M4 (iPad) vs A20 Pro

We compared the 10-core Apple M4 (iPad) (custom) with the newer 6-core A20 Pro (Apple A20 Pro 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

General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
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

Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Apple M4 (iPad)
  • Has 4 more cores
  • Performs 30% better in floating-point computations
  • Shows better (up to 6%) AnTuTu 11 score – 3116K vs 2935K
Pros of Apple A20 Pro
  • Has a smaller size transistor (2 versus 3 nm)
  • 12% higher CPU clock speed (4930 vs 4410 MHz)
  • Higher GPU frequency (~10%)
  • Better instruction set architecture

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
vs

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
M4 (iPad) +6%
3116013
2935466
CPU 915032 882877
GPU 1135331 1051925
Memory 349968 262172
UX 715682 738492
Total score 3116013 2935466
Samples [3 tests] Less than 3

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
3683
A20 Pro +30%
4772
Multi-Core Score
M4 (iPad) +3%
13402
12989
Asset compression 501.5 MB/sec -
HTML 5 Browser 305.6 pages/sec -
PDF Renderer 317.1 Mpixels/sec -
Image detection 416.7 images/sec -
HDR 461.1 Mpixels/sec -
Background blur 54.3 images/sec -
Photo processing 139.8 images/sec -
Ray tracing 14.9 Mpixels/sec -
Samples 7 tests -
Compute Score (GPU)
53792
A20 Pro +2%
55120
Background blur 103 images/sec -
Face detection 124.8 images/sec -
Horizon detection 1.7 Gpixels/sec -
Edge detection 2.32 Gpixels/sec -
Gaussian blur 2.8 Gpixels/sec -
Feature matching 0.73 Gpixels/sec -
Stereo matching 164.7 Gpixels/sec -
Particle physics 4657.1 FPS -
API Metal -
Samples 6 tests -

3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
3477
n/a
Score 3477 -
Stability 71% -
Graphics test 26 FPS -
3DMark Solar Bay
14286
n/a
Score 14286 -
Graphics test 54 FPS -
Section 1 63 FPS -
Section 2 56 FPS -
Section 3 43 FPS -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M4 (iPad)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-07 (Lexapes)GeekBench GPU57080
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-07 (Lexapes)GeekBench CPU3907 / 15397
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-07 (Lexapes)AnTuTu3396741
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-03 (Astreeek)AnTuTu2940000
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-26 (BG-M4-User)GeekBench GPU52952
Apple A20 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-12 (hiya)GeekBench GPU64915

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of M4 (iPad) and A20 Pro

CPU

Architecture 4x 4.41 GHz –
6x 2.85 GHz –
2x 4.93 GHz –
4x 2.64 GHz –
Cores 10 6
Frequency 4410 MHz 4930 MHz
Instruction set ARMv9.2-A ARMv9.4-A
L1 cache 192 KB 192 KB
L2 cache 16 MB 16 MB
Process 3 nanometers 2 nanometers
Transistor count 28 billion -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name - Apple A20 Pro GPU
Architecture - Apple A GPU
GPU frequency 1470 MHz 1620 MHz
Pipelines - 7
Shading units - 128
Total shaders - 896
FLOPS 3763.2 Gigaflops 2903 Gigaflops

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Apple Neural Engine Apple Neural Engine
NPU theoretical performance 38 TOPS -

Memory

Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory frequency 7500 MHz 4800 MHz
Bus 8x 16 Bit 3x 32 Bit
Max bandwidth 120 Gb/s 115.2 Gb/s
Max size 24 GB 12 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type NVMe NVMe
Max display resolution 2752 x 2064 -
Max camera resolution - 3x 48MP
Video capture 4K at 60FPS 4K at 120FPS
Video playback 4K at 60FPS 4K at 120FPS
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 Apple C2
4G support LTE Cat. 24 -
5G support Yes Yes
Download speed Up to 10000 Mbps -
Upload speed Up to 3500 Mbps -
Wi-Fi 6 7
Bluetooth 5.3 6.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC

Info

Announced May 2024 September 2026
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number - APL1Y01
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

So, which SoC would you choose?
10 (38.5%)
16 (61.5%)
Total votes: 26

Comments

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