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iPad Pro What Will The M2 iPad Pro Bring to the Table? Is an M2 iPad Overkill?

jazz1

jazz1

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Aug 19, 2002
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Can the future, rumored M2 iPad Pro take full advantage of the M2 CPU chip given its design and size, and of course iOS? My current question is not about the M2 MacBook Air vs. the iPad Pro. Though that is a very valid question for a lot of people (including me as I tend to drool over new Apple hardware). Yes I owned a Newton Apple's first personal digital assistant. :p

The M2 MacBook Air is out, but it seems not to be able to meet the full potential of the M2 chip (due to heat throttling/lower 256GB SSD slower speeds vs. the 512SSD). So I have to wonder where that is going to leave the future M2 iPad Pro performance wise? Is it going to be overkill?

As an owner of a "tricked out" M1 iPad Pro 12.9" (16GB RAM and 1TB SSD) I have to say it probably was an overindulgence given the current state of iOS. Maybe iOS 16 will finally settle that question? 😉

So I guess we will just have to wait and see, but opinions are most welcome!
 
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Unlike Mac, iPad Pro at least can game, and demanding (aka poorly designed and programmed) games will exploit the full potential of M2 (cough genshin impact cough) and bring it to its knees.

Outside gaming though, iPad Pro, M2 or not, is still limited and will continue to be limited by iOS. I’m more than interested to see how much Apple can patch iOS into a Frankenstein with pretty looks in the name of iPadOS, without touching dual boot (imagine booting iPad Pro into Linux) or even offer macOS support on iPad Pro.
 
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Shirasaki said:
Unlike Mac, iPad Pro at least can game, and demanding (aka poorly designed and programmed) games will exploit the full potential of M2 (cough genshin impact cough) and bring it to its knees.

Outside gaming though, iPad Pro, M2 or not, is still limited and will continue to be limited by iOS. I’m more than interested to see how much Apple can patch iOS into a Frankenstein with pretty looks in the name of iPadOS, without touching dual boot (imagine booting iPad Pro into Linux) or even offer macOS support on iPad Pro.
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Ha, love the Linux idea on an iPad! I ran Ubuntu on a Macbook years ago. It was interesting and fun! I even ran Windows, but it almost melted my Macbook:eek:
 
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Shirasaki said:
Unlike Mac, iPad Pro at least can game, and demanding (aka poorly designed and programmed) games will exploit the full potential of M2 (cough genshin impact cough) and bring it to its knees.
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Would it actually run the GPU full speed without throttling though?
 
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Too much performance have never been an issue so enjoy this as long as it last (it will not). However, the M2 draw too much power for iPad. Less battery life than today is not acceptable. A 3nm M2 for iPad would be nice but I doubt that unless Apple want to test the 3 nm process on small series of SoCs.

The iPad OS 16 allows apps to allocate more RAM and will do wonders for more complex apps. Hardware and OS come before software and the two former is now there for RAM hungry apps.
 
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Wags said:
Thought iOS 16 is giving more access to ram with m1 and newer.
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It is but the M1’s getting that as well.

In terms of OS/software features, there’s probably not going to be much difference between the M1 and M2 iPad Pros except for very specific use cases (e.g. ProRes video editing).

The M2 is more for folks with 2020 iPad Pro or older. Not so much for M1 iPad Pro users.
 
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Apple have hit ausssies with a $400 increase on the base air 2 so imagine the new iPads will be similar.
 
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I think the issue is that there simply aren't apps that would really tax an M2 chip in a future iPad Pro. At most, maybe it will run stage manager a little more smoothly compared to an M1 iPad?
 
Abazigal said:
I think the issue is that there simply aren't apps that would really tax an M2 chip in a future iPad Pro. At most, maybe it will run stage manager a little more smoothly compared to an M1 iPad?
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Iirc, M2 is a fairly minor performance bump (20% CPU, 35% GPU) but with worse thermals than M1.

As @iPadified mentioned, too much performance is never an issue.

The 2017 iPad Pro (A10X/4GB) used to be considered OP but I’ve had it freeze and stutter on me several times after upgrading to iPadOS 13+, not to mention constant reloads when multitasking.

I certainly wouldn’t want to see Apple turning into Intel with stagnant chip development year after year.
 
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rui no onna said:
Iirc, M2 is a fairly minor performance bump (20% CPU, 35% GPU) but with worse thermals than M1.

As @iPadified mentioned, too much performance is never an issue.

The 2017 iPad Pro (A10X/4GB) used to be considered OP but I’ve had it freeze and stutter on me several times after upgrading to iPadOS 13+, not to mention constant reloads when multitasking.

I certainly wouldn’t want to see Apple turning into Intel with stagnant chip development year after year.
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Did an Keynote to movie export today on my 2020. Took 1 minute 46 seconds for a 1 minute 28 second video. Far from fast I would say. More performance please. The M1 will be better but far from a 10 second export that would be more acceptable.

Those who say the nothing taxes the iPP should actually start using it for more than browsing and playing around in the files app. Sorry for sounding bit short but I am tired of the mantra "iPadOS is limiting the iPad" when it is in reality the said people usage pattern that cannot tax the iPad Pro. Fine, there are other iPads around.

Oh yes, and Macs. These are quite good today despite having a iPad Pro chip inside (A14X aka M1 or M2 aka A15X). /s
 
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I personally think M2 makes no sense in iPad. Both, MBP M2 and MBA M2 struggle with throttling at different stages. If MBA is any indication what iPad might experience, I would say, don't even bother with M2 iPad at this time and instead wait for M3 where the chip die is down to 3nm to help with heat. Apple could also develop a lower performing M2 version with slower clocks and smaller heat envelope to deal with it, but then what would be the point compared to the current M1?
 
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We thought the M1 was overkill (and it was) until now with iPad OS 16 there are features that only work with the M1 (which is debatable if it should anyway).

I have a 2018 11" Pro and a 2021 11" Pro with M1 and honestly 95% of the time I can't tell the difference. Even some of that is in my head as my 2018 has a cracked screen and is space gray instead of silver.
 
azentropy said:
I have a 2018 11" Pro and a 2021 11" Pro with M1 and honestly 95% of the time I can't tell the difference. Even some of that is in my head as my 2018 has a cracked screen and is space gray instead of silver.
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To be fair, that holds true for Mac as well. I have a 2014 MBP (backup/lab) and 2022 MBP M1 Pro and most of the time there is no significant difference in experience.
mlody said:
I personally think M2 makes no sense in iPad. Both, MBP M2 and MBA M2 struggle with throttling at different stages. If MBA is any indication what iPad might experience, I would say, don't even bother with M2 iPad at this time and instead wait for M3 where the chip die is down to 3nm to help with heat. Apple could also develop a lower performing M2 version with slower clocks and smaller heat envelope to deal with it, but then what would be the point compared to the current M1?
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I agree. M2 will not be a good fit for iPad. I heard a rumor (!) that the 3 nm will come early 2023. A 2023 3nm SoC for iPad Pro would then coincide with rumored release of 14 inch screens. That would make much more sense.
 
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mlody said:
I personally think M2 makes no sense in iPad. Both, MBP M2 and MBA M2 struggle with throttling at different stages. If MBA is any indication what iPad might experience, I would say, don't even bother with M2 iPad at this time and instead wait for M3 where the chip die is down to 3nm to help with heat. Apple could also develop a lower performing M2 version with slower clocks and smaller heat envelope to deal with it, but then what would be the point compared to the current M1?
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M2 throttling is irrelevant because iPad apps aren't going to tax the iPads. And even when throttling the M2 Air was between 15% (CPU tasks) and 30% (GPU tasks) faster than the M1 Air.

So once we ignore that red herring, the M2 iPads will be similarly faster than the M1 iPads depending on what you are doing. Not enough for most M1 iPad owners to upgrade, but still an improvement.
 
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darngooddesign said:
M2 throttling is irrelevant because iPad apps aren't going to tax the iPads. And even when throttling the M2 Air was between 15% (CPU tasks) and 30% (GPU tasks) faster than the M1 Air.

So once we ignore that red herring, the M2 iPads will be similarly faster than the M1 iPads depending on what you are doing. Not enough for most M1 iPad owners to upgrade, but still an improvement.
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It’s not the point-battery life will be even poorer. That is the reason M2 is not a good fit.
 
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azentropy said:
We thought the M1 was overkill (and it was) until now with iPad OS 16 there are features that only work with the M1 (which is debatable if it should anyway).

I have a 2018 11" Pro and a 2021 11" Pro with M1 and honestly 95% of the time I can't tell the difference. Even some of that is in my head as my 2018 has a cracked screen and is space gray instead of silver.
Click to expand...
So do we, promotion is the killer of the 2018
 
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