The Apple iPad Air 2 Review
by Joshua Ho on November 7, 2014 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Apple
- Mobile
- iOS
- ipad Air 2
CPU Performance
Now that we’ve managed to take a good look at the changes between the A8 and A8X, we can get a good idea of what those differences translate to in some real world performance. While we’ve already seen pure CPU performance, such differences can be small when viewed from real applications. To this end, we use a few browser benchmarks and similar benchmarks. I definitely want to caution against comparing SoCs across platforms though, as rendering engines have a significant effect upon the performance of the device.
There's really not too much that needs to be said here, as the extra core and minor clock speed bump make for ridiculous amounts of performance. The A8X is class-leading here despite generally having fewer cores and lower clocks than the rest of the competition. However, in comparison to A8 we don't see a massive jump in performance. This seems to suggest that even a third core will invoke diminishing returns in general, although these changes mean that it's enough for the iPad Air 2 to be one of the fastest ARM-based devices on the market. One can see an odd regression in the Basemark OS II storage test, but this is likely to be production variances in NAND quality rather than anything notable.
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blackcrayon - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Me too, disappointed Apple didn't release a new Apple TV this year- but the A8X seems perfect for it.Tigran - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Very strange not to see Nexus 9 in the benchmarks to compare.ajangada - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Anandtech had a Nexus 9 with older version of firmware. They're yet to conduct a full review with latest shipping firmware.Tigran - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Great, I look forward to see it.JoshHo - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
I can confirm that we have received a unit with final hardware and software.techcrazy - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Finally 2 gb ram now it's worth buying.cygnus1 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
I've been on the S upgrade cycle since the 3GS and I'm hoping they stick to that 2GB of RAM for the iPhone 6S. It's too noticeable on the previous generations now just how limiting the 1GB is. Barely any apps remain in memory with 1GB and constant tab refreshes in browsers if you are heavily multi-tabbing.Midwayman - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
They really should have gone 2gb on the phones and 3gb on the ipad. I know it was a huge game changer getting 2gb on my android devices.danbob999 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Next year 2GB won't be enough. High end 64-bit phones will need 4GB.Hyper72 - Friday, November 7, 2014 - link
Indeed. I just replaced my iPad 2 with an Air 2/16GB for the 2GB RAM and the impressive single thread performance. I use it mainly for browsing and it's a very nice upgrade indeed.