We've just gotten our hands on the iPad Mini 4, the new version of the tablet that Apple quietly introduced at its product event last week. Though we knew that the new tablet uses a dual-core Apple A8 chip rather than the faster tri-core A8X in the iPad Air 2, and we knew that the new tablet supported iOS 9's new Split View multitasking mode, Apple didn't get any more specific about the tablet's specifications.
To shed some light on the subject, we fired up Geekbench 3 and ran some tests. We can confirm that the tablet uses a 1.5GHz Apple A8 with 2GB of RAM, which is faster than both the 1.4GHz A8 in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and the 1.3GHz A7 in the iPad Mini 2 and Mini 3.
Having a whole extra CPU core makes the 1.5GHz A8X in the iPad Air 2 about 50% faster than the Mini 4, but we're still looking at a 20-or-so percent improvement over the old Mini 2 and Mini 3. That extra RAM will be good for more than just Split View multitasking, too—2GB iDevices need to eject things from memory less often, cutting down on the amount of tab reloading that Safari does and generally reducing wait times when switching between different tabs and apps.
Most iOS devices released since 2012 have included 1GB of RAM, iPad Air 2 aside, but this appears to be the year when Apple bumps up memory capacities across the lineup. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus should include 2GB of RAM, and Apple's documentation confirms that the new Apple TV includes 2GB as well. The iPad Pro, due in November, is said to include 4GB of RAM.
The iPad Mini 4 starts at $399 for 16GB. We'll be giving it a closer review in the coming days.
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