Event Coverage

The ABCs of the New iPad

By Sidney Wong - 8 Mar 2012

The ABCs of the New iPad

A Significant Moment for Apple 

The unveiling of the third generation of iPad is significant for Apple in more ways than you can imagine. After all, it is the first major product launch since the passing of its co-founder Steve Jobs. Will the "magic touch" of Steve Jobs be missed? What does Apple have up its sleeves this time to enable the new iPad to leapfrog the competition? As per usual, we round up some of the most interesting rumors on the new iPad and compare them with the facts.

Source: Apple

 

Specifications Facts Rumors
Dimensions
  • The new iPad measures 9.4mm, which is a hairline thicker than its predecessor (8.8mm)

 

  • 652g (Wi-Fi)
  • 662g (Wi-Fi + 4G)
  • Trusted inside sources of iLounge reported that the new iPad model will increase its thickness by 0.7mm to accommodate a twin light bar system used in higher-resolution displays.
  •  
  • iLounge Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Horwitz claimed to have some hands-on with the new model and said it is "roughly 1mm" thicker than the iPad 2.
  •  
  • Jeffries analyst Peter Misek asserted that the new tablet will be thinner as Apple and Sharp will not be using IPS or dual-bar LED backlighting for the display.
  •  
  • Taiwan Economic News stated in its report that two suppliers of iPad and MacBook batteries have produced new battery packs that would make the new iPad thinner and lighter.
  •  

Screen Resolution
  • The new iPad has a Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. That is a pixel density of 264ppi.
  • MacRumors confirmed that the new iPad will have a 2048 x 1536 Retina display. Its findings revealed that the new display has pixels that are one-quarter the size of those on the iPad 2.
  •  

 

Processor
  • Equipped with an A5X system-on-chip (SoC) with quad-core graphics, the new iPad delivers "four times" the performance of a Tegra 3 processor and 44% greater color saturation on its display.   
Camera
  • Featuring the same advanced optics as the iPhone 4S, the new iPad sports a 5-megapixel rear camera with backside-illuminated sensor (BSI), 5 element lens, IR filter and image signal processor built into the A5X chip.

 

  • The new camera is also capable of 1080p video recording.
  • Apple Daily received two photos which show the alleged iPad 3 model to have more tapered edges and a bigger camera lens. Information obtained through 'special channels" pointed out that the device to have a 8-megapixel camera sensor.
  •  
LTE
  • The new iPad comes in 4G LTE variants, which support data speeds up to 21Mbps on HSPA+, 42Mbps on dual-carrier (DC) - HSPA+ and 73Mbps on LTE.

 

Siri
  • There is no Siri integration but voice dictation is available. 

 

  • The voice dictation feature supports U.S English, British, Australian, French, German and Japanese.

 

Battery
  • 9 and 10 hours of battery life on Wi-Fi and 4G LTE respectively 
  • Taiwanese suppliers of iPad and Macbook batteries are reported to be mass producing a new but lighter battery pack which can extend the battery stamina of the iPad 3.
  •  
  • DigiTimes had inside information claiming that the new iPad will feature a 14,000mAh battery

 Source: Apple

Specifications Apple iPad (3rd Generation) Apple iPad 2 Apple iPad 
Operating System
  • Apple iOS 5.1 (at launch) 
  • Apple iOS 4.3 (at launch)
  • iPhone OS 3.2 (at launch)
Processor
  • Apple A5X dual-core Cortex A9
  • Apple A5 dual-core 1GHz Cortex A9
  • Apple A4 single-core 1GHz Cortex A8 
Built-in Memory
  • Information not available
  • 512MB RAM
  • 256MB RAM
Display
  • 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS Retina Display  / 2048 x 1536 pixels 
  • 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touch screen / 1024 x 768 pixels
  • 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT capacitive touch screen / 1024 x 768 pixels
Camera
  • 5-megapixel rear camera, 1080p video recording up to 30 fps 
  • VGA FaceTime camera, video at up to 30 fps
  • 0.7-megapixel rear camera, 720p HD video recording up to 30fps 
  • VGA FaceTime camera, video up to 30 fps
  • Not available
Connectivity
  • Bluetooth 4.0
  • USB 2.0
  • WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support
  • USB 2.0
  • WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP support + EDR
  • USB 2.0
  • WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n
Storage
  • 16/32/64GB
  • 16/32/64GB
  • 16/32/64GB 
Dimensions
  • 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4mm 
  • 241.2 x 185.7 x 8.8mm
  • 242.8 x 189.7 x 13.4mm
Weight
  • 652g (Wi-Fi)
  • 662g (Wi-Fi + 4G)
  • 601g (Wi-Fi )
  • 613g (Wi-Fi + 3G)
  • 680g (Wi-Fi)
  • 730g (Wi-Fi + 3G)

 

The new iPad vs. iPad 2

For easy reference, we have summarized the key differences between the new iPad and the iPad 2.

  • The new iPad has a Retina display with a higher resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels compared to the 1024 x 768 pixels on the iPad 2.
     
  • The imaging aspect is upgraded in the new iPad, where you will see a 5-megapixel camera module with the same advanced optics as the iPhone 4S
     
  • 4G LTE is supported on the new iPad which delivers data speeds up to 73Mbps.
     
  • There is a slight increase in thickness (9.4mm) and weight (652g for Wi-Fi, 662g for 4G) for the new iPad.  

The new iPad will be available in the U.S, Canada, U.K, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia from March 16, with expected delivery between March 16 to 22. Three storage variants (16/32/64GB) will be available along with two different versions, the Wi-Fi and 4G LTE

Prices of the different models are: 

  Apple iPad (3rd Generation, Wi-Fi) Apple iPad (3rd Generation, 4G LTE)
16GB S$658 S$828
32GB S$788 S$958
64GB S$918 S$1088

Meanwhile, the Apple iPad 2 (16GB) variants will see a price drop to S$528 and S$698 for the Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models. According to Apple, the 32GB and 64GB versions will no longer be available.

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