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iPad Air 2 is faster than 2011 MacBook Air, forges ahead of new iPhones on performance

The iPad Air 2 (And a Few Cursory Words Regarding the iPad Mini 3)  —  The relationship between the iPad and the iPhone, performance-wise, has been hard to predict.

Daring Fireball John Gruber

Context & Ripple Effects

Apple's tablet performance had been climbing quickly: the 2013 iPad Air was reported to be more than 80% faster than the iPad 4, and pre-release testing placed the new model well ahead of both its predecessor and the iPhone 6. The Air 2 extends that trajectory into laptop-era benchmark territory.

The review coverage also draws a constraint around the hardware advance: reviewers praised the Air 2's hardware while pointing to missing multitasking and tablet-specific software features. That makes the performance gap significant chiefly where apps can exploit it.

First-order effects

  • Apple gives the iPad Air 2 a distinct performance lead over the iPhone line and older MacBook Air hardware, strengthening the Air model's position as the performance-focused iPad.
  • The contrast with the iPad mini 3, whose review coverage characterizes Touch ID as its only major change, makes the Air 2 the clearer upgrade for buyers prioritizing speed.

Second-order effects

  • iPad app developers gain a larger performance envelope for demanding tablet software, while Apple faces greater pressure to supply the multitasking and tablet-specific features reviewers say are absent.
  • Apple's own iPad lineup becomes more segmented: benchmark-minded buyers have a stronger reason to choose the Air 2 rather than treat the mini and Air as interchangeable screen-size options.

Third-order effects

  • If software support catches up with the hardware, tablet competition shifts further from raw mobile-phone performance toward whether large-screen operating systems and apps can turn surplus compute power into distinct workflows.
  • The widening iPad-versus-iPhone performance gap points to tablets becoming a separate computing tier inside Apple's mobile lineup rather than merely enlarged phones.

The trend: Apple is differentiating tablets from phones through faster hardware, with tablet-specific software determining how much of that advantage reaches users.

Related: iPad Air 2 · iPad · iPhone · iPad Air 2 benchmark results · 2013 iPad Air benchmark results

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