The smallest iPad just outran the biggest one, at least in one test.
A Geekbench 7 entry for the iPad19,2, the cellular version of the new iPad Mini, posted 3,879 points in single-core and 9,870 points in multi-core, according to a listing picked up by GSMArena and reported by Notebookcheck, Gizmochina and Gadgets 360. The single-core number is about 8% ahead of the 3,580 that the M5 iPad Pro 13 has posted. Multi-core is a different story entirely.
On multi-core, the iPad Pro wins by a wide margin, 15,126 points against the Mini's 9,870, a 53% gap. The iPad Air 13 beats it too, by around 29%. The reason is simple: the chip in this listing is a binned A20 Pro with two performance cores and three efficiency cores, running at up to 4.93GHz. That matches Apple's own spec sheet for the 128GB and 256GB models. Only the 512GB iPad Mini gets the full six-core chip, so the gap could narrow a little for that configuration.
Against its own predecessor, the jump is bigger than the one against Apple's pricier tablets. The outgoing iPad Mini scored 2,529 and 6,741 in the same tests, per Gizmochina's figures, which puts the new model roughly 47% ahead in single-core and about 39% ahead in multi-core.
12GB of RAM Apple didn't put on the spec page
The Geekbench listing also shows 12GB of RAM, a figure Apple's own technical specifications page doesn't mention but which Apple's Xcode 27.2 developer tools confirm separately, according to Notebookcheck. That's more memory than the small tablet's workload typically demands, but it leaves room for running local AI features and heavier games without much strain, even on the base storage tier.
The 60Hz argument isn't going away
None of this touches the other debate hanging over the new Mini: its OLED screen tops out at 60Hz, while ProMotion's up-to-120Hz refresh stays exclusive to the iPad Pro. Apple vice president Dave Pakula told YouTuber Christopher Lawley that display quality isn't about one spec alone, and that OLED switches pixels far faster than LCD, cutting motion blur. That may be true, but it doesn't change the frame count. Scroll through a long document or draw with the Apple Pencil and you're still capped at 60 frames per second.
A single Geekbench run says nothing about how the chip handles sustained load inside a thin chassis that has less room to dissipate heat than an iPad Pro. That's a question for reviewers once units ship.
Apple opened pre-orders for the iPad Mini this week at $699 in the US, €749 and £699, with sales starting November 6, Gizmochina reports. None of the listings reviewed give an Indian price yet, so buyers here will have to wait for Apple to confirm local pricing before the tablet lands in stores.
GDFiled by The Gadgets Desk
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