product line that ultimately sells far fewer units than most other Apple products.

Whatever the answer turns out to be, it's still a shame to see a third of each iPad's memory go unused for the sake of product segmentation. Hopefully this is a sign that M4 Macs will finally start with 12GB of RAM.

 

[fakestrawberryflavor]

if this is true, it would be so weird to not give users access to the full 12 GB. I understand product segmentation and upselling, but then they could’ve just made the pricier model 24 GB instead of 16.

 

[nitrobear]

If it ends up being true, and there’s no real reason to lock the remaining 4GB of RAM, I really hope they get in real trouble for this. A lawsuit and a global recall of this model at the very least. Thats the most scummy practice I’ve seen in a long time.

 

[*~Kim~*]

At 12GB of RAM I’d have been very tempted to pick up an 11” to complement my Mini, but the 8GB made no sense when I could get a Air with the same RAM if I was desperate for the bigger screen right now.

Glad to have voted with my wallet if this turns out to be true. They could have done 12 vs 16 at the top end, having segmented on cores and glass on the iPad for the first time ever. It didn’t even mean they had to do 24GB for the pricier models.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

Going to be a nothing burger story. Custom chip not OEM chip.

 

[layerstack]

Going to be a nothing burger story. Custom chip not OEM chip.

I agree that Apple uses custom RAM packages, but it doesn't explain why Micron would then list the part number on their website. I am surprised Micron doesn't just pretend the part number doesn't exist given Apple's famous/notorious secrecy, but listing the part number and giving incorrect specs seems like an even more bizarre thing to do. I look at teardown of Apple products frequently, and the RAM chip markings have always matched the amount of RAM Apple listed in its spec pages or submitted to regulators.

 

[Carrotstick]

If it ends up being true, and there’s no real reason to lock the remaining 4GB of RAM, I really hope they get in real trouble for this. A lawsuit and a global recall of this model at the very least. Thats the most scummy practice I’ve seen in a long time.

There’s no need to be alarmist. If Apple is doing such a thing then it may be enabled in the future.

Also it’s not like Apple advertised 12GB then only have users to 8GB. They advertise as 8GB and give 8GB. There is no false marketing case here.

 

[tipoo]

Very peculiar, RAM is highly repetitive and therefore redundant so it doesn't have the same yield issues as making a complex CPU etc

It would be a shame if they were letting it go unused just to segment it to 8GB/16GB, but this would seem to make it far more likely that M4 Macs will have 12GB! Hopefully without the artificial segmentation...

 

[tipoo]

Going to be a nothing burger story. Custom chip not OEM chip.

There's no evidence that they do, it may be integrated and soldered in a somewhat novel way close to the CPU package, but on RAM and NAND they use commodity parts like everyone else for cost, you've always been able to find the corresponding part with its markings and no evidence for customization has been found

 

[Carrotstick]

Maybe Micron (and Hynix, and Samsung) didn't offer 4GB chips as a standard size for LPDDR5

LPDDR5 offers 4GB modules. Not sure about LPDDR5 though.

Good find, needs more evidence ie the M4 Mac’s need to release

 

[prime17569]

4 possibilities I can think of:
- The additional 4GB will be reserved for upcoming on-device AI models with iPadOS 18, so they are saying 8GB so it doesn't seem like iPadOS 18 is taking away 4GB of RAM
- iPadOS 17 possibly doesn't support 12GB RAM size (only 8 or 16GB), and since iPadOS 18 is right around the corner, iPadOS 18 will unlock the additional 4GB
- These are custom 4GB chips that are 6GB chips with 2GB fused off, likely to be manufactured on the same line and therefore have the same (or similar) part number
- Something related to the "Secure Exclave" discovered on M4 iPads: https://mastodon.social/@_inside/112440596781136013

In an earlier post I speculated that M4 devices may come with 12GB minimum. This sounds like it.

 

[scaredpoet]

If it ends up being true, and there’s no real reason to lock the remaining 4GB of RAM, I really hope they get in real trouble for this. A lawsuit and a global recall of this model at the very least. Thats the most scummy practice I’ve seen in a long time.

Real trouble for what, exactly? Apple lists 8GB of RAM for that model, and that’s exactly what you get.
Your disappointment by the specs of a piece of hardware alone is not grounds for legal punitive action.

 

[pp94024]

only apple can do👍

 

[sw1tcher]

Do M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM actually have 12GB?

No. Per Apple they have 16GB

 

[mikethebigo]

No. Per Apple they have 16GB

The 1 TB and 2 TB storage models have 16 GB of RAM. But it looks here like the 256 and 512 GB storage models have 12 GB of RAM, with 4 GB disabled for some reason.

 

[richard371]

The 1 TB and 2 TB storage models have 16 GB of RAM. But it looks here like the 256 and 512 GB storage models have 12 GB of RAM, with 4 GB disabled for some reason.

The m4 on the lower end models have 1 core disabled. Could be binned memory.

 

[izzy0242mr]

If Apple is doing such a thing then it may be enabled in the future.

We will finally be able to actually install a software update to get more RAM!!!

 

[klasma]

if this is true, it would be so weird to not give users access to the full 12 GB.

Yeah, it’s like how they keep the outer quarter inch of the iPad screens black for some reason.

 

[layerstack]

The m4 on the lower end models have 1 core disabled. Could be binned memory.

I think binning is extremely unlikely.

Micron would bin each chip before etching a part number on it, and it doesn't make sense to use the same part number on substantially different binned chips with substantially different characteristics (max stable frequency/capacity).

As for binning of the M4 itself, all M4 chips are advertised with 120 GB/s memory bandwidth regardless of core count or memory capacity, so any chips with faulty memory controllers would be discarded instead of being used in lower end models.

 

[purplerainpurplerain]

There's no evidence that they do, it may be integrated and soldered in a somewhat novel way close to the CPU package, but on RAM and NAND they use commodity parts like everyone else for cost, you've always been able to find the corresponding part with its markings and no evidence for customization has been found

Having the same or similar OEM number means little. We have seen in the past Samsung OEM SSDs with similar number as some serial brand but with different specs. It’s not uncommon in the fabrication side.

 

[layerstack]

Yeah, it’s like how they keep the outer quarter inch of the iPad screens black for some reason.

This is getting off topic, but past iPads with rounded corners have had panels with physically rounded corners, as shown in minute 5:25 of this video where the LCD panel is physically separated from the cover glass it's laminated to.

Even the lowest-end 10th gen iPad has rounded corners on the LCD itself, which are especially visible on that model given the air gap between the LCD and the cover glass.

Though it's curious that these new OLED iPads have a noticeably larger corner radius than their predecessors. Perhaps the status bar will get correspondingly taller in iPadOS 18?

 

[nitrobear]

The m4 on the lower end models have 1 core disabled. Could be binned memory.

It was one of my main theories too, but it’s highly unlikely because Micron could’ve just sold them as a different SKU instead. Like someone else has mentioned too, even if one performance core is disabled, it shouldn’t affect the memory controller at all

 

[klasma]

Though it's curious that these new OLED iPads have a noticeably larger corner radius than their predecessors. Perhaps the status bar will get correspondingly taller in iPadOS 18?

Maybe it’s an aesthetic choice. The inner vs. outer radius looks more balanced now, because the ratio between inner and outer radius isn’t as large anymore.

 

[layerstack]

Having the same or similar OEM number means little. We have seen in the past Samsung OEM SSDs with similar number as some serial brand but with different specs. It’s not uncommon in the fabrication side.

There have been cases of manufacturers mixing SSDs with different NAND, controllers, and with or without DRAM, all with the same model number, and that was just at the consumer level. I don't doubt fabs are happy to customise part numbers for OEMs too. (The A12Z Developer Transition Kit had completely nonstandard and undecipherable RAM part numbers, but A12Z chips bound for consumer products had standard part numbers.)

There are pictures of M1 chips with the RAM desoldered showing a non-standard arrangement of RAM BGA pads, so Apple is definitely ordering customized chips from its suppliers.

However, every other Apple device seems to have RAM part numbers that correspond exactly to the advertised RAM quantities, including the 16GB models of these iPads. It would have to be a remarkable coincidence if Apple was using custom part numbers the whole time and they just so happened to always have the same capacity as the non-OEM parts listed on DigiKey and Mouser until now.

 

[Wind30]

Does it matter? There is probably zero chance that the iPad have 12gb of useable ram. I design ic for a living and there can be so many possible explanations for this, like the part number could mean something else in reality, something else in the chain is missing to access all the ram, like some bumps has no space to route, etc. it is impossible for us to know the reason but one thing is for sure, user can only access 8gb ram