Apple announced the new iPad Air with an M2 chip at its May event. However, the GPU’s specs have changed on Apple’s website.
Applehas silently downgraded theM2 iPad Air’sspecifications from a 10-core to a 9-core GPU. The technical specifications on Apple’s website now list both 13-inch and 11-inch iPad Airs with a 9-core GPU.
While Apple has not revealed the reason behind the change, the originalpress releasestill states, “The M2 chip brings another big boost in performance to iPad Air, featuring a faster 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU.”
Apple’ssupport pagefor the iPad Air also claims the tablet has a 10-core GPU. Meanwhile,Amazonlistings have not been updated with the new technical specifications.
The correction, first spotted by9to5mac, was made on May 22. One of the reasons behind this change could be that Apple erroneously listed the tablet as having a 10-core GPU at launch.
This theory can be proved by looking at the benchmark performance. TheGeekbench’s Metal benchmark testingshows a score of 41,095, compared to the M2 iPad Pro’s 10-core GPU, which scored a total of 45,195.
The difference of 10% in scores suggests that the M2 iPad Air has a 9-core GPU instead of a 10-core. Apple may have used the same SoC but has turned off one GPU core, for reasons unknown.
Moreover, this is the first time Apple has sold a device with an M2 chipset in this configuration. TheMacBook Air, powered by an M2 chipset, also has a 10-core GPU.
That said, there has been no change in the retail price of the iPad Air. Currently, it’s still available at a starting price of $599.
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Jitendra Soni was a Tech Writer on Dexerto’s UK Team. An expert in tech, especially smartphones, he has almost 10 years of experience. He spearheaded the TechRadar India editorial operations and has written for TechRadar, TechRadar Pro, Free Press Journal, Mobile Scout, IB Times Singapore, Indulge Express, and more.
