Though flattered, NVIDIA wants Apple to prove speed claim made during The new iPad's introduction

During Wednesday's introduction of The new iPad, Apple was talking about the A5X processor on board, which comes with a quad-core graphics processing unit. Tim Cook said that the processor offers four times the performance of a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor. Wednesday evening, NVIDIA released a statement from Ken Brown that said that because it didn't have the benchmark criteria used by Apple to come up with that claim, it was in no position to verify it. Brown's comments suggest that Apple might have handpicked certain apps to come up with that figure.

Brown did say that it was flattering to have been pointed out during the event, but he said that NVIDIA has some issues it needs to discuss with Apple. Still, there is some evidence that tends to back Apple's claims. In benchmark tests, the Apple iPad 2 (aka The old iPad) with a dual-core CPU and GPU outperformed the Asus Transformer Prime, an Android tablet using the quad-core Tegra 3 processor. Even though the Android 4.0 update might have sped up the Transformer Prime a bit, it most likely would still trail The new iPad's quad-core graphics processor and faster dual-core base.

The real challenge for Apple may come later in the Spring when the Samsung Exynos 5250 starts shipping with its ARM-Cortex A15 build and new graphics capabilities.

Will Apple hand over the actual benchmark tests that confirm the statement, and if not, will NVIDIA keep the pressure on Apple to discuss the comment? It is the type of delicate situation that could backfire for all involved. If Apple fails to prove the statement, it will look as if the tech titan handpicked the apps that ran during the benchmark testing to clinch a specific result. And if Apple does come up with proof that the A5X is as fast as claimed, it will hurt NVIDIA and those devices using the Tegra 3 that compete with Apple.

source: electronista