M4 (iPad) vs A17 Pro
We compared the 10-core Apple M4 (iPad) (custom) with the older 6-core A17 Pro (Apple A17 GPU) SoC. Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
Review
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Key Differences
Pros of Apple M4 (iPad)
- Supports 134% higher memory bandwidth (120 against 51.2 GB/s)
- Shows significantly better (up to 2.1x) AnTuTu 11 score β 3116K vs 1467K
- Performs 75% better in floating-point computations
- Has 4 more cores
- 17% higher CPU clock speed (4410 vs 3780 MHz)
- Better instruction set architecture
- Higher GPU frequency (~5%)
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 11
| CPU | 915032 | 374357 |
| GPU | 1135331 | 463612 |
| Memory | 349968 | 184670 |
| UX | 715682 | 444831 |
| Total score | 3116013 | 1467470 |
| Samples | [3 tests] | [21 tests] |
GeekBench 6
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Asset compression | 501.5 MB/sec | 254.1 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 305.6 pages/sec | 166 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 317.1 Mpixels/sec | 180.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Image detection | 416.7 images/sec | 178.7 images/sec |
| HDR | 461.1 Mpixels/sec | 240.3 Mpixels/sec |
| Background blur | 54.3 images/sec | 26.7 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 139.8 images/sec | 77.8 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 14.9 Mpixels/sec | 7.76 Mpixels/sec |
| Samples | 7 tests | 32 tests |
Compute Score (GPU)
| Background blur | 103 images/sec | 55.5 images/sec |
| Face detection | 124.8 images/sec | 65.1 images/sec |
| Horizon detection | 1.7 Gpixels/sec | 0.8 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge detection | 2.32 Gpixels/sec | 1.08 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | 2.8 Gpixels/sec | 1.11 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature matching | 0.73 Gpixels/sec | 0.43 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | 164.7 Gpixels/sec | 87.6 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | 4657.1 FPS | 3313.9 FPS |
| API | Metal | Metal |
| Samples | 6 tests | 22 tests |
3DMark
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Score | 3477 | 1391 |
| Stability | 71% | 71% |
| Graphics test | 26 FPS | 10 FPS |
3DMark Solar Bay
| Score | 14286 | 6089 |
| Stability | - | 73% |
| Graphics test | 54 FPS | 23 FPS |
| Section 1 | 63 FPS | 29 FPS |
| Section 2 | 56 FPS | 23 FPS |
| Section 3 | 43 FPS | 16 FPS |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Score | - | 3655 |
| Stability | - | 63% |
| Graphics test | - | 21 FPS |
Recent User Tests
Apple M4 (iPad)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-07 (Lexapes) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 57080 |
| π 2026-09-07 (Lexapes) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3907 / 15397 |
| π 2026-09-07 (Lexapes) | AnTuTu 11 | 3396741 |
| π 2026-08-03 (Astreeek) | AnTuTu 11 | 2940000 |
| π 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 52952 |
Apple A17 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-23 (podsolnuh) | AnTuTu 11 | 1357765 |
| π 2026-09-11 (Zabza) | AnTuTu 11 | 1599694 |
| π 2026-09-10 (elio) | AnTuTu 11 | 1445771 |
| π 2026-07-28 (human) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 26734 |
| π 2026-07-28 (human) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 2892 / 7293 |
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of M4 (iPad) and A17 ProCPU
| Architecture | 4x 4.41 GHz β 6x 2.85 GHz β |
2x 3.78 GHz β Everest 4x 2.11 GHz β Sawtooth |
| Cores | 10 | 6 |
| Frequency | 4410 MHz | 3780 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv9.2-A | ARMv8.6-A |
| L1 cache | 192 KB | 256 KB |
| L2 cache | 16 MB | 16 MB |
| Process | 3 nanometers | 3 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 28 billion | 19 billion |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | - | 8 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
Graphics
| GPU name | - | Apple A17 GPU |
| Architecture | - | Apple Bionic GPU |
| GPU frequency | 1470 MHz | 1398 MHz |
| Pipelines | - | 6 |
| Shading units | - | 128 |
| Total shaders | - | 768 |
| FLOPS | 3763.2 Gigaflops | 2147.2 Gigaflops |
AI Accelerator
| Neural processor (NPU) | Apple Neural Engine | Apple Neural Engine |
| NPU theoretical performance | 38 TOPS | 35 TOPS |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory frequency | 7500 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Bus | 8x 16 Bit | 4x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 120 Gb/s | 51.2 Gb/s |
| Max size | 24 GB | 8 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Storage type | NVMe | NVMe |
| Max display resolution | 2752 x 2064 | 1290 x 2796 |
| Max camera resolution | - | 1x 48MP |
| Video capture | 4K at 60FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video playback | 4K at 60FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video codecs | - H.264 - H.265 - AV1 - VP9 |
- H.264 - H.265 - AV1 - VP8 - VP9 - Motion JPEG |
| Audio codecs | - AAC - AIFF - CAF - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
- AAC - AAX - AAX+ - AC-3 - AIFF - CAF - E-AC-3 - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
Connectivity
| Modem | Snapdragon X71 | Snapdragon X70 |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 24 | LTE Cat. 24 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
| Download speed | Up to 10000 Mbps | Up to 7500 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 3500 Mbps | Up to 3500 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 6 | 6 |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
Info
| Announced | May 2024 | September 2023 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | - | APL1V02 |
| Successor | - | - Apple A19 Pro |
Further details
Notes on M4 (iPad):
- There is slightly slower (5-7%) version of M4 that uses 3 performance + 6 efficiency cores array in 256GB/512GB models of iPad Pro.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 406
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