Apple: Performance claims about the iPad Air (2024) were accurate, despite GPU core count mistake

Apple has become aware of the mix-up with the new iPad Air GPU and says that while it does indeed have only 9 cores instead of 10 cores (as originally announced), the performance claims it made about the 2024 tablets are accurate. The original press release has been updated to reflect the true core count.

Apple claims that the iPad Air 11 (2024) and iPad Air 13 (2024) with their M2 chipsets are notably faster than their M1-based predecessor from 2022. Specifically, the “Apple-designed M2 has a 15 percent faster CPU, 25 percent faster graphics, and 50 percent more memory bandwidth than the previous generation,” reads the page on apple.com.

This remains true, particularly the part about a 25% boost in graphics performance. The iPad Air (2022) (which came in one size only) used the original Apple M1 chipset with an 8-core GPU. Back when the M2 was originally announced, it claimed that the M2 is up to 35% faster, presumably comparing that version with 10 GPU cores. The 10-core version can be found in MacBooks, the Mac Mini, the Vision Pro and the older iPad Pros from 2022 (though some of these devices optionally use a weaker 8-core version).

Here is what an Apple spokesperson told 9to5Mac about the new iPad Air’s performance:

When combined with faster memory bandwidth, the new iPad Air is nearly 50 percent faster than the previous iPad Air with M1 for a wide range of productivity and creative tasks. And compared to iPad Air with A14 Bionic, the new iPad Air delivers up to 3x faster performance.

The mistake in the reported core count is not ideal, but at least buyers were not sold on false performance claims.

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