M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM may actually have 12GB — teardowns reveal possible Apple hijinks
Eagle-eyed forum posters strike again.
Apple's newest iPad Pro 13 may be cutting consumers short, with 12GB onboard RAM being artificially limited to 8GB. MacRumors forum user layerstack posted their detective work, seeking to independently verify the listed RAM capacities of Apple's newest iPad Pro lineup.
Apple's newest M4 iPad Pro 13 releases with two models, a 256GB/512GB storage model with a 9-core CPU and 8GB of RAM or a 1TB/2TB storage variant with the flagship 10-core CPU and 16GB of RAM. With teardown videos and blogs finally releasing, revealing the iPad's shiny new M4 silicon, internet sleuths are investigating every revealed inch of these machines.
The condensed FBGA codes for Micron's RAM modules are clearly seen on some teardowns, revealing the exact chips Apple used for their iPads. The 16GB iPad, sure enough, contains 16GB of Micron LPDDR5 RAM. But the 8GB model has two 48Gbit modules onboard. 48 gigabits converts to 6 gigabytes, meaning the lower-grade iPad Pro model has 12GB of RAM available from its RAM module. But in use, the iPad Pro has only its advertised 8GB RAM accessible.
Why Apple would artificially limit its RAM modules is unknown. Theories floated on comment sections across the web suggest a few possible solutions — some more charitable than others. Perhaps no 4GB chips exist with enough dies to supply the bandwidth Apple demands, the chips are binned for performance, or none of the major RAM manufacturers offer 4GB chips as standard for LPDDR5 memory and Apple couldn't afford to commission custom chips for a poorer-selling product. Maybe the part number is wrong after all, and Apple is using new custom RAM that coincidentally has the exact same part number as Micron's 6GB chip.
The most flaunted reason from web users is that Apple is artificially limiting the performance of these modules for product segmenting, keeping a traditional 8GB or 16GB RAM dichotomy between its iPads. This seems like a likely answer, which would mean that Apple has four unused gigs of RAM just sitting on its logic boards doing nothing. Apple's goal may be to avoid the unfamiliar "12GB RAM" spec which may alienate some consumers; Cupertino is likely looking to avoid any possible drop in sales after a bad year for iPad in 2023.
Our thorough summary of Apple's new M4 iPad Pros and their teardowns can be found here. The newest iPad Pros are mostly remarkable due to the brand-new M4 chip, Apple's fresh silicon being introduced on an iPad for the first time. In its current form, its only major improvement over the M3 is its NPU for AI workloads, but a bit of liquid nitrogen can take it far beyond its rated performance.
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Dallin Grimm is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has been building and breaking computers since 2017, serving as the resident youngster at Tom's. From APUs to RGB, Dallin has a handle on all the latest tech news.
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They are creating too much of a fuss out of this. Apple hijinx ?Reply
Currently there are no 4GB chips that run at LPDDR5X 7500, which is required for the M4 iPad's 120GB/s memory bandwidth. We only have 6GB, 8GB and above variants. It can't get less complicated than this fact.
Also since the M4 is still using a 128bit memory bus, so in this case 2X6GB, it is much cheaper/easier to disable the extra RAM, instead of acquiring new 4GB modules. -
Sippincider Well better than claiming 12 in the specs and only having 8 on the device.Reply
Or charging hundreds for a BTO option to 12, when it's already there. -
That would be a blunder/disaster for Apple if they advertised 12GB on paper/specs, but physically it only sports 8GB. But obviously, no company can make claims like these though.Reply
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Notton
There is no way Apple would do that without plastering it all over their adverts.peachpuff said:Maybe 4gb is used for video memory?
I think this is unlikely. I can't find stats on LPDDR5X yields, but I doubt they are that bad.thisisaname said:Could be they are using broken ram and the 8GB modules only have 6GB usable?
"Bad" DRAM is usually binned at a slower speed, not fused off.
Can they be fused off to begin with? They aren't logic chips made from blocks you can disable. -
hushnecampus
That doesn’t justify disabling a third of the RAM.Metal Messiah. said:They are creating too much of a fuss out of this. Apple hijinx ?
Currently there are no 4GB chips that run at LPDDR5X 7500, which is required for the M4 iPad's 120GB/s memory bandwidth. We only have 6GB, 8GB and above variants. It can't get less complicated than this fact.
Also since the M4 is still using a 128bit memory bus, so in this case 2X6GB, it is much cheaper/easier to disable the extra RAM, instead of acquiring new 4GB modules. -
CmdrShepard
So, the fact that 4GB chips at required speed do not exist doesn't justify using 6GB chips and disabling 2GB per chip?hushnecampus said:That doesn’t justify disabling a third of the RAM.
And you know better than Apple hardware designers whether those additional 4GB total would make a sensible differences in performance?
Right. -
JeffreyP55
Proprietry everything is why I don't want anything to with Apple. I was forced to use an old desktop CX to do cad work. My wife has an iPad. Good for her. Don't miss Apple. So what platform is compatible M1-M4 series CPU?Admin said:MacRumors forum posters seem to have identified Apple's M4 iPad Pro RAM modules on 8GB RAM models as a pair of 6GB modules, creating a total of 12GB RAM onboard.
M4 iPad Pros with 8GB of RAM may actually have 12GB — teardowns reveal possible Apple hijinks : Read more -
Thunder64
Come on, that's clearly anti-consumer, right? Do you think it is OK selling Macbooks in 2024 with 8GB of non upgradable memory? Good for them though, as it seems people are buying their products.CmdrShepard said:So, the fact that 4GB chips at required speed do not exist doesn't justify using 6GB chips and disabling 2GB per chip?
And you know better than Apple hardware designers whether those additional 4GB total would make a sensible differences in performance?
Right.