iPad Mini 7’s A17 Pro Upgrade: Impressive Gaming Performance at a Cost

The A17 Pro in the iPad mini 7 is actually a fabulous gaming chip despite having one fewer GPU core as well, compared to either the iPhone or Hinote use. The iPad mini 7 can run a title such as Resident Evil 4 Remake in gameplay footage at over 50 FPS, with the port delivering almost around or often reaching nearly 60 FPS. But this level of performance had to come at some cost in terms of image quality – indeed, the only way developers are able to reach such heady frame rates is via a number of upscaling techniques.

All About the iPad Mini 7 and A17 Pro

Resident Evil 4 Remake, of course, exploited the power of Capcom’s in-house RE Engine for its impressive visuals and smooth performance even on lesser hardware. And this optimization is why the game does so well on an iPad mini 7. The game was demonstrated by YouTuber Dame Tech to run at a resolution of 1280×840 with Apple‘s MetalFX upscaling set at quality.

It’s understandable why the game needs to be downscaled for players who prefer higher framerates over image quality. On its small 8.3-inch iPad mini 7 screen, the apparent differences in resolution aren’t likely to be seen as pixel density is extremely high. However, one particular visually striking defect was the deterioration in Leon Kennedy’s hair. This issue likely stems from the MetalFX upscaling to 840p, resulting in pixelation that becomes apparent with upscale like AMD’s FSR.

Despite the hair texture being somewhat distracting, it’s reasonable to assume that anyone seeking a highly portable device capable of running AAA games would be willing to make some sacrifices with the iPad mini 7. Currently priced at $484 on Amazon for the Wi-Fi-only model with 128GB of storage, potential buyers will hope for more games like this to become available on iPadOS in a playable format.

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