Apple A14 and A14X SoCs

TensorFlow Blog has a post with some benchmark results from the new Apple optimized Accelerated TensorFlow 2.4 on M1:

https://blog.tensorflow.org/2020/11/accelerating-tensorflow-performance-on-mac.html

Since it's several times faster than the 13" Intel Macbook Pro I guess it utilizes the "Neural Engines" on M1.
Neural Engine wasn’t mentioned by Apple’s press release and ML Compute documentation, and the API doesn’t really have a way to select Neural Engine as the executor. This appears to be an abstraction around both Accelerate (CPU) and Metal Performance Shaders (GPU), presumably with some adaptive logic in choosing executors.
 
Buried inside Bloomberg's rumor about ARM Mac chips is a tidbit about an upcoming iPad Pro:
Mark Gurman and Ian King said:
The M1 chip is a variation of a new iPad processor destined to be included in a new iPad Pro arriving next year.
I think a lot of people assume that the chip in the next iPad Pro, which has universally been given the placeholder of "A14X," is either the same chip as the M1 or has an extremely similar configuration.
 
Buried inside Bloomberg's rumor about ARM Mac chips is a tidbit about an upcoming iPad Pro:
I think a lot of people assume that the chip in the next iPad Pro, which has universally been given the placeholder of "A14X," is either the same chip as the M1 or has an extremely similar configuration.

It wouldn't make much sense to tape out another 5nm chip with a similar configuration. The iPad Pro volumes are not large enough to justify this (one of the reasons we saw the update earlier this year use the 12Z instead of a new A13X). I'd wager it'll be the M1 with 7 GPU cores enabled, and possibly clocked slightly lower for thermal reasons, given the smaller size of the ipad vs macbook.
 
M1 and A14 probably use the same cores?

Also interesting that this new iPad Pro has "up to" 16 GB RAM. Would be the first time they have separate SKUs or configurations for RAM on the same iPad model.

The other things of note are Thunderbolt and XDR display on the 12.9 inch model, capable of 1600 nits peak. That is the mini-LED display.
 
M1 and A14 probably use the same cores?

Also interesting that this new iPad Pro has "up to" 16 GB RAM. Would be the first time they have separate SKUs or configurations for RAM on the same iPad model.

The other things of note are Thunderbolt and XDR display on the 12.9 inch model, capable of 1600 nits peak. That is the mini-LED display.
8 GB RAM for iPad Pro with upto 512 GB, 16 GB for 1/2 TB. And actually not, the iPad Pro (2018) had different RAM sizes depending on storage, iPad - Wikipedia
 
Geekbench results show almost 60% cpu improvement of iPad Pro 2021 over 2020.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/compare/7480142?baseline=7499235

Description of new iPad 2021 is invalid, but many parameters like 16gb of ram, double l1/l2 cache looks ok.

If someone had a time to scan a bit Geekbench result dB, the oldest one were submitted in nov 2020.

Impressive specs but you could be in for some sticker shock.

So to get the iPad Pro with 16 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB, you have to buy the 1 or 2 TB versions, which are $1499 and $1799 for the 11 and 12.9-inch versions, Wifi only.

Add cellular and it's $200 more.

I don't know how these prices compared in 2020 models but it's essentially a $2000 device.

TBH, I'm using a bit over 45 GB on a 256 GB model (2017 10.5 inch iPad Pro) right now. That's with some music (way more than I will listen to), some Prime video downloads, Lightroom.


I could download maybe 5-10 GB more of movies and TV shows but that would last me weeks or months.

So I could do fine with 128 GB storage but that would mean only 8 GB of RAM. So $700 more to get an additional 8 GB of RAM and go from 128 GB to 1 TB of space that I don't need. Another $200 for 5G.

So al that for a $1500 to $1700 mobile device, rather than a full OS with way more productive UI like windowing, cursor control and file management.

iPad is media consumption for me so I guess I better look at what the Air series looks like whenever it gets 5G. Hmm no Pro Motion for the Air series either.
 
No.

Especially not in a mobile power envelope setting.

Cheers

Yeah was thinking that, Apple seems very far ahead as opposed to Android SoC chipsets (qualcom, exynos, hisillicon etc).
Imagine, if Iphone 13 will have anything close to the M1's power.

Impressive specs but you could be in for some sticker shock.

So to get the iPad Pro with 16 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB, you have to buy the 1 or 2 TB versions, which are $1499 and $1799 for the 11 and 12.9-inch versions, Wifi only.

Add cellular and it's $200 more.

I don't know how these prices compared in 2020 models but it's essentially a $2000 device.

TBH, I'm using a bit over 45 GB on a 256 GB model (2017 10.5 inch iPad Pro) right now. That's with some music (way more than I will listen to), some Prime video downloads, Lightroom.


I could download maybe 5-10 GB more of movies and TV shows but that would last me weeks or months.

So I could do fine with 128 GB storage but that would mean only 8 GB of RAM. So $700 more to get an additional 8 GB of RAM and go from 128 GB to 1 TB of space that I don't need. Another $200 for 5G.

So al that for a $1500 to $1700 mobile device, rather than a full OS with way more productive UI like windowing, cursor control and file management.

iPad is media consumption for me so I guess I better look at what the Air series looks like whenever it gets 5G. Hmm no Pro Motion for the Air series either.

The Tab S7+ could be a good contenter if your not into apples ecosystem.
 
I'm not in a hurry to upgrade yet.

My current model works fine.

The M1 looks great performance wise but I'm not doing anything that requires a lot of CPU or GPU.
 
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