Recently, the introduction of the new generation of iPad mini has quite disappointed some Apple enthusiasts due to the minimum of interesting innovations that Apple I decided to use this tablet. Moreover, as it appears today, at least one new disappointment has only just surfaced. The A17 Pro chip, which is the new heart of the iPad mini, apparently won’t be as powerful as the A17 Pro in last year’s iPhone 15 Pro.
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Although both chips have the same name and therefore some would expect them to logically offer the same performance, a closer look at the technical specifications on Apple’s site reveals that while the A17 Pro of the iPhone 15 Pro had a 6-core processor and a 6-core processor. Main GPU, the A17 Pro chip in the iPad mini 7 “only” has a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU. The graphics performance of the new iPad should therefore be slightly lower than that of last year’s iPhones, which is quite surprising for this type of device. Apple here it most likely used a “binned” version of the chip, that is, to put it very simply, its second category, which did not work perfectly during production, but which can still be used, although with reduced performance.
During chip manufacturing, there may be slight differences between individual parts, which is why they are tested after production. These tests determine whether the chip meets certain specifications (e.g. operating frequency, power consumption, stability). Chips that meet all the required specifications at the highest level are included in the premium categories. Those with slightly lower performance or other characteristics are placed in lower categories. So in this case, the higher-tier chips went to the iPhone 15 Pro, while the lower-tier chips apparently went to the iPad mini 7.
