Early Apple iPad mini (2021) benchmarks reveal downclocked CPU and GPU

17 September 2021
The new iPad mini uses an Apple A15 chipset with 5 GPU cores like the iPhone 13 Pro duo, but it seems to run at a lower clock speed.

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When android processor able to complete with apple's 🤦

    • I
    • Incredible
    • vCL
    • 18 Sep 2021

    Say what you want, but that is incredible performance out of an iPad mini. Blisteringly fast speeds!!

      • D
      • AnonD-762416
      • Sec
      • 18 Sep 2021

      Anonymous, 18 Sep 2021What? Anand Shrimpi, the founder of Anandtech, wasn't ... moreOh my god, is Apple marketing now trying to warp reality to the extent that they now call internet tr lls working directly for them "scientists"? What the f is the matter with this company and influencers who keep re-posting all of their lies? I know this site lacks any signs of morals and they happily censor the conversation to fit that narrative. I know they lack morals as they gladly promote mass deaths in a pandemic just for a few ad clicks. Money over morals. When you life hinges on page clicks.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • TL%
        • 18 Sep 2021

        Kangal, 18 Sep 2021Gary "Professor" Explains has never said anything... moreWhat? Anand Shrimpi, the founder of Anandtech, wasn't a computer scientist. He wasn't much of anything but shilled for Apple so well that Apple gave him a job. The tradition continues at his former site. It's still a Apple shilling site. All those "computer scientists" there are probably Apple will give them jobs as well.

          Marorun, 17 Sep 2021Not everything is benchmark. Apple A14 throttle a lots ... moreWell, that's not true.
          https://www.anandtech.com/show/16192/the-iphone-12-review/4
          " Overall, the new iPhone 12 devices and the A14 still offer the very best gaming performance of any smartphone out in the market, showcasing significantly better experiences than any other Android competitor "

          Remember, I may be impressed by Apple's hardware and software innovations, but I am not advocating for them, and I do not use an iPhone. I'm using an Android.

          On that page, look at the table that shows "Aztec High" Benchmark. This benchmark is a little more optimised for Android/Vulkan, than it is for iOS/Metal, so there is a slight bias here against iPhones (developer's own words). And the reason this specific benchmark is important is because it is the most modern/newest and it is the most difficult one.... so we should see a more even scaling of phones and good throttling behaviour. Based on the results, even when the iPhone 12 Pro throttled it was still faster than any of the Un-throttled Android phones (QSD 865+ etc).

          And by the way, they used to throttle badly (after 10mins?) back when they had the iPhone XS but have made some improvements on the A13 and good efficiency improvements on the A14 where it takes much longer for it to throttle (after 30mins?). But if you think 30mins throttling is bad, whoops. Snapdragon 860 throttles heavily way before 10mins, and the faster chipsets actually throttle harder and earlier. The QSD 888+ is like an oven on some devices. We're talking about throttling within 5mins of extreme use.

          I don't know, and I don't think Apple fixed anything with the A15 chipset this year. If anything, Apple is utilising Economies of Scale, with the maturation of TSMC's lithography, they probably have made their chips slightly more stable, slightly more efficient, slightly cheaper, and mass-producing more of them. It's not a bad thing, it just means that the improvements you get this year is less so from the SoC, and instead from the slightly better cameras, more efficient display, and the 120Hz smoothness. Nothing that should get someone to upgrade from their iPhone 12 or iPhone 11, but okay for someone coming from the iPhone X or older. However, we might be seeing Apple make their own blend of ARMv9 chips in a year or two, and they will be hitting the iMacs, iPads, and iPhones with a more substantial upgrade.

            MagicMonkeyBoy, 17 Sep 2021Considering Gary actually has replied to my comments. And m... moreGary "Professor" Explains has never said anything berating about Anandtech. Not to my knowledge. If you know any different, send the link so we could all see it.

            Anandtech has been run by computer scientists, enthusiasts, and professionals for two decades. It is literally the Gold Standard, unlike fake tech reviewers like UnboxTherapy or even MKBHD and the like. These guys at AnandTech are not biased, and they know their stuff. And whenever they have made a mistake, they have publicly apologised and acknowledged it. Whoever says they're owned by Apple is wrong. The owner was an Engineer, he was hired by Apple to work there, and what he did was to quit working at Anandtech to avoid a conflict of interest. You can read it yourself in his post of "The Road Ahead".

            ARMv9 being "true 64bit". What a load of rubbish. Everyone can see you don't know what you are talking about. ARMv8 is also "true 64bit" if you did not know. ARMv9 was supposed to remove 32-bit support, if that's what you were thinking, well they didn't. The Cortex-A710 still has 32-bit support, a financial decision that ARM International chose, simply to serve future-chips for the Mainland Chinese market. And remember, the A710 cores are more important than the X2 and A510. What the shift from ARMv8 to ARMv9 is about changing the ISA, doing something of a "soft reset" with a focus on security.

            Now getting back on topic, the Apple A14/A15 versus Snapdragon (or alternatives).
            The die size? That is a pointless argument. When I hold an iPhone mini, do you think I care that the die-size is larger than the competitors? No. The die-size argument only makes sense when if it has an impact on the device size. Or if it makes one device prohibitively more expensive than another, and that's simply not the case. In fact, it's worse. I've seen plenty of Huawei and Samsung devices asking for more premium pricing than Apples, and this phones happened to be larger too. Even Xiaomi's devices are increasing in price.

            As I said, go read the projections from ARM. The first-gen ARMv9 cores are extremely disappointing. They are built on a newer fab, using more power, and running slower. So does that mean it is it still an upgrade? Actually it is, you are getting longer software support and better security features (as long as the OS supports it). The upgrade from a QSD 800/801/805 to a QSD 808/810 was bad BUT it was still an upgrade. However, the upgrade to the QSD 820 or Exynos 8890 were more substantial. I recommend my readers to just be patient, and wait out for the second-gen ARMv9 chipsets if they can. There's practically not much difference going from the "slowest flagship" QSD 778G processor, to next year's "true flagship" QSD 895, or even the current "fastest flagship" QSD 888+ processor. The 2023 chipsets will be based on second-gen ARMv9 cores which were designed in Europe, and will offer a substantial upgrade from the QSD 888+, let alone the QSD 778G. In fact, I think we might see such improvements coming to Apple hardware too (despite already being great).

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • fCC
              • 18 Sep 2021

              AnonD-1018819, 18 Sep 2021Yes and no. You can't just dump all the heat to the al... moreHello Rejzor. So you made a new acc called iAndroid. What an irony lol

              Breaking news: Biggest apple supporter apparently turns into android fan

                If it was with 120hz that will be fantastic for all users and especially who plays games a lot. yeah the others specs are great a tablet chip and five core GPU This is cool mini of Apple.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • fCC
                  • 18 Sep 2021

                  SizN80, 18 Sep 2021You need to understand that it is mostly desperate Android ... morenot everyone buys a phone cause of affordability. Some people prefer a better OS and hence they choose Android OS

                    • D
                    • AnonD-1018819
                    • M}3
                    • 18 Sep 2021

                    Kriegsherr, 18 Sep 2021That is why we need metal unibody phones again. Like htc on... moreYes and no. You can't just dump all the heat to the aluminium body. It'll get too warm even with low power chipsets found in phones. It would be easiest and most effective, but unfortunately isn't an option. Also durability is questionable. Aluminium is not actually that durable. It scratches easily and dents easily too.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • fCC
                      • 18 Sep 2021

                      🍿

                        AnonD-1018819, 18 Sep 2021Yeah, the issue is, you can't really transfer heat any... moreThat is why we need metal unibody phones again. Like htc one, iphone 5/6. They are more durable too.

                          Anonymous, 18 Sep 2021Keep hearing this BS over and over again Highly unreliab... moreYou need to understand that it is mostly desperate Android fans who come to these comments due to not being able afford Apple devices they want,they need every straw to hang on to :’D

                            • D
                            • AnonD-1018819
                            • M}3
                            • 18 Sep 2021

                            Anonymous, 18 Sep 2021This is why I have repeatedly told vapor chambers etc. only... moreYeah, the issue is, you can't really transfer heat anywhere. It gets even worse on phones with plastic chassis since plastic is an insulator. Metal unibody phones basically don't exist anymore and while glass is essentially transparent rock, it transfers heat sort of ok, way better than plastics, but you then face the issue of comfort. There is no problem transferring all the chipset heat to display surface or back of the case surface, but then it would be hot or at best very warm to hold and use and many people don't like that.

                            Some phones use tiny fans, but they lack internal heta transfer structure. You need some sort of contact area and fins through which air flows. In most cases they have nothing, just flat surface across which air flows from the tiny fan. Which is not very efficient.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • xZI
                              • 18 Sep 2021

                              AnonD-1018819, 18 Sep 2021Just using heatpipes or vapor chambers doesn't solve a... moreThis is why I have repeatedly told vapor chambers etc. only work on peripherals such as gaming laptops where it generates a lot of heat and it can be dissipated over a large surface area.

                              On phones it doesn’t serve much purpose. Some phones from Sony or Xiaomi gets seriously hot even with vapor chamber/heatsink.

                              If you want a real game get a console or PC. Otherwise most mobile games are simple games like Candy Crush. No point in gaming phones.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • xZI
                                • 18 Sep 2021

                                DroidBoye, 18 Sep 2021Genshin Impact tests for A14 was with the iPhone form-facto... moreKeep hearing this BS over and over again

                                Highly unreliable game with lots of bugs. This is like Cyberpunk 2077 just mobile. Besides most phones are already capable of running 98% games at maximum settings. My 12 Pro Max has no issues running Shadowgun Legends at max settings and that’s a very demanding game, just gets quite warm (does not trigger thermal throttling)

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • pN4
                                  • 18 Sep 2021

                                  Anonymous, 17 Sep 2021Why are binning different versions of the same chip? This i... moreThis is standard practise but Apple doesn't change the product name to fool people.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-1018819
                                    • M}3
                                    • 18 Sep 2021

                                    DroidBoye, 18 Sep 2021Genshin Impact tests for A14 was with the iPhone form-facto... moreJust using heatpipes or vapor chambers doesn't solve anything if they lead nowhere. You need to dissipate the heat you move away from chipset, otherwise heatpipe just stops working when all the liquid in it is vapor and never has the chance to condensate back.

                                      MagicMonkeyBoy, 17 Sep 2021Another thing to note... The A15 uses the same cores as the... moreNew instruction set (IS) ARMv8 to v9 does not necessarily equate to huge and direct performance gains. Apps/OS needs to be coded to take advantage of the new IS first and believe me when I tell you that when Apple does want to change to a new IS their OS and apps surely follow way faster than Android does. New IS improvement is a really good feature in paper (given the theoretical possibilities) but compared to real world performance, the new cores from ARM for the droids were still not up to par with the Apple's Bionic (assuming same generation) mainly due to die-size, 8-wide decoder block, and the large cache sizes that the Bionic uses.

                                        g949188, 18 Sep 20211 hour? that's a stretch... Go check genshin impact t... moreGenshin Impact tests for A14 was with the iPhone form-factor which has a limited thermal capacity. If reviewers rerun the tests on an iPads with A14 it will be a different story. Great performance = more heat, which simply require more heat dissipiation. The A14 tests in iPhones doesn't show the full potential of the SoC but it shows that Apple doesn't want to spend a penny for a copper heatpipe for their already expensive iPhones.

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