Early Geekbench benchmarks for the upcoming iPad Air with the M4 chip indicate significant speed improvements. Tests on the 13-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular model, identified as iPad16,11, show strong results across single-core and multi-core CPU performance.
Benchmark Scores
One test records 3,438 in single-core and 12,885 in multi-core scores. A second test achieves 3,714 single-core and 12,296 multi-core marks. These figures suggest gains of 13% to 22% in single-core performance and 5% to 10% in multi-core compared to the previous 13-inch M3 iPad Air, which scores 3,048 single-core and 11,667 multi-core.
Chip Configuration Changes
The M4 chip in the iPad Air features an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU. This differs from the iPad Pro version, which offers up to a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU.
Comparison to iPad Pro M4
Relative to the 13-inch Wi-Fi + Cellular M4 iPad Pro, which scores 3,704 single-core and 13,805 multi-core, the iPad Air M4 matches or trails by up to 7% in single-core and 7% to 11% in multi-core performance.
Key Considerations
Benchmark results for unreleased devices require caution. Full reviews and hands-on tests will provide clearer insights into real-world performance once the iPad Air launches on March 11.
