The A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro has six GPU cores, while the same chip in the new iPad Mini only has five GPU cores. why?
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Chip manufacturing is an advanced engineering process that uses nanometer-scale arrangements of tracks and transistors to create CPUs and GPUs. However, not all chips are created equal. Differences in silicon material and manufacturing process cause differences in performance.
After manufacturing, each chip undergoes rigorous testing for key performance metrics such as speed, power consumption, and heat output. Based on these ratings, chips are sorted into different “bins.”
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High-performance chips with power efficiency and good frequency, or fully functional cores, fall into the premium bin. In contrast, chips with poor performance or defects are assigned to lower bins.
This binning process allows manufacturers to optimize profits by selling chips according to their capabilities.
Major chipmakers like Intel and AMD have been using this strategy for years, and Apple is following suit.
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recently, 9To5 Mac A17 Pro chip New iPad Mini The iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro has a 6-core CPU and 5-core GPU, while the iPhone 15 Pro has a 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU.
Rather than making its own chips for the iPad Mini, Apple’s chip maker TSMC likely had a batch of A17 Pro chips with five functioning GPU cores. Apple may have chosen to use these chips in the iPad Mini. Additionally, the reduction in GPU cores may not be due to a defect, but rather an intentional decision to create a more cost-effective chip by intentionally disabling cores.
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Apple will likely contract with TSMC to manufacture a certain number of A17 Pro chips with five-core GPUs, leaving it up to TSMC to decide how to achieve that quantity. In particular, apart from differences in core counts, all chips, regardless of bin classification, have passed the necessary quality control tests.
Ultimately, whether the core is disabled by a defect or by intentional design, the end result remains the same. It’s a functional chip!
However, I agree that Apple’s use of the same name for chips with different specifications can be a little confusing for users who are interested in the number of cores in the silicon.
