An early fourth-generation iPad benchmark was spotted on Geekbench today, and it scored a 1757, which more than doubles the score of the third-generation iPad, which checked in with a Geekbench score of 791. In fact, the fourth-generation iPad (which goes by iPad3,4) scored higher than the iPhone 5 on the Geekbench score we took. However, we have seen some Android phones and tablets flirt with this score before, like the Galaxy S3 and the Nexus 7 . Geekbench scores measure processor power, so while you’re probably not going to look for aliens or fold proteins on your mobile device, it’s nice to know that they’re packing some guts. It seems like the updated A6X processor in the new iPad does is in fact significantly faster and a significant upgrade. So if you’re really interested in the latest and greatest, the fourth generation iPad is clearly a superior device to the third-generation iPad. We warned you not to buy a iPad 3 before Apple’s Mini press conference, but now you really shouldn’t unless you’re getting a steal on the old third-generation iPad. What this score tells me is that Apple should have never ditched the numbering convention for iPads, because calling this new device a iPad 3s would make a whole lot of sense, and would confuse a lot fewer people.
Take a look at the whole benchmark here.