A11 processor for iPad Pros?

[lbdesign]

Does anyone have any rumors or intelligence on when Apple will update the iPads with the new processor? I am ready for a new iPad, but not if it's going to have an "older" processor than a phone has.
(yes, I realize the A10x is very, very good, but for the high cost, I am allowed to want the best ;-)

 

[lookn4wifi]

I would guess around June of 2018, one year removed from the release of the current iPPs. Then the iPhone 2018 will be released 3 months later with an A12 Bionic. Again, just a guess. With the current refresh cycles the iPad Pros' processors will be the latest and greatest for about one quarter.

 

[rumz]

Does anyone have any rumors or intelligence on when Apple will update the iPads with the new processor? I am ready for a new iPad, but not if it's going to have an "older" processor than a phone has.
(yes, I realize the A10x is very, very good, but for the high cost, I am allowed to want the best ;-)

No, no rumors or intel-- just common sense. The Pro line was updated 3 months ago, so I wouldn't hold your breath for anything before Spring at the earliest. (I have the first gen, so I'm holding out for 3rd gen Pros... I'm with ya, I'd love it if they showed up sooner than later.)
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With the current refresh cycles the iPad Pros' processors will be the latest and greatest for about one quarter.

It's worth noting that the A10 (iPhone 7) and A10X (iPad Pro 2nd gen) aren't exactly the same, and we don't know what kind of A11 variant the next gen Pro's might get.

"Per Apple, the A10X includes three high-performance processor cores and three high-efficiency cores. These are almost certainly the same cores in the A10 chip found in last year's iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphone. The main difference seems to be that while the A10 chip has two of each type of core, the A10X includes three."

You may as well just compare iPads to iPads rather than worrying about what chip the iPad has vs. the iPhone.

 

[maflynn]

Does anyone have any rumors or intelligence on when Apple will update the iPads with the new processor?

2018, the new iPad Pros are not even 6 months old, we'll not see any updates until next year.

I am ready for a new iPad, but not if it's going to have an "older" processor than a phone has.

What do you do, that requires the A11? Seems more like a preference then a need

Given the product cycles, the iPad will always be behind the iPhone.

 

[Raist3001]

Seriously, 30 percent faster in the grand scheme of things is the least spec on my radar.

 

[gobikerider]

Seriously, 30 percent faster in the grand scheme of things is the least spec on my radar.

The A11 while a very minimal improvement over the A10X, does up the overall efficiency a lot. I am really excited for the Apple GPU though. I want to see what they did because in the phone it went from a 6 core Power VR to a 3 Core Apple GPU. I cant even imagine what they will put in a iPad.

 

[BWhaler]

No one knows outside of Apple, although they are pretty good at spilling the beans nowadays.

Based on history, sometime next year we will see the A11X chip for the iPads. Given what we saw yesterday, it’ll probably be an absolute monster.

 

[onepoint]

Good question! It seems like Apple is already in the mood, judging by the quiet $50 price upgrade on iPP, so maybe they'll get around to the processor sooner than later as well.

 

[kiranmk2]

Trouble is I think Apple wanted to move a major product to refresh in the spring to avoid everything launching in the 2nd half of the year. I think the iPad Pros were supposed to launch in the Spring, but there were delays with the A10X causing it to shift to WWDC. I guess Apple will either update iPads in March-April timeframe with the A11X(giving it 6 months before the A12 outpaces it in a phone) or will hold out to next October and move straight to an A12X (and perhaps move the Watch refreshes to Spring)

 

[Greenmeenie]

Looks like someone has iphone envy. Don't sweat it dude. The A10X chip in the current ipad pros are plenty fast. And they can do things the new iphones with their fancy smancy A11 chips cannot. So if you need an ipad pro now...GET one. If not, then wait until the next upgrade next spring/summer when they'll get an A11X chip most likely and will be king of the heap. Um...at least for a few months when the new iphones with an A12 chip come out. Heh heh heh

 

[0989383]

Imagine the new iPad’s next June got the A12 chip first. Plot twist

 

[acorntoy]

The A10X is -slightly- slower multi core, but it's GPU OWNS THE A11. With an a11 graphics on the new iPad pros would be around the same as the first generation pros. Apple has been making strides but they obviously don't got the in house gpu's fully down. It's a reason why the new Apple TV used the a10x, it needs the gpu performance over the slight processor improvement.


http://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks

Apple says the graphics (metal) is 30% better than the a10, that leaves it far behind the power of the a10x, and around on par with the first generation iPad pros. Another reason to consider the 1080p screen iPhone


Tl;dr: The a11 is not all around better, it significantly lacks in the graphics department and adds only a bit to the multi core (using double the cores). Apple knows what their doing with releasing products with specific processors.

 

[lbdesign]

Tl;dr: The a11 is not all around better, it significantly lacks in the graphics department and adds only a bit to the multi core (using double the cores). Apple knows what their doing with releasing products with specific processors.

Thank you. This makes me feel better!
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What do you do, that requires the A11? Seems more like a preference then a need

I'm a designer. Yes, it's a preference, not a need. Having recently paid too much money for a 15" MBP that I don't really like, I want any more money I throw at Apple to be for something that won't feel obsolete too quickly.

My reply is now veering off-topic, but my use-case is to be able to type comfortably on a device where the giant trackpad doesn't interfere with my typing, and the keyboard isn't totally numb. So the idea of paying $1000+ for another device in order to get a better touch and typing experience than a $3000+ MPB irks me.

 

[onepoint]

The A10X is -slightly- slower multi core, but it's GPU OWNS THE A11. With an a11 graphics on the new iPad pros would be around the same as the first generation pros. Apple has been making strides but they obviously don't got the in house gpu's fully down. It's a reason why the new Apple TV used the a10x, it needs the gpu performance over the slight processor improvement.


http://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks

Apple says the graphics (metal) is 30% better than the a10, that leaves it far behind the power of the a10x, and around on par with the first generation iPad pros. Another reason to consider the 1080p screen iPhone


Tl;dr: The a11 is not all around better, it significantly lacks in the graphics department and adds only a bit to the multi core (using double the cores). Apple knows what their doing with releasing products with specific processors.

Related to ProMotion in the iPad Pro, I assume?

 

[acorntoy]

Related to ProMotion in the iPad Pro, I assume?

Most likely. I'm willing to bet the extra refresh rate uses a good amount of the horsepower, leaving it probably -slightly- better in actuality than the A9X. Could probably make some amazing games run on a 1080P tv screen though with the new Apple TV.

 

[ironsword]

It could be sooner than we think. Just look at the jump from A5X (found in the ipad 3rd gen) released in March 2012 to A6X (ipad 4th gen) released 8 months later in October 2012. Might be a quiet update. Perhaps an A11X for ipad pro series launch in october/november.

 

[maflynn]

It could be sooner than we think. Just look at the jump from A5X (found in the ipad 3rd gen) released in March 2012 to A6X (ipad 4th gen) released 8 months later in October 2012.

That actually hurt apple more then it helped, because of the bad PR and angering customers. The idea was that people thought that the Apple messed up on the 3rd gen iPad and had to go back to the drawing board.

I doubt that apple will go down that path again, they're finally increasing iPad sales, why do something that could potentially piss off their user base.

 

[Cakefish]

A10X is already on 10nm manufacturing node vs A10's 16nm node. So in terms of power efficiency it's more similar to the A11 than the A10.

iPhones will always be ahead. You'll get the A11X in Spring/Summer 2018 and then it'll be beaten once more by the next iPhone's A12 [insert catchy subtitle] in September. iPhones are simply higher priority for Apple as they generate much more revenue.

It's the same in the wider tablet industry. I can't think of a single Android tablet that has the Snapdragon 835. The latest Samsung tablet released this Spring has a Snapdragon 821.

I mean, don't get me wrong, the fact that the A11 can utilise all of its cores simultaneously is great. But A10X is no slouch, it almost matches the 2 big cores and 4 little cores of the A11 chip in multicore benchmark score whilst only being able to utilise 3 big cores simultaneously. The 2+4 iPhone combo is only just ahead of the big 3 A10X cores. Not bad, and that's in part thanks to both being on the same 10nm process node. Previously iPad SOCs were always using the same process node as the preceding iPhone (20nm for A8 and A8X, 16nm for A9 and A9X).

I just bought a 10.5" Pro so yeah, I get the fact that a phone being faster is somewhat disheartening but this is the new reality of the industry; smartphones get priority because they sell in much larger volumes than tablets. At the end of the day the 10.5" Pro is blazing fast and I think you'd struggle to notice a difference between the iPad Pro and iPhone 8 in real world usage.

 

[aakshey]

If and when A11X comes up around June 2018, I expect it to be at least 20-30% faster in ST and about 60-100% faster in MT.

 

[Cakefish]

If and when A11X comes up around June 2018, I expect it to be at least 20-30% faster in ST and about 60-100% faster in MT.

A12 in September will very likely beat it though. It's the historical pattern that Apple has developed.

A9 bested the A8X
A10 bested the A9X
A11 bested the A10X

So if your only priority is to have an iPad that's faster than an iPhone, you'll never really be satisfied for long.

 

[Strelok]

One thing to keep in mind is that while the A10X is slightly slower than the A11, the graphics in the A10X are still much faster than the A11.

 

[Leo90]

Just get the current iPad Pros, they are extremely snappy and an excellent portable computer. Even though it has an A10X (a blazing fast processor with much improved graphics compared to A11), you can do so much more on an iPad. Besides, there is no point comparing iPhones with iPads as they serve quite different purposes.

 

[ironsword]

A10X is already on 10nm manufacturing node vs A10's 16nm node. So in terms of power efficiency it's more similar to the A11 than the A10.

iPhones are simply higher priority for Apple as they generate much more revenue.

That's true.

You'll get the A11X in Spring/Summer 2018 and then it'll be beaten once more by the next iPhone's A12 [insert catchy subtitle] in September

Have a look at previous releases:

iPhone 4 - A5 - Sept. 2011
iPad 2 - A5 - Mar. 2011

iPad 3 - A5X - Mar. 2012

iPhone 5 - A6 - Sept. 2012
iPad 4 - A6X - Oct. 2012

iPhone 5S - A7 - Sept. 2013
iPad Air - A7 - Oct. 2013

iPhone 6 - A8 - Sept. 2014
iPad Air 2 - A8X - Oct. 2014

iPhone 6S - A9 - Sept. 2015
iPad Pro - A9X - Nov. 2015

iPhone 7 - A10 - Sept. 2016
iPad "2017" - A9 - Mar. 2017
iPad Pro 2 - A10X - June 2017

iPhone 8 - A11 - Sept. 2017

Apple have had a pretty consistent schedule of releasing iPhone's with their new chip followed by iPad's with "X" variant chips a month later. This is true for all except the introduction of the iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad Air.

It's quite possible that we'll see Apple:
a) Quietly update the iPad Pro with an A11X after the iPhone X release or
b) Prolong iPad Pro 2 life cycle until October 2018, potentially skipping A11X and going to A12X (or even A12 like they did with the iPad Air's A9) or
c) Stick to a yearly update and release new iPad Pro's with A11X in June.

I suppose it all really depends on how well they sell and how Apple want to position their Pro line.

 

[Strelok]

No way they would do a “silent” upgrade. They’ll make sure to announce it if they add the A11X in there, I mean it’s one of the last things you can really mention in iPad keynotes with a big improvement.

 

[Count Blah]

Timing is such that I would not expect it for 6-12 months from now, leaning more to the 12 month cycle. Enjoy what you have, or get the best not.

It’s up to you!