Apple says M2 iPad Air performance claims are accurate despite GPU mix-up

Over the weekend, we reported that Apple had updated its website to say the new iPad Air’s M2 chip features a 9-core GPU, despite originally advertising it as a 10-core GPU. An Apple spokesperson has now confirmed this change to 9to5Mac, while also saying that all performance claims remain accurate and were based on a 9-core GPU.

Here’s the full statement from an Apple spokesperson:

We are updating Apple.com to correct the core count for the M2 iPad Air. All performance claims for the M2 iPad Air are accurate and based on a 9-core GPU.

The second part of that sentence is key. Apple is saying that all the performance claims it made about the M2 chip in the iPad Air are accurate, despite the 9-core versus 10-core GPU mix-up. For example, Apple’s claim that the M2 iPad Air is nearly 50% faster than the M1 model still stands:

When combined with faster memory bandwidth, the new iPad Air is nearly 50 percent faster than the previous iPad Air with M1 for a wide range of productivity and creative tasks. And compared to iPad Air with A14 Bionic, the new iPad Air delivers up to 3x faster performance. 

This marks the first time that Apple has sold an M2-powered device with a 9-core GPU. Typically, Apple offers 8-core and 10-core GPU configurations, with options scaling higher from there depending on the computer.

9to5Mac’s Take

The clarification that Apple’s claims about M2 iPad Air performance still hold true is important. Still, I’d love some more details on what exactly happened here. At this point, it does sound like the wires got crossed somewhere inside Apple, we just don’t know where.

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