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It will be interesting to find out what will be in the ipad mini retina.
One of the reason for Apple not to call the Ipad Air chip an A7X might be no to highlight that ipad mini retina "only" have the same A7 found in iphone 5s
Very very good point, really happy if true.
 
Not really,
the performance improvement mentioned for the retina iPad Mini (8x of ipad mini original) suggests that its A7 is only as fast as the one in the iPhone 5S.

So, the A7 in the Air should have faster graphics performance (2x of ipad 4) than the A7s in the iPhone 5S and retina iPad Mini.

good point!
 
The problem with this statement is it contradicts apple statement about the mini GPU being 8X the current A5.

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This is 100% wrong.

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That thread shows what you are stating is bogus and wrong. If the mini is 8X the A5 then it would be around were the A7 in the Air would be not the 5s.

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The A5 in the Mini is 16 Gflops

A minimum of 8*16 gives us 128 Gflops.

The A6X is 76 GFlops so 2X the A6X gives us 152 Gflops.

Apple tends to be very conservative so I would estimate the Gflops of the different A7s as

Iphone 5s: 76Gflops
Mini: 130 - 170 GFlops
Air: 150 -200 GFlops.

So the Mini and Air could be the same A7, or the Mini is clocked in between the two.

Bingo.
 
The problem with this statement is it contradicts apple statement about the mini GPU being 8X the current A5.

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This is 100% wrong.

----------



That thread shows what you are stating is bogus and wrong. If the mini is 8X the A5 then it would be around were the A7 in the Air would be not the 5s.

----------

The A5 in the Mini is 16 Gflops

A minimum of 8*16 gives us 128 Gflops.

The A6X is 76 GFlops so 2X the A6X gives us 152 Gflops.

Apple tends to be very conservative so I would estimate the Gflops of the different A7s as

Iphone 5s: 76Gflops
Mini: 130 - 170 GFlops
Air: 150 -200 GFlops.

So the Mini and Air could be the same A7, or the Mini is clocked in between the two.

Makes sense. I hope you're right!
 
The calculation below is correct, except for one thing:

These are the speed of GPU (graphic performance, as claimed by Apple), not CPU.

So what this means is that the GPU of Air and Mini retina should be similar and only difference may be frequency. This is understandable as both Mini and Air have same resolutions

However, the CPU clock may be different
because apple's claim is infact

iPad Air is 2x faster in both CPU and GPU than the iPad 4 A6X

The A7 in the iPad Mini Retina is 4x faster in CPU and 8x faster in GPU than Ipad mini A5

So see the difference? CPU is 4x, not 8x. So looks like the CPU in mini retina will not be same as air, only about half of the performance if I estimate correctly.

Welcome to correct me if I am wrong


[/COLOR]The A5 in the Mini is 16 Gflops

A minimum of 8*16 gives us 128 Gflops.

The A6X is 76 GFlops so 2X the A6X gives us 152 Gflops.

Apple tends to be very conservative so I would estimate the Gflops of the different A7s as

Iphone 5s: 76Gflops
Mini: 130 - 170 GFlops
Air: 150 -200 GFlops.

So the Mini and Air could be the same A7, or the Mini is clocked in between the two.
 
The calculation below is correct, except for one thing:

These are the speed of GPU (graphic performance, as claimed by Apple), not CPU.

So what this means is that the GPU of Air and Mini retina should be similar and only difference may be frequency. This is understandable as both Mini and Air have same resolutions

However, the CPU clock may be different
because apple's claim is infact

iPad Air is 2x faster in both CPU and GPU than the iPad 4 A6X

The A7 in the iPad Mini Retina is 4x faster in CPU and 8x faster in GPU than Ipad mini A5

So see the difference? CPU is 4x, not 8x. So looks like the CPU in mini retina will not be same as air, only about half of the performance if I estimate correctly.

Welcome to correct me if I am wrong


Ugh no, because the A7 CPU in the Air is also only 4X faster.

A5 -> A5X (1X)
A5X->A6X (2X)
A6X - A7 (2X)

1*2*2 = 4X
 
Okay, so after reading this whole thread I am more confused. :confused:

Which is faster, the iPad Air or the iPad Mini Retina?

Neither, they seem to be the same speed in both CPU and GPU. Perhaps the nod goes to the Air in GPU, but that's dubious. Both have roughly the same CPU as the 5S A7, but they have a stronger GPU than the 5S.
 
Neither, they seem to be the same speed in both CPU and GPU. Perhaps the nod goes to the Air in GPU, but that's dubious. Both have roughly the same CPU as the 5S A7, but they have a stronger GPU than the 5S.

I guess we will need to wait for the benchmarks to confirm, but that make sense. The iPads are moving a whole lot more pixels than the iPhone, so a better GPU would make a lot of sense. And having different A7s for the iPad Air and the Mini Retina does not make sense. They have the same amount of pixels to push regardless of density or size.

I think it would be great if the Mini Retina and the iPad Air had the same specs other than size. Then your decision is based solely on size, weight, and the feel of the device in your hand. You would ignore all other considerations.
 
Agree about same GPU and CPU in air and mini-retina.
However, as per smaller battery in mini, it makes sense to have both GPU and CPU running at lower frequency than in Air.
So that will be a bit difference beyond screen size.

Another far fetch is Apple may implement bigger memory in Air (e.g. 2G ram) to make it more robust for productivity tools and gaming.

I guess we will need to wait for the benchmarks to confirm, but that make sense. The iPads are moving a whole lot more pixels than the iPhone, so a better GPU would make a lot of sense. And having different A7s for the iPad Air and the Mini Retina does not make sense. They have the same amount of pixels to push regardless of density or size.

I think it would be great if the Mini Retina and the iPad Air had the same specs other than size. Then your decision is based solely on size, weight, and the feel of the device in your hand. You would ignore all other considerations.
 
This is my guess both will have the G6630 and the Air will be clocked at 300-350Mhz and Mini will be clocked at 250-300Mhz, with the mini being around 50-100Mhz lower.

or they will both have the G6430 and the mini will be 350-450Mhz and the Air will be 450-500Mhz.
 
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I agree, this is probably the closest we can tell at this point. Any thoughts on the Ram size? Although I like to see more than 1G ram, I don't think Apple will be this generous. But the A7 chip size in picture does look bigger so may be there is a chance.

This is my guess both will have the G6630 and the Air will be clocked at 300-350Mhz and Mini will be clocked at 250-300Mhz, with the mini being around 50-100Mhz lower.

or they will both have the G6430 and the mini will be 350-450Mhz and the Air will be 450-500Mhz.
 
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I guess we will need to wait for the benchmarks to confirm, but that make sense. The iPads are moving a whole lot more pixels than the iPhone, so a better GPU would make a lot of sense. And having different A7s for the iPad Air and the Mini Retina does not make sense. They have the same amount of pixels to push regardless of density or size.

I think it would be great if the Mini Retina and the iPad Air had the same specs other than size. Then your decision is based solely on size, weight, and the feel of the device in your hand. You would ignore all other considerations.

Yes I agree, spec parity does make a user's decision-preference much clearer. I'm happy to pay the extra $70 for that.
 
That's extra of 100 dollars from mini retina to air, not 70
if screen is the only difference, I will be disappointed and go for mini instead

Yes I agree, spec parity does make a user's decision-preference much clearer. I'm happy to pay the extra $70 for that.
 
That's extra of 100 dollars from mini retina to air, not 70
if screen is the only difference, I will be disappointed and go for mini instead

He meant the increase from old worse mini to new better one
 
Hopefully we will see some geekbench specs on both devices this week once the embargo is lifted.
 
Processors in iPad Air and Mini Retina are probably both A7's but may be clocked a little differently.

Apple is probably holding the A7X for the iPad pro coming in March or April. :cool:
 
Ok, here is my prediction. The chip is the same A7 as in the iPhone. Same 1gb ddr3. Just slightly higher clock with a built in heat spreader for the higher heat from a higher clock frequency. The graphics cluster built into the A7 chip can more than handle the retina display. And Apple won't go through everything to say the air and the mini are the same except for screen size to make one faster than the other. I'm willing to bet I'm right.

***. There will be NO IPAD PRO and NO A7X. ***
 
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