All new iPhones run Apple's latest A12 Bionic system-on-a-chip and synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench 4 confirm this. According to the CPU, GPU and GPU compute scores for iPhone XR, Apple's colorful phone basically offers identical performance to the premium iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max smartphones, but in a package with a longer battery life that costs $250 less.
Apple's Mac mini was refreshed last week and it's quite a beast, according to the first Geekbench 4 synthetic benchmark scores pertaining to the pricier $1,099 model upgraded to an optional six-core 3.2GHz Intel Core i7 processor, resulting in a $1,299 configuration.
The new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro introduced Tuesday have plenty of CPU and GPU power to make them comparable in terms of processing speed to Apple's nearly $3,000 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro notebook outfitted with Intel's six-core Core i7 chip.
Late last year, Apple was caught throttling iPhones that had degrading batteries. This lead to class action lawsuits, a discounted battery replacement program, and various meetings with regulators around the world. It also forced Apple to add a battery monitoring tool in iOS 11.3. With the 2018 iPhones now in stores comes word that last year's handsets might eventually be throttled too.
As first discovered by The Verge, the recently released iOS 12.1 update brings Apple’s controversial “performance management feature” to the iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus for the first time. With this tool, Apple can dynamically throttle the devices (i.e. slow them down) as the battery degrades in order to stop random shutdowns.
An Apple support page explains:
With a low battery state of charge, a higher chemical age, or colder temperatures, users are more likely to experience unexpected shutdowns. In extreme cases, shutdowns can occur more frequently, thereby rendering the device unreliable or unusable. For iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, and iPhone 7 Plus, iOS dynamically manages performance peaks to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down so that the iPhone can still be used. This performance management feature is specific to iPhone and does not apply to any other Apple products. Starting with iOS 12.1, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X include this feature, but performance management may be less noticeable due to their more advanced hardware and software design.
No doubt this news will lead to some more criticism against Apple. However, it's probably no longer justified. If you own one of last year's phones, you can turn off the performance management feature.
What do you think? Let us know below.
Image of iPhone X battery courtesy of iFixit
On Tuesday, Apple unveiled a much-requested refresh of the Mac Mini, which sports powerful new hardware and a redesigned chassis constructed from fully-recycled aluminum.
In this piece, we outline the tech specs concerning Apple‘s all-new 2018 Mac Mini.
Even though Apple added a toggle to iOS which disables the controversial CPU throttling and offered consumers discounted battery replacements, the Italian watchdog has fined the Cupertino technology giant ten million euros, which works out to about $11.4 million bucks, over using software updates to slow down iPhones and push people into buying new models.
Now that a Chinese regulatory filing has all but confirmed a new iPad-focused Apple media event this month, fresh new details pertaining to the upcoming refresh continue trickling in on an almost daily basis. According to Brazilian iOS developer Guilherme Rambo, the 2018 iPad Pro refresh will include a new Apple-designed A12X Bionic system-on-a-chip.
If you own an Apple computer, especially a modern one, then you’ve probably come to notice how particularly thin these machines have become. Despite that, most Macs still sport internal cooling fans to keep the CPU and GPU temperatures in check.
By default, Apple’s internal cooling fans run as silently as possible for a quiet user experience, but this isn’t without its caveats. Thinner machines like the MacBook Pro are more susceptible to heat soak because the cooling capabilities of such a compact chassis are limited; this is something you’ve undoubtedly felt while the machine sits on your lap during intensive tasks.
A new week hasn't ended the so-called "thermal throttling" controversy that's been swirling around the newly released 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro. ExtremeTech is now reporting that Intel had long ago said it was okay for manufacturers such as Apple to deviate from stated specifications. In doing so, it makes you wonder whether you can even count on reported clock speeds for some of the most expensive laptops on the market.
Initial Geekbench scores on the recently announced 2018 MacBook Pro lineup show significant improvements over last year's models. This shouldn't come as that much of a surprise since this year's model features the first core increases for the MacBook Pro since 2011.
French blog Consomac.fr (Google Translate) this morning managed to dig up some claimed single and multi-core synthetic benchmarks from Geekbench's database showing alleged CPU and GPU speed gains plus other improvements for the upcoming Apple A12 system-on-a-chip destined to power 2018's upcoming iPhone X and iPad models.
Contract manufacturer Pegatron has been allegedly tipped to land orders from Apple to produce its rumored hybrid ARM-based MacBook model, according to industry sources mentioned today in a report by Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes.