iPad Pro iPad Pro 12.9 M1. Slow and lagging graphics in games

[XRayAdamo]

Today I replaced my wife's old iPad Pro 2nd gen with new M1 version. Now all games she is playing are lagging! Even small card games are lagging and I do not understand why. I still have another 2nd gen iPad pro and same games on my ipad works perfectly!
Any ideas what could be wrong? I have seen some info on Apple forums but no one gave anything useful about it.
Since all games are lagging I think it is iPadOS problem not games.

 

[Kylo83]

Yeah same the m1 is a joke in this iPad there’s no way it’s as powerful as they make you think, all my games including nba 2K21 is so laggy i couldnt beleive it, I would say even more lag than my 2018 iPad Pro

 

[Kylo83]

The issue is the m1 is better graphics and power but I’m getting worse performance than the a12x I don’t get it to, I don’t even think iPadOS is working well on the m1 ipad

 

[XRayAdamo]

That's terrible.
Anyone tried to open ticket with Apple?

 

[Kylo83]

That's terrible.
Anyone tried to open ticket with Apple?

They would just say your using the wrong apps lol I think the new iPad is the biggest disappointment I’ve been with a new apple product, I don’t think I like anything they are doing now days

 

[XRayAdamo]

So it looks like all M1 Ipads are the same. I just though may be mine is somehow "broken"

 

[Kylo83]

So it looks like all M1 Ipads are the same. I just though may be mine is somehow "broken"

Yeah it’s the same, I think we got cheated with this one, this thing should fly through games with zero lag but it’s just not case I also think app developers who make the games haven’t optimised the games for it as they want there games to work on every iPad even the lower spec ones, so no game has been made for the m1 that’s the issue

 

[XRayAdamo]

I am a developer for iOs and Mac and I have not seen anything specific to M1 iPad pro, ilke optimizations or anything else. M1 is just another ARM CPU. All iPads have ARM chips. This one is just much faster. So I think this is iPadOS problem. Hope Apple will fix it, or I do not think this iPad will survive long enough when people unable to enjoy gaming on it.

 

[Kylo83]

I am a developer for iOs and Mac and I have not seen anything specific to M1 iPad pro, ilke optimizations or anything else. M1 is just another ARM CPU. All iPads have ARM chips. This one is just much faster. So I think this is iPadOS problem. Hope Apple will fix it, or I do not think this iPad will survive long enough when people unable to enjoy gaming on it.

I’m not sure unfortunately I have lost hope in the iPad after iPadOS 15 I was really let down and I tried the beta and the lag was still there so not sure what’s causing it, try playing nba 2K21 it’s so bad even my 2018 wasn’t as bad

 

[XRayAdamo]

After analyzing a little more, I think problem is in FPS cap. It looks like M1 renders at 30fps only

 

[ProphetWild]

I just got my 12.9” M1 iPad Pro today and have noticed the same thing. Oceanhorn 2 has lower resolution and worse frame rate than on my 11” 2018 iPad Pro. FANTASIAN runs at 60 FPS but seems very low resolution. Read that it might be the games not recognizing the M1 so just running at the minimum spec

 

[GuruZac]

Yeah same the m1 is a joke in this iPad there’s no way it’s as powerful as they make you think, all my games including nba 2K21 is so laggy i couldnt beleive it, I would say even more lag than my 2018 iPad Pro

Well I understand your frustration with the performance but your wording implies the 2018 iPad Pro is laggy or slow which is far from the truth. There are many videos on YouTube comparing the 2018 to 2021 and the performance is very close for nearly everything including intense gaming and 4K rendering. I’m sure much of that is due to App optimization of the M1, however, let‘s not forget the A12X was smoking maxed out 2018 MacBook Pros in performance and we wouldn’t say a 2018 MacBook Pro is slow or laggy.

 

[ProphetWild]

Well I understand your frustration with the performance but your wording implies the 2018 iPad Pro is laggy or slow which is far from the truth. There are many videos on YouTube comparing the 2018 to 2021 and the performance is very close for nearly everything including intense gaming and 4K rendering. I’m sure much of that is due to App optimization of the M1, however, let‘s not forget the A12X was smoking maxed out 2018 MacBook Pros in performance and we wouldn’t say a 2018 MacBook Pro is slow or laggy.

The M1 is definitely a beast, it’s just disappointing that there are these types of significant optimization issues, especially with fairly new Apple Arcade games

 

[Kylo83]

After analyzing a little more, I think problem is in FPS cap. It looks like M1 renders at 30fps only

Could apple fix that in software

 

[Slartibart]

Could apple fix that in software

when a game identifies the hardware as ’unknown’ and runs therefore at the minimal requirements/adjustments it is up to the game developer to change that.

 

[aevan]

Yeah it’s the same, I think we got cheated with this one,

Lol. “Cheated”. It’s possible the game isn’t optimized, that’s all.

 

[giesemx]

I contacted support team of Oceanhorn game and looks that it is required that all the games be updated in order to have a good performance on M1 iPad…

Response from Oceanhorn team:


I totally understand playing under 60 FPS on a new device might be upsetting. Regrettably, I do not have a solution for you at the moment and can confirm our team is aware of this issue. Oceanhorn 2 will be updated accordingly to support 60 FPS, although there is no timeline when, so I cannot promise it will be very soon.

 

[ProphetWild]

I contacted support team of Oceanhorn game and looks that it is required that all the games be updated in order to have a good performance on M1 iPad…

Response from Oceanhorn team:


I totally understand playing under 60 FPS on a new device might be upsetting. Regrettably, I do not have a solution for you at the moment and can confirm our team is aware of this issue. Oceanhorn 2 will be updated accordingly to support 60 FPS, although there is no timeline when, so I cannot promise it will be very soon.

I got the same response this morning. You'd think iPadOS could just contain a flag to say its at least a 2020 ipad for games not updated. Even unoptimized the M1 should have enough power to run at least the same as the last ipads.

 

[IowaLynn]

Do what M1 Macs do -- provide a way to run in compatibility.

 

[UBS28]

I download Oceanhorn 2 to see what this is all about and it looks like my older 12.9 iPad Pro runs this game better than my M1 12.9 iPad Pro too.

But this clearly an issue of the developer, rather than the M1 iPad Pro. Because there are games which runs better on the M1 iPad Pro than my older iPad Pro.

 

[mi7chy]

Which exact card game?

Only time game lags is when I enable Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Frame Rate. Description says it reduces frame rate to 60fps but in Sky Force Reloaded it’s more like 15fps and stutters badly. When disabled game runs fine.

 

[ericwn]

Lol. “Cheated”. It’s possible the game isn’t optimized, that’s all.

Yup, that’s all very entertaining reads this morning for something that’s clearly not software optimised.

 

[Username-already-in-use]

I play Call of Duty Mobile regularly and the M1 iPad Pro runs it very well and I have not suffered any lag once.

At present the regular game is running at 60FPS as the developers had not optimised it for the M1, but the new beta test version supports M1 running at 120FPS and the experience was excellent. It shows how developer optimisation can drastically change your experience.

 

[Kylo83]

I play Call of Duty Mobile regularly and the M1 iPad Pro runs it very well and I have not suffered any lag once.

At present the regular game is running at 60FPS as the developers had not optimised it for the M1, but the new beta test version supports M1 running at 120FPS and the experience was excellent. It shows how developer optimisation can drastically change your experience.

how do you get the beta of call of duty

 

[Username-already-in-use]

how do you get the beta of call of duty

Releases are done through the Call of Duty Mobile (CODM) official Reddit account in their Community Update posts. They post an invitation link to the iOS/iPadOS TestFlight app which allows the user to download the beta and access the test server. The current iOS beta has already reached its 10,000 user limit, but if you play CODM regularly then it is worth keeping an eye on Community Update posts. They seem to do beta test servers every 2-3 months or so (which remain open for 2-3 weeks each time), they usually are capped by users (eg first 10,000 who download and register first-come-first-serve).

The innovations and game mechanics they experiment with on the beta, they then usually implement in the game itself when the next update drops.