With less than a week before this years Super Bowl, many advertisers are already armpit-deep into their big game strategy. Brands have dropped teasers, trailers, and even full ads in anticipation of getting us all excited about what they view as their holiest of days: the Only Day People Actually Look Forward to the Commercials.Depending on who you ask, every Shakespeare play can be divided into three or four types: Tragedy, Comedy, History, and Problem Plays. Meanwhile, past researchers have analyzed thousands of novels to find six basic plot points that underpin every story: Rags to riches (a steady rise from bad to good fortune); Riches to rags (a fall from good to bad, a tragedy); Icarus (a rise then a fall in fortune); Oedipus (a fall, a rise then a fall again); Cinderella (rise, fall, rise); and Man in a hole (fall, rise).After decades of decidedly non-clinical research, Im convinced that Super Bowl ads can be similarly classified. But how to do it? What categories can accurately describe Puppymonkeybaby, Nationwide Dead Kid, and DoorDash All The Ads? This is the challenge.In determining the five types of Super Bowl ads, many factors must be parsed. Lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous. These include but are not limited to the stature of the brand, its goal for being in the big game, and of course, the ultimate execution of an idea.Lets dig in.The all about the eyeballs adMore than 123 million people watched the Super Bowl in 2024, in the U.S. alone. The four games during NFL Divisional weekend this year averaged 36.6 million viewers. A lot of eyeballs in one place at one time is why the Super Bowl has been such a consistently popular investment for brands of all shapes and sizes. Its also why its a perfectly logical place to splash your customer growth trajectory with rocket fuel.Brands like FanDuel and DoorDash have used the event to entice new customers onto their platforms. This year, FanDuel is asking people to choose between Peyton and Eli Manning in the Kick of Destiny 3. Theres a reason for that. The first Kick of Destiny not only got 14 billion impressions and a 10% boost in brand awareness, but FanDuel averaged 2 million active users making roughly 17 million total bets. The platform attracted 70% of the available new online bettors during that game.Last year Doordashs Doordash All the Ads gave viewers the chance to enter a contest to win everything advertised during the game. In addition to the 11.9 billion impressions it got, the contest also delivered 8 million applications on the platform.Basically, anyone who is pushing a specific promotion on their platform or involving their product, thats an ad for growth mode.That holy s**t hype adIts all in the name. The most important metric here is brand awareness. Not only does the ad need to get your attention, and sink its hooks into your memory, it needs to do so in a way that you actually know what brand the ad and surrounding campaign is for.Typically, what we see here are lesser-known brands that need a Super Bowl-sized shot in the arm, or bigger brands that have gone a bit stale. A great example of the former is The Farmers Dog ad in 2023, which came out of absolutely nowhere to win the USA Today Ad Meter (and was co-created by former Fast Company senior editor Teressa Iezzi).A classic in this category is Chryslers 2011 spot Born of Fire with Eminem. The Emmy-winning ad not only introduced the new Chrysler 200, it did so by celebrating the city of Detroit, still reeling from the economic downturn of 2008. Having Eminem involved was an unexpected dose of hometown cool that helped boost the brand and sales significantly. The company credited the ad with helping it turn its first profitable quarter in two years.More recently, both Coinbase and Tubi used creative executions on the big night to pique our collective curiosity. For Coinbase, it was a bouncing DVD-like, floating QR code. Meanwhile, Tubi made everyone watching in 2023 think someone was changing the channel with its 15-second spot.Tubi CMO Nicole Parlapiano, told Adweek, Our strategy on those ads was really to get our name out there. We didnt have very high consumer advertiser awareness at that point, and so we were just trying to be stunty and get people talking about Tubi.Mission accomplished.Weird if they arent here adsThese are the brands that are so big, so iconic, that you expect them to be there. And if theyre not, it just feels . . . weird. Budweiser. Doritos. Automotive brands, fast-food, major snack and candy brands. Sure, they may take a year off here and there, but you still expect to see them.Every year we get some version of horses and puppy dogs from Budweiser. And almost every year its ad is among the most popular with viewers. This year is no exception, with the keg delivery foal also delivering the second-most positive emotional reactions from viewers among full ads released so far (after only the NFLs own spot), according to global creative effectiveness platform DAIVID.Doritos has brought back its incredibly popular Crash the Super Bowl ad contest, tapping into the tradition it established more than a decade ago.Even Dunkin is really stepping up its Status Quo pedigree, with three years of Ben Affleck-led spots that are getting increasingly unhinged, and I am 100% here for it.Take a leak adsDespite the occasion, the pomp, the circumstance, the Super Bowl still is not immune to utterly forgettable commercials that ultimately waste our time and the brands ad budgets. High anticipation, low pay-off. The upside of a bad ad is that you can go for a washroom break without missing anything.That said, this year toilet paper brand Angel Soft is creatively using this time-honored tradition of leaving the room during the commercials into a brand opportunity unto itself. Or, sorry, a potty-tunity. That baby angels voice may be pure, uncut nightmare fuel, but the brand strategy here is spot on.Other ads that would fit this category are tough to recall because they just rank so high on the forgettability scale. Its the advertising equivalent to the Men In Black neuralyzer. Still, you can essentially add Weathertech to the list every year. Other than that, if I had a time machine, Id warn everyone that the Lionel Messi Michelob Ultra ad from last year was easily one of the highest-quality (and most expensive) potty-tunities of the game.Going off-broadway adsAs the Super Bowl continues to grow far beyond the time limits and ad availability within the confines of four quarters, more and more brands are tapping into opportunity around the game.Since this is a moment when were all paying just a wee bit more attention to what brands are doing, advertisers can blend in with official sponsors without shelling out that broadcast entry fee. Miller Lite did it last year, replacing an official Big Game ad by handing out QR-coded T-shirts to fans to wear that others can scan for free beer money.This year, the Kelce brothers co-owned beer brand Garage Beer is leaning heavily into the fact it cant afford to buy big game air time, despite having the creative chops to play. The brand has also dubbed the Chiefs vs. Eagles game The Garage Bowl, given Travis is playing against Jasons former team.https://twitter.com/drinkgaragebeer/status/1885365701415690401Back in 2019, Skittles did have a Super Bowl spot, but used the opportunity to promote an actual Broadway show called Skittles: The Musical, starring Michael C. Hall. It was a hit! Well, at least in advertising terms, if not on the snobby theater geek scale.One of the most infamous examples of hijacking the Super Bowl came back in 2013, at the very stadium of this years game. In the third quarter of the Ravens/49ers Super Bowl, the power went out and delayed the game for 34 minutes. Oreo saw an opportunity . . . and tweeted. The dunk in the dark tweet is a core entry in the canon of social media marketing, for its ability and agility to creatively capitalize on a collective cultural moment.But the greatest example of this category came the very next year. In 2014, Newcastle Brown Ale couldnt afford the $4.5 million price tag of a Super Bowl spot. So instead, it imagined what it would do if it did have the money, and then made a commercial campaign about that.If We Made It was a series of spots that ranged from simple text-based ads, to clips of focus groups reacting to over-the-top Super Bowl ad ideas ad, to behind the scenes videos with celebs like Anna Kendrick. It was a hit, earning as much media coverage as most actual Super Bowl spots.

Melbourne designer Robbie Walker has completed a raised steel cabin resembling a "sculpture in the trees" of a dense forest in Victoria, Australia. Named Sawmill Treehouse, the home sits on a steeply sloping site in Sawmill Settlement, a suburb near Mount Buller ski resort in the Victorian Alps, known locally as High Country.Robbie Walker has completed a steel cabin in Victoria, AustraliaWalker said the cabin is designed as a place for his client to "escape, relax and reflect", with a structure that respects the site's natural beauty and its towering snow gum trees.In addition to the existing trees, Walker had to work around the constraints presented by a gully that once used to discharge water from neighbouring homes and occupied a spot with the best views over the forest.The cabin's is elevated above ground with four slim postsThis led Walker to elevate Sawmill Treehouse above ground on four slim posts, allowing people, vehicles and rainwater to pass underneath.Built on site with a structural steel frame, the cabin has a rectangular form measuring 12 metres long and four metres wide. Its roof, sides and underside are wrapped in slats of dark brown weathered steel, which filter in sunlight and protect the cabin from heat in the summer.It is wrapped in slats of weathered steel"The slatted steel reflects light in a similar way to leaves on a tree, more than a big flat sheet of steel would," Walker told Dezeen."It will help the building to breathe in a hot Australian summer and also help to hide any services, allowing the building to sit more like a sculpture in the trees and not clutter the site."Inside the cabin, a bedroom and a bathroom lead off the main hallway that links to a kitchen and living area. Here, a full-span "wall of glass" faces north with views through the gully.Read: Studio Puisto balances black cabin on slender column in Finnish forestDue to the site being located in a zone with a very high risk of bushfires, Walker was required to follow various development rules for the project. This included the use of openable windows with permanent fixed fly screens to block embers from nearby fires.However, to avoid the need for a fly screen, he placed the lower section of glass on an angle allowing the vents to sit flat, one flush with the floor and the second vent in the horizontal glazing bar.A wall of glass in the living area offers views over the landscapeThe interior features a pared-back palette intended to create a sense of calm and warmth, with walls ceiling and floors wrapped in Victorian ash wood. This material was also used to build a built-in sofa and vent covers, in addition to the cabin's internal doors and cabinetry.On the ground level, Sawmill Treehouse is complete with a garage building built on a flatter part of the site. It has an outdoor kitchen and a laundry, accessed by driving under the house.Victorian ash was used for the built-in furniture and interiorsWalker praised his client's desire to keep Sawmill Treehouse small, despite the temptation to build more bedrooms to improve its resale chances."I think building less and being less greedy is maybe more important than even material choices, and when the system suits the opposite it is very impressive to have the courage to see it through," said Walker. "I think it is that the site still feels as special as it did when the client bought the land."A garage building with an outdoor kitchen sits on a flatter part of the siteOther elevated cabins featured on Dezeen include the La Cime holiday cabin in Qubec by Naturehumaine and a black-painted structure in Finland raised on slender columns by Studio Puisto.The photography is by Tasha Tylee.The post Robbie Walker covers Sawmill Treehouse in Australia with slatted steel appeared first on Dezeen.

A wave of radical designers in Sweden are experimenting with digital technology and alternative materials to invent new ways of making furniture. Amy Frearson reports.Today's creatives are not just making use of emerging technologies and resources; they are using them to completely overhaul the conventional design process.The growing availability of biomaterials and waste products is leading more designers to adopt a fabric-first approach, allowing the materials to fuel the design direction.Orange rinds, car airbags and oyster shellsMeanwhile, the advancement of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality and 3D printing has been equally transformative, paving the way for shapes that previously weren't conceivable.In Sweden, designers at the forefront of this trend include Stockholm-based Interesting Times Gang. This innovation-led studio has created products from materials ranging from peeled orange rinds to used car airbags.Interesting Times Gang 3D printed a table from crushed shells. Photo by Caroline Jgborn RungAt the Stockholm Furniture Fair this week, Interesting Times Gang is showcasing the results of recent experiments with oyster shells. A bioplastic made from crushed shells was 3D printed to create the free-flowing curves of its Gigas Table and Infuana Lamp.The studio is also presenting a collaboration with furniture label Ingridsdotter, a version of the Jonas Bohlin-designed LIV table featuring a surface made from recycled fishing nets that has a finish resembling frothy ocean waves."A regular studio might have a preconceived idea about how something should look," said the studio's head of design, Alexander Westerlund."We work the other way round we start by seeing what can be done with that material, then we try to create something that fits that material's properties."Interesting Times Gang's best-known work is the Kelp Collection. Photo by Matilda Kurtson BellmanInteresting Times Gang is best known for the Kelp Collection, a series of 3D-printed chairs. One version is made from fishing nets mixed with wood fibre, while another is a biocomposite made from seaweed.The project came about after the design studio approached Nordic SeaFarm, Sweden's largest seaweed producer."Kelp regenerates really quickly, so we knew it could be a good material to use if something interesting could be done with it," said Westerlund.Read: Read Dezeen Dispatch online now!The project proved so successful that Nordic SeaFarm, which was previously focused on the food sector, is now exploring the wider potential for kelp in furniture production. IKEA's parent company was among the investors in a recent funding round worth 25 million Swedish kronor."Some of the stuff we're doing has never been done before, so it can be stressful to make it work; sometimes you need to have two or three ideas in your back pocket in case the materials don't perform as you want them to," explained Westerlund.But it's worth the effort, he said, when projects are influencing the likes of IKEA. "It can be hard as a small studio to make change but we're managing to inspire larger companies."Kajsa Willner has developed a technique called craft punk. Photo by David MllerOther designers exploring a fabric-first approach include Malm-based Kajsa Willner, who has developed a technique she calls "craft punk".This stemmed from a 2023 collaboration with Fogia, exploring how the Swedish furniture brand's manufacturing waste could be reintroduced into the production cycle.It led Willner to develop a process for creating objects from small pieces of scrap wood. She coats these creations in paint, followed by a water-based lacquer, resulting in a colourful high-gloss finish.The wooden pieces are covered in water-based lacquer. Photo by David MllerThe designer has been experimenting with the technique ever since, producing vases, chairs, tables and art installations. Her latest creation is a pair of large-scale sculptures for The Office Group in London, made using offcuts from flooring brand Dinesen."Some people think upcycling is basic, when it's the only thing we should be doing," she said.A similar theme of reuse and repair underpins the exhibition Willner is presenting at Stockholm Modern during Stockholm Design Week, a series of polished steel objects featuring torn strips and ripped holes."A few years ago, we couldn't have done that"She believes the global push for sustainability, particularly waste reduction, creates an opportunity to promote more small-scale manufacturing and handcrafted products.The designer hopes that Sweden, which has become synonymous with mass production thanks to IKEA, can become a hotspot for a more material-focused approach to design."I'm interested in pushing the boundaries of how you can work with design," Willner said. "If we want to reduce our waste, maybe the future of furniture is in medium-scale and small-scale production. With these research-based projects, it's all about connecting the dots."Reality was unveiled at last year's Stockholm Design Week.Photo by Martin BrusewitzStockholm-based designer Gustav Winsth has taken a different route to the design process, using digital technologies to uncover new forms of furniture and objects.He and collaborator Alexander Lervik created a stir at last year's Stockholm Furniture Fair when they presented Reality, a chair designed in virtual reality.Read: Six emerging designers to look out for at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2025With the use of VR goggles, the duo worked in digital platform Gravity Sketch to share ideas and sketch out the design shape. The process resulted in a curvaceous aluminium form that could only be brought to life by skilled metalworkers."A few years ago, we couldn't have done that chair," Winsth said. "The software is developing all the time. I could see the potential."The Tension Trolley is now in production. Photo by Erik LefvanderWinsth has already shown that this process can be used on a production scale. He designed the Tension Trolley, a product for furniture brand Lammhults, in the same way.The designer is now exploring how he can apply the approach to interior design, with two projects just open in Stockholm. One is a revamp of restaurant Hosoi, launching during Stockholm Design Week. The other is the newly unveiled showroom of glassmaker Bobo."It means we can go from a really rough sketch to knowing exactly what it feels like to be in the room," Winsth said. "You can walk around and get a good sense of how it will be."The designer believes his background in mechanical engineering gave him a different perspective on product development than other designers. He thinks that experimenting with processes is key to pushing boundaries in a meaningful way.Gustav Winsth unveiled the Bobo show at this year's design week. Photo by Gustav Winsth"Materials and processes interest me more than design itself," he stated."I seldom look at design classics when I'm drawing, but I can be mesmerized by a video of a tube-bending machine. I like seeing different techniques and materials, then trying to find uses for them."Winsth is excited by what might be possible if more designers and manufacturers embrace the arrival of digital technologies like VR."There is so much potential when it comes to prototyping in furniture the idea that you can go into the same room as a product developer in another country, discuss something you both see in front of you and make changes in real-time," he said."I hope that more producers realise that potential."This article was originally written for the Dezeen Dispatch magazine at Stockholm Design Week 2025.Stockholm Design Week 2025 is taking place at various locations around the city from 3 to 9 February. To see what's on, visitDezeen Events Guide.The post Swedish designers doing things that have "never been done before" appeared first on Dezeen.

Because of their shared roots, its no surprise that the majority of custom PC designs and mods lean more toward sci-fi and cyberpunk aesthetics. Of course, theres a wide variety of styles and themes that can be adopted, but sometimes it takes a bit of imagination and a lot of hard work to pull off a successful design. Thats especially true if youre attempting to use a style that uses plenty of copper pipes and brass colors.You know what else in computing uses lots of pipes? Water cooling systems! Of course, modern water cooling designs make use of flexible tubing that happens to also mix well with those gamer aesthetics, but theres no hard rule that they cant be made with metal pipes youd more closely associate with water. Thats the principle behind this rather striking custom PC design that uses plenty of metallic golden brown surfaces, giving it a rather distinctive look that would make it at home in a steampunk setting.Designer: Billet LabsDesigning a computer in a fictional Victorian-era style wasnt exactly the original purpose of this gaming PC mod. It was, at first, meant to showcase the MonoBlock, a water-cooling block designed for a mini PC form factor that exuded a somewhat brutalist aesthetic with its all-copper construction. Once the project got started using copper pipes all around, however, it almost took on a life of its own.To call this a massive undertaking would be the understatement of the year. Unlike many mods and hacks that could use 3D printing to save time and effort, every pipe and almost every block in this build was made by hand, with only the main aluminum PC case enjoying the benefits of CNC machining. It definitely takes more than just plenty of skill but an even greater amount of patience to pull this off, though the results are probably worth the months of work put into it.That result is a head-turning aluminum block at the bottom, a metal radiator block above, and half a dozen copper pipes bending their way around to connect both parts. One of those copper pieces is a cylindrical reservoir that holds water mixed with coolant chemicals. After all, this is a water-cooled PC, and it would be a complete failure if it couldnt push and draw water through the gaming PC to keep it performing at its best, even in high loads.Its definitely impressive how this contraption actually works perfectly, though the DIY nature of the project and the metal tubing might not inspire complete confidence, especially since youre literally putting water near electronics. Theres no doubt, however, that its a beautiful work of art and engineering, one that thankfully offers something new in a market filled with neon RGB lights and black motifs.The post Copper water-cooled gaming PC mod gives off serious steampunk vibes first appeared on Yanko Design.

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MacworldWhile everyone rushes to download the latest version of iOS on their iPhone so they can try out all the new features, updating isnt as exciting on the Mac. The strength of an update is measured in performance rather than features, and many marquee announcements come and go with little fanfare. Raise your hand if you know how to use Stage Manager.So assuming youre running Sequoia by now, its probably not all that different than Sonoma. Maybe youve tried some Apple Intelligence features, set up the new Passwords app, or jotted down a math note or twobut Im willing to bet theres a feature you havent tried yet that will top them all.Its called iPhone Mirroring and it was one of the marquee features released last fall with macOS Sequoia. You probably remember hearing about itbut if you havent tried it you need to right now. You can find the iPhone Mirroring app in your Applications folder. Launch the app (which has one of the worst icons Apple has ever made) and you can access a nearby iPhone on your Macs screen as theyre signed into the same Apple account. It seems like a party trick, maybe even a gimmick, but trust metry it once and itll change your entire workflow.Even though I work at my Mac, my iPhone is rarely out of reach and I probably pick it up 20-plus times a day to do some mindless task: clear a notification, check a score, scroll through my Instagram feed, or do one of a number of things I can already do on my Mac but dont. iPhone Mirroring takes away the temptation to pick up my phone in two ways: It pushes all notifications to my Mac so I can act on them in the Notification Center and projects a virtual representation of my iPhone right on my Macs screen.I wont get into the how-to of it here (you can read all about that in our separate article), but I will sing its praises. Not only is incredibly cool to see in action, but its incredibly useful too. A dozen times a day I use it to grab a link, check an app, or grab a screenshot. Its as if the two devices are one.Sure I still waste time on my iPhone throughout the day, but the number of interactions has been cut down considerably. The main reason is how seamlessly it all works. Once you set it up, which takes all of 30 seconds, your Mac will basically act as a wireless external display for your iPhone. Launch the app and your iPhone will appear in the middle of the screen as if you were holding it in front of your face.Its not perfectthe biggest missing feature is the ability to flip the virtual iPhone into landscape modebut for the most part, you can do everything you would on your phone with your mouse and it all works like magic. I find that when I use iPhone Mirroring I spend less time with my iPhone and get back to work much quicker. It enhances both my Mac and iPhone experience and ties the two together in a way only Apple can.

MacworldThe new M4 MacBook Air is coming relatively soon and for Apple, it may not be soon enough. Its not that theres anything wrong with the current M3 MacBook Airits Apples best laptop. It offers a great combination of performance, portability, and price for the customer.The issue is with the M3 chip itselfagain, theres nothing wrong with it from a user standpoint. But behind the scenes, the M3 caused problems with Apples Mac lineup, which is why the M3 was the shortest cycle of the M-series chips.Its expensive to produceThe M3 was a 3nm chip. 3nm refers to the fabrication process to create the chips; it doesnt define a chips physical size, its a general term used to refer to a chips transistor density, speed, and power efficiency. TSMC, which manufactures Apples chips, referred to the initial 3nm process as N3B, which had its issues. It was costly, and yields (the number of viable chips in a semiconductor production wafer) werelowerthan those ofprevious processes.Thats not ideal for Apple, a company that does everything it can to maintain its profit margins. When it was released, the M3 MacBook Air was priced the same as the M2 MacBook Air, so the company took a hit on its margin. Since then, TSMC has implemented its N3E fabrication process, which improved upon N3B by cutting costs and producing higher yields. N3E, which is referred to as an enhanced 3nm process, is used to make Apples M4 chips, which means the M4 MacBook Air should be cheaper to makewhich Apple will surely appreciate.Skipping a beatThe M3s cost and yield issues most certainly came into play when Apple decided how to implement the chip throughout its products. For example, the release of the iPad Pro in May 2024 wasnt a surprise, but its M4 chip was. The previous iPad Pro had an M2, and the M3 chip made its debut in the MacBook Air just a couple of months earlier, so it was easy to conclude the that M3 would succeed the M2 in the iPad Pro. Apple also upgraded the iMac to an M4 after just 12 months, quicker than its usual cadence.The M4 iPad Pro serves as proof that Apple wanted to move off the M3 as soon as possible and move to a chip that has a better production value. The M3 issue was so pressing that the company was willing to disrupt its pattern of introducing new M-series chips in the MacBook Prolikely a one-time hiccup that the company was willing to accept. Making the iPad Pro the first M4 product also allows TSMC to ramp up production of the chip at a moderate pacedemand for iPads isnt as high as for MacBooks.With the release of the first M5 Macs later this year, Apple will be back on track. The M5 is a 3nm chip but will be made using a new N3P process that TSMC started testing last year.The M4 made its debut in the iPad Pro likely because the M3 is too costly.Brady Snyder / FoundryApples remaining updatesApple still uses the M2 chip in the iPad Air and the Apple Vision Pro. The iPad Air is reportedly going to be updated soon with an M4 chipanother product that skips the M3. The Vision Pro is skipping both the M3 and M4, going with an M5 upgrade that may not happen until late this year or in 2026. The Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro also all skipped the M3 entirely.The M2 chip is also used in Apples cheapest laptop, the $999 M2 MacBook Air. Bloombergs Mark Gurman brought up this particular laptop in his recent report on Apples 2025 release schedule, and it appears that Apple will still offer this model for another year rather than moving to the similar M3 model. Apple moved the $999 model from the M1 to the M2, but like everything else, the M3 is chip non grata. The M2 is an enhanced 5nm chip, and since that chip is still going to be used in the Vision Pro, Apple the M2 MacBook Air justifies the M2 chips production. This also means that the $999 MacBook Air wont get upgraded until the M4 MacBook Air gets its chip upgrade to the M5 in 2026. At that time, Apple would discontinue the M2 model and move the base M4 MacBook Air to the $999 price point.What about the A17 Pro?The A17 Pro in the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max was actually Apples first 3nm chip; it was released a month before the M3. The A-series and M-series chips are basically the same, with the A chips used in the iPhone and low-end iPads, and the M chips in Macs and high-end iPads.Like the M3, the A17 Pro is made using TSMCs N3E process. The current iPad mini has an A17 Pro and the upcoming 11th-gen iPad is rumored to get the same chip. If the A17 Pro is made with the same N3E process, where are the chips for these new products coming from, if Apple is moving away from N3E?The current iPad mini uses a binned A17 Pro.Dominik Tomaszewski / FoundryThats where chip binning comes into play. Remember those low yields during the N3E process? Binning is where those rejected chips are taken and made useful by disabling processing cores, slowing down speeds, and other methods. Apple is likely using binned A17 Pros for these products. For example, the iPad minis A17 Pro has a 5-core GPU, which is a binned version of the iPhone 15 Pros A17 Pro that had a 6-core GPU.Binned chips are perfectly good chips, so theres no need to worry about performance. Also, it puts them to use instead of wasting them in the trash or figuring out a way to recycle them. These binned chips will be the last remnants of a chip cycle Apple is eager to move on fromand users benefit with better performance and power efficiency from the newer processes. So expect the iPad mini and 11th-gen iPad to get updates sooner than later as Apple puts the whole M3 nightmare behind it for good.