The best part about this refresh is that the 2018 models will be significantly cheaper.
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iPad Pro Is the A12Z any better than the A12X?
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Why would anyone buy the defective 2018 models?
If Apple addressed all the design issues of the 2018 models, then 2020 model is the way to go regardless of price.
I'm not necessarily saying you're wrong, but I'm not aware of widespread 2018 defects. Can you be more specific?
What are you talking about? My 2018 12.9 iPP is great, no defects.
Apple has used X to designate variants of an existing chip design with extra graphics power since the A5X in 2012. This is the first time it has used the Z designation, which is why it came as a surprise.
Kind of bizarre they didn't do 12Y, since Y follows X in the Alphabet? Maybe Z sounded sexier? Or 12Y was already taken?
Nice for you, but there is a serious design flaw with these devices. Apple replaces any iPad that has the white spot issue as it is a widespread issue according to the Apple genius who I was dealing with.
It is best to stay away from the faulty 2018 model.
The virus outbreak started to disturb the supply chain at the end of January
I don't know when the iPad started to be mass-produced, but I assume it was before
Also the A13 is a bigger chip than the A12
So an A13X would be bigger and it would have been very hard for Apple to redesign all the motherboard at the last minute and start to go on production
I assume the choice of the A12Z is to reduce the cost, camera and Lidar are pretty expensive technology so you need to save money here and there in order to keep the same price.
You are probably talking about the 2017 iPad Pro. That iPad has the white spot issue. The 11 does not.
Why don’t they use A13X then? Cost? Performance? Supply chain?
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They skipped A11X, and again A13X. Whyyy?
You are asking a question only Apple knows
I guess the reason is a mix of all above.As I said above, it's not just a matter of chip, it's also a matter of 5G. Apple is going to move to 5G by the end of the year with iphone. And only A14 and above will have 5G. And once 5G is ready ipad pros will also be updated with a the new 5G chip, which will be A14X, leaving everything else identical (that's what the latest "reliable" rumors say). It didn't make sense to do a whole A13X for less than a year, so they just reused A12X and just bumped graphics by one core... (hence the Z). Depending on the cost of this 5G chip Apple may bump the price, leaving the A12Z ipads around as cheaper 4G models (or only lowering the price for the 4th gen, but I hardly believe this...). Remember, it's not easy to increase speed so much in one generation.... That's also why Apple skipped A11X and A12X was such a bump in performance. The difference between A13X and A14X would be pretty small... while this way it can help justify a price difference with the 4th gen models.
That was the 2017 10.5 inch pro. The only issues I’ve heard of with the 3rd gen 2018 is the bending and that’s more of a problem with the cellular version. My 2018 pro is fantastic and gets used almost everyday.
Now I dug deeper into A13 architecture. I noticed that A13 is very similar to A12. The only difference was the efficiency design optimizations. If you watch the keynote speech, you will realize it's all about cutting thermal and battery while keeping the performance the same.
So, if A13 was an optimization mod of A12, which I think is substantial, then buffing A13 to A13X would turn it back to an A12X lol... Since A12X lasts "long enough" for most people, they probably were like, why the hell bother...
It is also possible that A12Z is a die shrunk of A12X, thus allowing Apple to add another GPU core while they are at it.
And, I think Apple Silicon is slowing down. I think they are near the limit of the Performance-to-TDP ratio.
Well and if we think of A14X that will release in 1-1,5 years time, this will be a mega jump: More efficiency, chip will be manufactured in 5nm, and this will be a huge upgrade in comparison to A12X or Z devices.
A14X will most likely come out this year with a higher-end iPad Pro lineup that has 5G Cellular and miniLED display. We think it will most likely be in November. I place my guess on Nov 14, 2020. It may launch on Oct 30, then release on Nov 14.