Apple unveiled its iPad Air just last week, which the company announced would be lighter and thinner than the previous fourth-generation iPad. Apple’s tablet will still retain its Retina Display, but one major improvement to its internals is the inclusion of their 64-bit A7 chip, making it the most powerful iOS tablet ever to be released. According to some recently published benchmarks, it looks like this claim turned out to be true as the iPad Air is nearly twice as powerful as the fourth-generation iPad.
To be exact, the iPad Air is over 80 percent faster than the previous fourth-generation iPad, according to Primate Labs who ran Geekbench 3 benchmark tests on the two tablets as well as others Apple has released in the past. Primate Labs founder John Poole believes the reason for the iPad Air’s huge boost in performance is in part due to its faster processor, but could also be due to its larger battery, its larger chassis or a combination of both.
The iPad Air is expected to be released on Friday across several countries including the U.S., U.K., Japan and, for the first time, China. The 16GB Wi-Fi iPad Air will retail for $499, while the 16GB Wi-Fi & 4G iPad Air will cost $629.