Apple on Tuesday announced a new generation of iPad mini, arriving three years after the launch of the iPad mini 6. The iPad mini 7 looks exactly the same as its predecessor on the outside, but there’s a key change inside: the A17 Pro chip. . Many claim this is the same chip as the iPhone 15 Pro, but the iPad mini 7 appears to be equipped with a binned version of the chip.
The A17 Pro chip in the iPad mini 7 is a binned version of the iPhone 15 Pro chip
The A17 Pro chip was introduced in the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max last year, but up until then these were the only devices to feature this chip. The iPhone’s A17 Pro chip has a 6-core CPU, 6-core GPU, and 8 GB of RAM. The iPad’s chip is likely to have 8GB of RAM, but Apple’s website suggests it uses a binned version of the chip with fewer cores.
Specifically, according to the iPad mini 7’s technical specifications, the A17 Pro chip used in this tablet has a 6-core CPU, but the GPU is 5-core, compared to the one used in the iPhone 15 Pro. One less chip than you have. Apple has used binned chips in some devices before, so this isn’t entirely surprising.
For those unfamiliar, chip binning is a quality control process in chip manufacturing. Rather than discarding a chip that has not reached the maximum performance of all cores, some cores can be deactivated so that the chip can be used with fewer cores.
Since the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max were discontinued in September, it’s easy to assume that Apple had a ton of A17 Pro chips and decided to use them in the iPad mini 7. We’re only talking about one less GPU core here, so the chip’s overall performance probably won’t be affected for most tasks.
Thanks to the A17 Pro chip with 8GB RAM, the new iPad mini is compatible with Apple Intelligence features that will be released in iPadOS 18.1 later this month.
Pre-orders for the iPad mini 7 are currently available on Apple’s website, but you can also find great deals on other iPad models on Amazon.
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