Hello! Today I wanted to talk about the iPad Air, that has been somewhat eclipsed by all this M4 iPad Pro noise.
This is a thought that arose in me only a couple of days ago, when we all already assume the new iPad Pro are coming with an M4 SoC. Most people assume that the Air is getting the M2 SoC, and some think the Air is getting an M3 SoC. However, I think there are enough reasons to think that putting an M4 SoC also on the iPad Air would make sense. Let's begin with...
The downsides of the expected options for the iPad Air:
- Putting an M2 SoC is still the most likely option for the iPad Air, it provides a wider bandwidth RAM, a faster SoC (especially regarding the GPU and the NPU), and it is a decent spec bump for the in between member of the iPad family. Also, the M2 SoC is probably much cheaper to manufacture. However, the M2 is already a bit old SoC, which will become even older once the M4 takes the stage. The iPad Air getting an M2 now, while MacBooks are already on M3, the iPad Pro is on M4, and the remaining M2 machines such as the minis will be upgraded to M4 later this year, leaves the Air in a bad space if it gets an M2 in mid 2024. So maybe they opt for an M3?
- Putting an M3 SoC would leave the iPad on a more decent position, being not as powerful as the iPad Pro, but at the same level of most other M-powered devices. For some people, this is the logical step. However, there are two downsides to this approach: 1) Apple wants to get rid of the M3 gen ASAP, because the N3B is not a cheap process, and it also isn't a big jump in performance and features such as it is expected from the M4, especially regarding its AI capabilities. Let's recall that the M3 Neural Engine is nowhere near as powerful as the A17 Pro one, despite sharing CPU and GPU architectures. And 2) I have the impression that the A17/M3 gen runs hotter due to the high clocks. On a Macbook it may run fine, but the iPad is a highly thermally constrained enclosure.
Reasons to put the M4 on the iPad Air, as well as on the iPad Pro:
- Simply put, if there are any exclusive M4 SoC features, mostly AI-centered through a more powerful NPU or a more ML-capable GPU, I don't think Apple wants to leave them exclusive to a small subset of their iPad lineup, especially because Apple will eventually put the M4 on the Air. So... why hold off a whole year while the iPad Pro, and all the Macs later this year, are getting the M4 in 2024? The N3E seems like a refined process with good yields that has been used by TSMC to manufacture some chip since December 2023. They are stocking this chips only for the iPad Pro? Maybe... or maybe not.
- There's no longer a reason to differentiate the iPad Air and Pro based on the System-on-a-Chip, because the new iPad Pro design will be enough differentiator with the gorgeous -and expensive- OLED display, Face ID, new Apple Pencil 3 support, and maybe other goodies such as wireless charging. So, why keep the iPad Air, with an older design, and an older screen tech, with an old M2 SoC, or an expensive-to-manufacture M3? You put the M4 on both iPads, and upsell the Pro with the OLED screen, new Apple Pencil, nano-textured glass option, and other benefits. That way, whenever the WWDC announces the new AI capabilities, they can feature two products on the same keynote supporting those exclusive features, such as on-device LLM, or an even faster LLM relative to the M3 products. I also think there's a chance we see many Macs receiving an M4 refresh during the WWDC, but that belongs to another thread...
Maybe you've thought about this at MaxTech, @vadimyuryev , but I think it is a good food for thought.
Only 2 days remaining to know everything about the M4 and the new iPads on the Let Loose event.
This is a thought that arose in me only a couple of days ago, when we all already assume the new iPad Pro are coming with an M4 SoC. Most people assume that the Air is getting the M2 SoC, and some think the Air is getting an M3 SoC. However, I think there are enough reasons to think that putting an M4 SoC also on the iPad Air would make sense. Let's begin with...
The downsides of the expected options for the iPad Air:
- Putting an M2 SoC is still the most likely option for the iPad Air, it provides a wider bandwidth RAM, a faster SoC (especially regarding the GPU and the NPU), and it is a decent spec bump for the in between member of the iPad family. Also, the M2 SoC is probably much cheaper to manufacture. However, the M2 is already a bit old SoC, which will become even older once the M4 takes the stage. The iPad Air getting an M2 now, while MacBooks are already on M3, the iPad Pro is on M4, and the remaining M2 machines such as the minis will be upgraded to M4 later this year, leaves the Air in a bad space if it gets an M2 in mid 2024. So maybe they opt for an M3?
- Putting an M3 SoC would leave the iPad on a more decent position, being not as powerful as the iPad Pro, but at the same level of most other M-powered devices. For some people, this is the logical step. However, there are two downsides to this approach: 1) Apple wants to get rid of the M3 gen ASAP, because the N3B is not a cheap process, and it also isn't a big jump in performance and features such as it is expected from the M4, especially regarding its AI capabilities. Let's recall that the M3 Neural Engine is nowhere near as powerful as the A17 Pro one, despite sharing CPU and GPU architectures. And 2) I have the impression that the A17/M3 gen runs hotter due to the high clocks. On a Macbook it may run fine, but the iPad is a highly thermally constrained enclosure.
Reasons to put the M4 on the iPad Air, as well as on the iPad Pro:
- Simply put, if there are any exclusive M4 SoC features, mostly AI-centered through a more powerful NPU or a more ML-capable GPU, I don't think Apple wants to leave them exclusive to a small subset of their iPad lineup, especially because Apple will eventually put the M4 on the Air. So... why hold off a whole year while the iPad Pro, and all the Macs later this year, are getting the M4 in 2024? The N3E seems like a refined process with good yields that has been used by TSMC to manufacture some chip since December 2023. They are stocking this chips only for the iPad Pro? Maybe... or maybe not.
- There's no longer a reason to differentiate the iPad Air and Pro based on the System-on-a-Chip, because the new iPad Pro design will be enough differentiator with the gorgeous -and expensive- OLED display, Face ID, new Apple Pencil 3 support, and maybe other goodies such as wireless charging. So, why keep the iPad Air, with an older design, and an older screen tech, with an old M2 SoC, or an expensive-to-manufacture M3? You put the M4 on both iPads, and upsell the Pro with the OLED screen, new Apple Pencil, nano-textured glass option, and other benefits. That way, whenever the WWDC announces the new AI capabilities, they can feature two products on the same keynote supporting those exclusive features, such as on-device LLM, or an even faster LLM relative to the M3 products. I also think there's a chance we see many Macs receiving an M4 refresh during the WWDC, but that belongs to another thread...
Maybe you've thought about this at MaxTech, @vadimyuryev , but I think it is a good food for thought.
Only 2 days remaining to know everything about the M4 and the new iPads on the Let Loose event.
