nVIDIA Tegra 4 Embarrassed in Test Against Apple iPad

Little can cut the wind from the sales of a highly anticipated product like NVIDIA Tegra 4 system-on-a-chip, but someone from GLBenchmark managed it, just by pitting it against an Apple iPad.

The identity of the tester, or testers, was not disclosed, but the tests themselves did get published, so there must be some weight behind them. As such, as reluctant as some may be to believe the results, they may actually be valid: iPad's A6X SoC did better in Android 4.2.1 benchmarks. The Dalmore slate, one of only twp Tegra 4 evaluation boards (which only select developers have been able to get so far), was the one used in the session. Android 4.2.1 was run at 1920 x 1128 pixels at the maximum Tegra 4 clock of 1.8 GHz. The fourth-generation iPad and its A6X still beat it though, managing 49.6 fps on Egypt HD Offscreen running at 1080p, versus 32.6 fps. Obviously, Apple fans will be smug for a while, and no one can really say they don't have a reason for it.

Still, there are enough reasons for which this early comparison should not be taken into account too seriously. For one, the Dalmore is bound to be less than perfect. Tegra 4 is young and its performance, like that of any SoC, depends on the rest of the hardware in whatever device it lands. There is also the matter of drivers: NVIDIA cannot have finished the software for the chip, so Tegra 4 likely hasn't been optimized yet.  Once a test is made on a tablet or smartphone that is set to actually sell, meaningful comparative benchmark runs will be worth attempting.

On that note, someone must have expressed disapproval because GLBenchmark no longer has the results up, although they can still be found on Google cache, which we have linked to in the first paragraph.

NVIDIA Tegra 4 beaten by Apple A6X
Image credits to Chip Hell

Posted in: Hardware, Mobile Phone, Preview