The first performance tests are already beginning to show that the A15 Bionic chip in the new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro should not be underestimated, even retaining the same 5nm in their transistors as the A14 Bionic. That makes us also look favorably on the new iPad mini, although it seems that those same benchmarks indicate that your A15 could be a somewhat more limited version of the chip.
The Geekbench website reveals that the clock frequency of those chips in the iPad mini is 2.93 GHz, while that of the iPhone 13 is 3.2 GHz. That translates into a reduction in the performance of the iPad mini of between 2 and 8% compared to that of the iPhone according to MacRumors, with results of 1,595 and 4,540 in tests single-core and multi-core respectively.
Temperature, autonomy … there is a reason but we will never know
What reason should there be for Apple to limit its A15 chip in the iPad mini, a device that is larger than the iPhone 13 and therefore should not have overheating or power failure issues? Surely there is a compelling reason, although officially we will never know.
It could be something complicated engineering at a low level, or simply those extra GHz were not necessary for the screen of the iPad Pro. Or perhaps that extra power harmed the autonomy too much, and making this “reduction” could continue to promise the already classic autonomy of ten hours on the tablet.
Either way, the new iPad mini it is still much faster than its predecessor, which equips the A12 chip. And although it is not as fast as in the iPhone 13, this iPad mini is one of the most powerful launched to date. Small, but bully.