As is typical after a significant new hardware announcement from Apple, test results for the new 2024 iPad Pros are now popping up in the popular performance benchmarking tool Geekbench. And as Juli Clover at MacRumors keenly points out, the early results from Geekbench 6 CPU tests seem to back Apple’s claims about at least the 10-core variant of the M4 chip, sold only in the 1TB and 2TB configurations of the new iPad Pro, outperforming the previous cutting edge M3 chip by 25%.
What’s more surprising – and potentially disappointing to at least a subset of recent MacBook buyers – is that the single-core test results posted by the M4 chip are even faster than the highest-end M3 Max processors found in the latest MacBook Pros announced just seven months ago during a so-called “scary fast” event, as well as the new MacBook Airs launched just in March. They’re also roughly 16% faster than even Intel’s premium desktop processor.
Then again, it’s also worth calling out that the cheapest new iPad Pro with the highest-powered version of the M4 chip costs $1,600, which is $300 more than the baseline M3 MacBook Air. The price comparison against the latest maxed-out MacBook Pros is a little more sobering. The current cutting-edge 14-inch model with a 1TB hard drive and 16GB of RAM costs $300 more than a comparably equipped new iPad Pro.
The M4 chip isn’t superior by all measures though. Premium M3 Max and M3 Pro chips are still noticably better at multi-core processing than the M4 chip, which is essential for various high-level creative computing needs.
It’s also important to emphasize that while performance benchmarks like Geekbench serve as a useful control for comparing the capabilities of various chips, better test scores don’t always translate into noticeable differences in real-world performance.
And given how fast even the M1 generation of Apple’s chips still feel in daily use, there’s no real point in worrying about a newer M series-powered Apple device feeling sluggish any time soon.
