Fourth-gen iPad teardown shows minimal evolution
updated 10:25 am EDT, Fri November 2, 2012
LG counted among display suppliers
A teardown of the fourth-generation iPad shows very few differences inside or out, notes iFixit. As advertised it upgrades to a 1.4GHz A6X processor, a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera and a Lightning connector, but many other design traits are essentially unchanged. The tablet still uses a single speaker, unlike the twin speakers in the iPad mini, and even embeds the Lightning connector in a frame the same size as the one for the third-gen iPad's 30-pin dock.
The teardown unit does use an LG display, confirming that Apple is starting to turn to companies beyond Samsung for panels. Samsung is, however, likely supplying a fair share of panels, just not all of them. As before, the touchscreen controller hardware comes from Broadcom.
The fourth-gen iPad is officially launching today, alongside the iPad mini. It's unclear if or how Apple might update the full-sized iPad in the spring, as it usually does.
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Joined: 08-27-08
In 6 months, I wouldn't have expected a radical redesign. Apple can minimize the production cost by keeping as many common parts as possible between the previous iteration and the current iPad. I imagine we will see regular updates on a 6 month cycle until the tablet market matures. The big race at the moment is to be the first with 64-bit cores and a large memory footprint.