iPad No love for the A11 Bionic?

[bniu]

Seems like the A11 Bionic chip is skipped over by so many products, iPad repeated A10 for 6th and 7th Gen, and then went directly to A12, iPad Air and mini both skipped directly to A12, ATV skipped directly to A12, iPad Pros never bothered with an A11X, what was it about the A11 that made it so easy to skip over?

seems like it only existed in iPhone 8, 8+, X

 

[casperes1996]

It’s not something about the A11 that’s special. It’s the A10 that’s special. As was the A8 - They were just more mass produced. All the Macs with T2 chips are essentially variants of the A10. And mass production like that is just cheaper. A8, A10 and A12 just were the generations that had higher production volume. It’s all about logistics and cost effective production

 

[iOSpecialist]

Perhaps TSMC had other customers wanting to use the 10 nm node (snapdragon 845). Or, Apple wanted to make the iPad 8th gen seem like a big upgrade because of the performance increase. These days, Apple seems to have more priority when it comes to TSMC’s newest nodes, so maybe we’ll get an iPad update with A13. Casperes1996 also makes a good point. The even number chips seem to be used in more products like ipad, iPad mini, Apple TV, and original homepod.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Yeah, the odd numbered A series chips have always been the 2nd generation of chip on the same architecture, so have not gotten the big pushes, or the extra development into X/Z versions. A9 (although I think the A9 did get an X variant for the iPad Air 2??), A11, A13, all the same. Mostly used only in iPhones because they are the only product on a strict annual update schedule.

 

[ian87w]

Yeah, the odd numbered A series chips have always been the 2nd generation of chip on the same architecture, so have not gotten the big pushes, or the extra development into X/Z versions. A9 (although I think the A9 did get an X variant for the iPad Air 2??), A11, A13, all the same. Mostly used only in iPhones because they are the only product on a strict annual update schedule.

The A9 at least got into the 1st gen iPad Pros as A9X.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

The A9 at least got into the 1st gen iPad Pros as A9X.

That was it - the 1st gen iPad Pro - My wife still has the 9.7” in Rose Gold she uses as her daily.

 

[Tsepz]

Seems like the A11 Bionic chip is skipped over by so many products, iPad repeated A10 for 6th and 7th Gen, and then went directly to A12, iPad Air and mini both skipped directly to A12, ATV skipped directly to A12, iPad Pros never bothered with an A11X, what was it about the A11 that made it so easy to skip over?

seems like it only existed in iPhone 8, 8+, X

I think the A13 chip is going the same way, only been used in iPhone 11 series and SE 2020.

I think @casperes1996 makes a great point.