A new set of benchmarks that have surfaced overnight for Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro equipped with an M4 processor and 10 cores show that this device could be a new frontrunner in tablet AI performance. According to a GeekBench listing, the iPad Pro achieved a score of 9234 on the "Core ML Neural Engine Inference" test, which assesses artificial intelligence capabilities.
This score represents a modest but significant 10% improvement over the M3 MacBook Pro, which is fan-cooled and typically more powerful. Interestingly, the score is close to that of the 14-core 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max, which stands at around 9200, despite being similarly priced to the iPad Pro. The top-tier 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max and 16 cores still leads with a score of 11,080.
Comparatively, the previous iPad Pro models with M2 and M1 chips scored significantly lower at about 7400 and 3400, respectively, illustrating a substantial leap in AI performance with the latest generation.
However, skepticism surrounds these benchmarks since they reportedly were run on iOS 18, an operating system version that has not been officially released, raising concerns about the authenticity of the data. Additionally, Apple typically uses internal versions of iOS that are not optimized and include extensive telemetry in the months leading up to the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC), potentially affecting performance.
With the new iPad Pro set to start reaching customers on May 15, and early reviews expected by May 13, more concrete data will soon verify these early benchmarks. If these results hold true, Apple’s latest iPad Pro not only reinforces its status as a powerful tool for AI tasks but also challenges the performance benchmarks set by Apple's own MacBook lineup.
