Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) runs laps around the competition in Geekbench
Apple’s new M1-powered iPad Pro 11 (2021) and 12.9 (2021) will come out in a couple of weeks, but the first Geekbench results are already out – and they are quite impressive. The benchmark was run on an iPad 12.9 Pro (2021) with 16 GB of RAM.
The single-core performance is comparable to the Apple A14 chipset of the iPhone 12 series, they use the same cores after all. However, the M1 has four big ones compared to two in the phones, which makes for a massive difference in the multi-core test.
Looking over at the top chipsets available for Android shows that Apple has a massive lead. We’ve also included some x86-powered laptops like the Surface 4 with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 or an HP ProBook x360 G8 with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U for comparison (both are in the 15W class, but have higher TDP modes).
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) (Apple M1)
1727 - iPhone 12 Pro Max (Apple A14)
1606 - Microsoft Surface 4 (i7-1185G7)
1513 - HP ProBook x360 G8 (Ryzen 5800U)
1431 - ROG Phone 5 (S888, X Mode+ FAN)
1127 - OnePlus 9 Pro (Snapdragon 888)
1126 - Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon 888)
1109 - Galaxy S21 Ultra (Exynos 2100)
1107 - Huawei Mate X2 (Kirin 9000 5G)
956
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- HP ProBook x360 G8 (Ryzen 5800U)
7376 - iPad Pro 12.9 (2021) (Apple M1)
7270 - Microsoft Surface 4 (i7-1185G7)
5747 - iPhone 12 Pro Max (Apple A14)
4240 - ROG Phone 5 (S888, X Mode+ FAN)
3745 - OnePlus 9 Pro (Snapdragon 888)
3636 - Galaxy S21 Ultra (Exynos 2100)
3518 - Huawei Mate X2 (Kirin 9000 5G)
3389 - Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon 888)
3244
Note: hover over the device name (or tap on it if you’re on mobile) to see more details about the chipset.
It’s quite impressive what Apple has achieved. And it has reportedly started mass production of a new, more powerful chipset – the Apple M1X or M2. That will be built on a refined version of TSMC’s 5 nm node, which will bring iterative improvements, but more importantly the new chip will have a higher core count. The exact number isn’t certain yet, but Apple might soon have something that rivals Intel and AMD’s desktop-class CPUs.
