Apple’s updated iPad mini 7 has significantly improved performance and efficiency compared to the iPad mini 6, with the introduction of the A17 Pro as its latest compact tablet. The chipset choice came as a surprise as we expected the A18 Pro to be part of the internals, but new benchmark leaks say it could be even more perplexing. In single-core and multi-core results, last year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max is actually faster than the iPad mini 7, even though both devices have the same chipset.
Benchmark leaks show the A17 Pro running at the same clock speeds on both the iPad mini 7 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Software versions can cause score fluctuations
In Geekbench 6, the latest iPad mini 7 scores show single-core and multi-core results of 2,817 and 6,982. These numbers show that the A17 Pro is performing, but when comparing the same results to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, there was a 4% difference between single-core and multi-core results. You might be wondering if Apple uses the slower A17 Pro in the iPad mini 6, which is why the scores vary.
Well, that’s true in this case, but not quite since the iPad mini 6’s A17 Pro has a 5-core GPU instead of the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 6-core GPU. Comparing the CPU configurations, both SoCs are identical and the performance cores run at the same 3.78 GHz clock speed. The only explanation we have at this point is that different software versions are causing the performance variations.
By comparison, the iPad mini 7 ran iOS 18, and the new iOS 18.0.1 ran on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Previously, in-depth reviewers found that Apple introduced a slight delay to CPU boost frequency in iOS 18, resulting in lower Geekbench 6 scores, but on the plus side, it has improved power efficiency. , the battery life was improved.
With the new iOS 18 version, Apple seems to have reversed its original decision, which could be the reason for the difference in scores. We hope to see these results again when the iPad mini 7 is updated to iOS 18.0.1, so keep an eye out for those updates.
News source: Geekbench 6
