All iPads Why is apple so unpredictable with the processors of the iPads?

[Appl3FTW]

Ok let me explain.

2012 iPad mini had an A5 chip- originally I thought that would be the format, the mini line will get 1 year older than current iphone at that time which was the iphone 5/A6
2013 iPad rMini should've been A6 but got A7 (no complaints here)

2012 iPad 4 had A6X- this makes sense because all 9.7 iPads get the X bump from the iPhone processors, in this case iphone 5 with A6
2013 iPad 5/Air had A7- it should've been A7X

Ok just to make sense
2010:
iPhone 4: A4
iPad: A4

2011:
iPhone 4S: A5
iPad 2: A5
iPad 3: A5X

2012:
iPhone 5: A6
iPad 4: A6X
Mini: A5

2013:
iPhone 5s: A7
iPad Air: A7
iPad rMini: A7

2014:
iPhone 6 plus: A8
iPad Air 2: A8X
iPad rMini 2: will it be A8 or A8X? Unless apple gives a curveball and follow the old format of 1 year older which will give us back A7. I doubt it.

 

[Intell]

Apple gives an X CPU to the iPads that need a more powerful GPU than what the iPhone CPU can output. The A6 alone wasn't powerful enough to drive the iPad 4's screen, thus the need for an extra GPU core in the form of the A6X. The A7 is powerful enough to drive it, so no A7X. If the iPad Mini's resolution stays the same, it likely won't get a X CPU as the A7 is powerful enough to drive the retina display of the iPad Mini.

 

[Appl3FTW]

Apple gives an X CPU to the iPads that need a more powerful GPU than what the iPhone CPU can output. The A6 alone wasn't powerful enough to drive the iPad 4's screen, thus the need for an extra GPU core in the form of the A6X. The A7 is powerful enough to drive it, so no A7X. If the iPad Mini's resolution stays the same, it likely won't get a X CPU as the A7 is powerful enough to drive the retina display of the iPad Mini.

Apple always gave the iPad line the X treatment of the current iphone that year. 2011 iPad 3 had A5X (surprise spec bump) and the 2011 iPad 2 A5. Wasnt the original 2010 iPad with A4?

 

[Intell]

The iPad 1, 2, and Air did not get an X CPU. Likely because the GPU was already able to drive the display well enough to not need an additional GPU core. This doesn't really hold true for the iPad 1, but the was the start of the line and Apple didn't have the roadmap fully planned out yet as its GPU was very underpowered for the resolution. The iPad 3 came out in 2012, not 2011. The iPad 2 did not have an A5X as the A5's GPU was powerful enough to drive the display without problems.

 

[thedeejay]

Why is apple so unpredictable with the processors of the iPads?

Because if they were predictable, then everyone would be an analyst

 

[12vElectronics]

Because if they were predictable, then everyone would be an analyst

But but I read it online so I must be an expert!

 

[goobot]

It only has to do with the screen resolution. The iPad mini will get an A8X if it gets a higher resolution as well. It's honestly not that complex at all.

 

[Appl3FTW]

It only has to do with the screen resolution. The iPad mini will get an A8X if it gets a higher resolution as well. It's honestly not that complex at all.

did i say it was complex? all i said was that how could they not stick with a format just like the iphone does.

 

[TechGod]

Ok let me explain.

2012 iPad mini had an A5 chip- originally I thought that would be the format, the mini line will get 1 year older than current iphone at that time which was the iphone 5/A6
Or ya know, they were testing the waters and seeing if people liked a smaller iPad.
2013 iPad rMini should've been A6 but got A7 (no complaints here)
Tbh, I expected this.
2012 iPad 4 had A6X- this makes sense because all 9.7 iPads get the X bump from the iPhone processors, in this case iphone 5 with A6
CPU/GPU combo in the iPhone 5 was *just* weak enough to not run the iPad 4 display as good as Apple wanted.
2013 iPad 5/Air had A7- it should've been A7X
Not really, for example, heat produced along with battery life would suffer likely due to such a powerful GPU, along with the fact that the A7 was good enough to run the Air smoothly.
Ok just to make sense
2010:
iPhone 4: A4
iPad: A4

2011:
iPhone 4S: A5
iPad 2: A5
iPad 3: A5X

2012:
iPhone 5: A6
iPad 4: A6X
Mini: A5

2013:
iPhone 5s: A7
iPad Air: A7
iPad rMini: A7

2014:
iPhone 6 plus: A8
iPad Air 2: A8X
iPad rMini 2: will it be A8 or A8X?A8 if the resolution does not increase, A8X if it will. Unless apple gives a curveball and follow the old format of 1 year older which will give us back A7. I doubt it. No way in hell is that happening.

It wasn't about unpredictability, rather circumstances forced them to make certain decisions.

 

[rui no onna]

did i say it was complex? all i said was that how could they not stick with a format just like the iphone does.

Because then, you'd have people complaining about the device being slow and animations being choppy. The A5X was barely enough to run the 2048x1536 resolution on the iPad 3. The X versions were used because of necessity. As far as I recall, the A7 was already 4x as fast as GPU in A6 and 2x as fast as GPU in A6X so there was no need to go with A7X for the Air and rMini. No doubt the A7X version would have required a bigger battery, too.