iPad Mini 4 Uses Speed-Bumped 1.5 GHz A8 Chip With 2 GB of RAM

[MacRumors]

Apple last week introduced the iPad mini 4, advertising the device as essentially a scaled down version of the iPad Air 2, although the device uses a A8 chip rather than the A8X found in the iPad Air 2. Ars Technica has now taken an early look at the iPad mini 4, finding that the A8 runs at 1.5 GHz, slightly faster than the 1.4 GHz A8 used in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Like the iPad Air 2, the iPad mini 4 also carries 2 GB of RAM.

Having a whole extra CPU core makes the 1.5GHz A8X in the iPad Air 2 about 50% faster than the Mini 4, but we're still looking at a 20-or-so percent improvement over the old Mini 2 and Mini 3. That extra RAM will be good for more than just Split View multitasking, too--2GB iDevices need to eject things from memory less often, cutting down on the amount of tab reloading that Safari does and generally reducing wait times when switching between different tabs and apps.

With the iPad mini 4 using a slower chip than the iPad Air 2 while still driving the same display resolution and similar other internals, performance won't be quite as good on the smaller tablet, as the smaller body likely has some heat-related impacts that drove Apple to include the less-powerful chip. Still, users should see substantial performance upgrades over earlier iPad mini models, as well as support for all of the latest iOS 9 features like Split View multitasking.

Article Link: iPad Mini 4 Uses Speed-Bumped 1.5 GHz A8 Chip With 2 GB of RAM

 

[Shanpdx]

Best news in the last week's event.

iPad mini 4 looks solid (with 2GB RAM).

Wish they had A8X like iPad Air 2, but $100 less A8 looks good enough.

Looks like previous generation iPhone CPU (A8) going to be the new generation iPad mini X and X (A8X) version is going to be on the iPad Air X. looks like a theme.

 

[Jaro65]

I wonder what is the cost difference for Apple between A8 and A8X....

 

[7thson]

No one can complain about this! But some probably will...

 

[JonneyGee]

I'm hoping for true feature parity across all iPad models next year... A10X in the iPad Pro 2, iPad Air 3, and iPad Mini 5. I doubt it'll happen but one can dream!

 

[Tankmaze]

I love my mini 2, but even this update won't make me want to upgrade.

The bigger picture is Apple latest iOS devices, all of them now have 2 GB Ram.

 

[JonneyGee]

No one can complain about this! But some probably will...

I disagree. Seeing the new iPad Mini come in slower than last year's iPad Air is disappointing.

 

[Shanpdx]

I wonder what is the cost difference for Apple between A8 and A8X....

upsell.

 

[Shanpdx]

I'm hoping for true feature parity across all iPad models next year... A9X in the iPad Pro 2, iPad Air 3, and iPad Mini 5. I doubt it'll happen but one can dream!

Mostly not going to happen.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Does it work with the pencil?

 

[JonneyGee]

Does it work with the pencil?

Nope. In the announcement they said the Pencil is iPad Pro-only.

 

[tylersdad]

Does it work with the pencil?

Nope. Only the pro works with the pencil.

 

[Mlrollin91]

Does anyone know if the iPad Mini 4 gets split screen and PiP?

 

[bgraham]

No one can complain about this! But some probably will...

Well it's not the A8X which is significantly faster so it's quite easy to complain about it.

 

[Glassed Silver]

So they basically lied during the keynote.
Interesting.

@50:58min

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Donka]

I disagree. Seeing the new iPad Mini come in slower than last year's iPad Air is disappointing.

That is the multicore score. The single core score is surprisingly close to the Air 2. Power consumption is likely to be as much a reason as anything why the mini 4 doesn't feature the A8X. The smaller chassis has less room for battery and heat dissipation.

 

[7thson]

I disagree. Seeing the new iPad Mini come in slower than last year's iPad Air is disappointing.

Yep I thought so. I'm not a hardware engineer but I see how a tricore processor could make the mini too hot so they chose the dual core.

 

[GamerBoredom]

Overdue, respectable speed bump for a great product. I had all intention in getting a mini (Air 2 currently), but I'm so intrigued by the Pro... whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy...

 

[John Mcgregor]

No one can complain about this! But some probably will...

If the screen is **** the complaining is valid.

 

[borntrouble]

I was very upset when Apple left out important information on the iphone 6s concerning battery life, weight etc. at the official keynote last week. But regarding the iPad mini 4, this was basically nothing more than a dirty little lie.

Phil Schiller: "So whats the iPad mini 4? Well simply, we've taken the power and performance of iPad Air 2, and built it into an even smaller and mini enclosure"

 

[GamerBoredom]

Does anyone know if the iPad Mini 4 gets split screen and PiP?

There's coding for it I saw in Xcode, however I haven't seen anything yet... I keep calling verizon to see if they have these yet...

 

[aPple nErd]

pretty tempting. its such a shame resale value of iPads is so low these days.

 

[7thson]

Best news in the last week's event.

iPad mini 4 looks solid (with 2GB RAM).

Wish they had A9 like iPad Air 2, but $100 less A8 looks good enough.

Looks like previous generation iPhone CPU (A8) going to be the new generation iPad mini X and X (A8X) version is going to be on the iPad Air X. looks like a theme.

The 8x is already in the Air 2.

 

[trekkie604]

28% overall performance bump over my existing mini for $800. Hmm I'll think about it.

 

[Menel]

So they basically lied during the keynote.
Interesting.

Glassed Silver:mac

Blatantly lied.
False advertising? maybe.