Apple has elevated the game with its latest iPad mini 7, a compact powerhouse now equipped with the impressive A17 Pro chip. Surprisingly, expectations were set for the A18 Pro, but the performance still shone through, albeit with an intriguing twist. Even with the same chipset, the iPhone 15 Pro Max appears to outpace the iPad mini 7 in speed, based on recent benchmark leaks.
Both devices share the A17 Pro, yet the iPhone edges out with a slight 4% advantage in single-core and multi-core performance on Geekbench 6. This sparked curiosity: were they using a slower processor for the iPad mini, perhaps like the one in the iPad mini 6? Actually, the main difference lies in the graphics prowess, with the iPad mini featuring a 5-core GPU compared to the 6-core GPU in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, both maintain identical CPU cores firing at 3.78GHz, suggesting software, not hardware, might be the culprit for these variations.
The iPad mini 7, running iOS 18, was pitted against an iPhone 15 Pro Max using the slightly updated iOS 18.0.1. It’s worth noting that Apple’s earlier tweak in iOS 18 aimed for power efficiency by delaying CPU boost frequency, initially impacting scores yet benefiting battery life. In iOS 18.0.1, Apple appears to have adjusted their strategy, which could explain these score differences.
As updates roll out, we’re eager to see how the iPad mini 7 performs once upgraded to iOS 18.0.1. It’s a waiting game to see if the score gap narrows, but until then, the iPad mini 7 remains an exciting compact tablet choice despite its intriguing performance disparities. Keep an eye out for future updates as we continue to explore its full potential.
