Apple's iPad Pro 2020 A12Z Bionic SoC shows minimal improvements over the 2018 A12X model in latest AnTuTu benchmarks

Is the latest iPad Pro 2020 any better than the 2018 model? We were already suspecting that the performance improvements could not be that big since Apple decided not to include a newer version of the A13 Bionic SoC, but now we have clear confirmation from a fresh AnTuTU benchmark spotted by the guys over at MySmartPrice.

At first glance, the A12Z Bionic appears to be only marginally better than the 2018 A12X (which still remains a beast, even by today’s standards). In some tests, like the memory, CPU and UX, the new version is surprisingly slower than the 2018 SoC. The memory test might show that the AnTuTu benchmark is not really reliable and lacks optimization for Apple’s newer SoCs, as the A12Z is slower than the A12X by more than 20%. Still, the 2020 SoC manages to shine in the GPU tests where it sees performance improvements of around 10%. This score alone helps the new SoC to obtain 1% more points for the overall test.

As we can see, there is no point in upgrading to this particular version now, at least not performance-wise, especially considering that Apple is supposed to add 5G variants in Q3 this year, and those models will most likely be equipped with improved A13 or even A14 SoCs.