[HN Gopher] Apple downgrades new M2 iPad Air, 9-core GPU instead...
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Apple downgrades new M2 iPad Air, 9-core GPU instead of 10-core
Author : janandonly
Score : 30 points
Date : 2024-06-01 21:22 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (9to5mac.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (9to5mac.com)
| thimabi wrote:
| It should be interesting to see if they actually sold iPads with
| less GPU cores than the specs say, or if the downgrade is just
| for a new SKU.
| upon_drumhead wrote:
| It seems pretty clear that it was a mistake and that all of
| them sold in the last three weeks were 9 core variants.
| O5vYtytb wrote:
| That's a rather large mistake for a multi trillion dollar
| company with a very small selection of products. Wtf?
| outofpaper wrote:
| Imagine a world where you can upgrade your device's RAM,
| storage, and cores with a simple digital purchase. It's a
| bittersweet idea--practical for many, yet potentially
| pricey. Could Apple be considering this innovation?
| mananaysiempre wrote:
| Innovation as in tried hy Intel[1] in 2010 and
| discontinued after a massive wave of criticism?
|
| [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Upgrade_Service
| thimabi wrote:
| I am not so sure of that. Apple does seem like the kind of
| company that would create an entirely new SKU just for
| improving margins in a certain product. It all helps
| differentiating the iPad models.
| Rinzler89 wrote:
| I wonder if you can unlock that missing core with the pencil
| trick[1].
|
| [1] https://computer-
| communication.blogspot.com/2007/06/unlockin...
| hi-v-rocknroll wrote:
| Doubtful because it's Apple, possibly configured by laser or
| wire jumpers just prior to package encapsulation.
|
| Older GeForces were hackable similarly, but then Nvidia shifted
| to specific resistance values:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5398555
| ajross wrote:
| Apple consumers have been insulated from the semiconductor
| industry practice of binning for years by high margins and insane
| growth. Basically Apple could afford to throw out the "only 9
| cores work" chips (or whatever) instead of selling them as
| separate products or performance tiers (or whatever). But now the
| unit growth is levelling off, so they need to squeeze for
| "growth" by expanding profits instead.
|
| And one way you do that is by selling the extra chips you'd
| previously been flagging as yield failures.
| dividedbyzero wrote:
| When I got my M2 Macbook Air in 2022 I had a choice between 8
| and 10 GPU cores. I always assumed the 8 core ones were binned
| 10-core units, too.
| wtallis wrote:
| The MacBook Air with M2 is already sold with either 8 or 10 GPU
| cores. Having an iPad Air with M2 use 9 GPU cores is completely
| unsurprising and unremarkable. The only thing noteworthy here
| is the mistakes in the spec sheet and press release.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_M1#Variants
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_M2#Variants
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_M3#Variants
|
| All of the M-series processors so far have been sold in at
| least two bins.
| user90131313 wrote:
| with this downgrade is it still be able to run the ipad
| calculator app? Does anyone know? Because in software side of
| Ipad IOS, that is the biggest innovation in years.
| behnamoh wrote:
| the new calculator app is only available on the M4 version
| because of hardware limits. /s
| kstrauser wrote:
| A couple years ago Apple added the concept of swap to the new
| iPad Pro version of the day. M1 finally had the power to
| support it.
|
| I must've hallucinated running swap on my Amiga way back
| when.
| walterbell wrote:
| _> in software side of Ipad IOS, that is the biggest innovation
| in years_
|
| That would be iSH, slow but functional Alpine Linux emulation
| for iOS.
|
| https://ish.app
| emptiestplace wrote:
| I use it all the time, it's great - I just wish ssh-agent
| worked on it.
| m463 wrote:
| with the export restrictions, only the abacus app will work in
| global markets.
| behnamoh wrote:
| Who buys iPads anyway? I have two and I regret it. Totally
| useless iPadOS, built entirely around Apple's ecosystem (Magic
| Mouse and Keeb), so much compute power restricted by a greedy
| company that is worried about their MacBook sales in case iPad
| becomes a real computing device.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNv2EOc6ma0
| acchow wrote:
| There are more than half a billion iPads out there.
| dlevine wrote:
| The variant with the 8-core GPU is most likely also a binned
| version of the 10-core GPU variant. It's a lot easier to
| enable/disable cores than to produce different silicon for minor
| spec differences.
|
| It may be that Apple's yield of 10-core GPUs is lower than
| expected, but those GPUs validate just fine with 9 cores enabled.
| Or maybe Apple had another marketing reason, such as further
| differentiating the iPad Pro.
| m463 wrote:
| I'll bet it's a yield + dont-want-a-lawsuit combo
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