Today Apple unveiled its biggest update to the iPad mini yet, but if you’re looking to buy one, there’s a key limitation of the A20 Pro chip in every configuration but one.
Apple’s new iPad mini comes with significant upgrades like the larger display, thinner design, OLED display, and a powerful A20 Pro chip.
But if you’re interested in buying the iPad mini, not all models are created equal.
In fact, every configuration except the highest 512GB model includes a less powerful, binned A20 Pro chip.
According to Apple’s tech specs page, here’s the breakdown of the A20 Pro across different storage configurations.
It’s not unusual for Apple to use binned chips at times in its products. But in most cases, the only drawback of those chips is having one less CPU or GPU core.
With iPad mini, you not only lose a CPU core, you also don’t get the Dual 16-core Neural Engine.
That feature is exclusive to high-end 512GB models. So both the 128GB and 256GB models—the majority of configurations—have only a 16-core Neural Engine.
I remember when an iPad mini was ‘mini’ in price too.
It’s a significant limitation, and especially unfortunate since it applies to most models that Apple will sell.
The iPad mini has a higher than ever starting price of $699, and if you want the model with a full-featured A20 Pro chip, it will set you back $999 (or more, depending on cellular and nano-texture choices).
Will the A20 Pro limitation in most iPad mini models impact your upgrade decision? Let us know in the comments.
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Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.
