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A9X in 9.7-Inch iPad Pro is Underclocked Compared to 12.9-inch iPad Pro

The new 9.7-inch iPad Pro (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ipad-pro) adopts the same powerful dual-core 64-bit A9X chip that was first introduced in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but the two tablets are not on par when it comes to performance. Based on information on Apple's website, it appears the A9X in the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is slightly underclocked compared to the A9X in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (via AppleInsider (http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/03/22/129-ipad-pro-remains-apples-fastest-tablet-as-97-models-a9x-chip-is-underclocked)).





On its iPad comparison page (http://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/), Apple lists the specs of the A9X in both of the iPad Pros, comparing them to the A7 chip in the iPad Air, iPad mini 2/3, and iPhone 5s (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-5s). The 12.9-inch iPad Pro lists a 2.5x faster CPU and 5x faster graphics, while the 9.7-inch iPad Pro lists a 2.4x faster CPU and 4.3x faster graphics.





<img src="(http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2016/03/a9xclockspeeds-800x369.jpg)" alt="a9xclockspeeds" width="800" height="369" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-494596" />


Apple has a history of underclocking the chips used in smaller devices. The iPad mini 2 and the iPad Air both used the same A7 chip, but while the iPad Air clocked in (http://www.macrumors.com/2013/11/12/retina-ipad-mini-has-1-3-ghz-a7-processor-with-5x-better-performance-than-original-mini/) at 1.4GHz, the iPad mini 2 ran at 1.3GHz.





It's likely Apple is underclocking the A9X chip in the 9.7-inch iPad Pro due to its smaller body, which may be unable to dissipate heat as well as the larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, The performance difference between the two tablets is likely to be unnoticeable in real world conditions, and even underclocked, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is offering some significant performance improvements over the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ipad).





Aside from the slightly lower clock speed, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro has several features that set it above the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, including a 12-megapixel camera with a rear flash and a new True Tone display feature that adjusts the screen's temperature based on ambient lighting.





The 9.7-inch iPad Pro will be available for order starting this Thursday, with in-store availability and shipments starting the following Thursday, on March 31. Pricing for the new iPad Pro starts at $599.





Update: Geekbench benchmark testing conducted by TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino (https://twitter.com/panzer/status/712331691579219968) suggests the A9X processor in the 9.7-inch iPad Pro runs at 2.16GHz, compared to 2.24GHz in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.





<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here's a single Geekbench run with stats on iPad Pro 9.7&quot; pic.twitter.com/vwqlKtsIUm (https://t.co/vwqlKtsIUm)</p>&mdash; Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) March 22, 2016 (https://twitter.com/panzer/status/712331691579219968) <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>The new iPad Pro received a single-core score of 3022 and a multi-core score of 5107. In comparison, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro sees average scores (http://browser.primatelabs.com/ios-benchmarks) of 3224 on the single-core test and 5466 on the multi-core test. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro may not be quite as powerful as the 12.9-inch model, but it did significantly outperform the iPhone 6 (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/iphone-6)s and the iPad Air 2 on the Geekbench test.

<div class="linkback">Related Roundup: iPad Pro (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/ipad-pro/)
Buyer's Guide: iPad Pro (Buy Now) (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPad_Pro) </div>
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Source: A9X in 9.7-Inch iPad Pro is Underclocked Compared to 12.9-inch iPad Pro (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/03/22/9-7-ipad-pro-a9x-underclocked/)