Apple's new iPad 3 features a modified version of the company's standard A5 processor, A5X, which has a larger floor plan to include quad-core graphics, according to an analysis performed by UBM TechInsights, one of our sister organizations.
The A5X measures roughly 163 square millimeters, compared to about 120 square millimeters for the A5. Both use identical ARM processor cores, but the A5X adds four PowerVR SGX543MP4 graphics cores, which are paired in groups of two and then symmetrically opposed to each other on the floor plan. Both chips feature two application processor cores and operate at 1GHz, but the A5X includes more DDR interfaces and more architecture added for the handling of quad-core GPU, according to the teardown analysis.
Click on the image below to view a slideshow of the iPad 3 in various stages of disassembly:
Simplicity of design? Well, it looks almost like a cell phone motherboard plugged into an overgrown display and battery. Doing it that way does make a lot of sense. It also permits multiple sourced displays to supply an existing model production run.
As miniaturization moves along its path the PC board will continue to get less complicated as more and more of the motherboard moves inside the IC packaging. If you can manage the heat and the power rail current you want to shrink the length of the interconnects to help speed up the device and reduce signal cross talk (noise).
The tablet computer will probably trend towards cheap disposable general purpose multi-media computers for all. When the device ends up costing a small fraction of the investment in software applications, how will that affect the giant software firms or should I say firm, the MS elephant in the room? Will they opt to embed all of their apps in their own hardware making it difficult if not impossible to load and run someone elses cheaper apps? Deja Vu? Or will the world of 3rd party cheapware/shareware blossom again, like cell phone apps have? And where does cloud computing fit into this model?
Seeing the apparent ease with which UBM TechInsights tears it down, it's a wonder to me that Apple is so resistant in their interviews. It's difficult to get through an Apple interview without bumping into a "proprietary concern." Yet, it appears from this teardown that reverse engineering of the hardware must be commonplace.
I only wonder what grenades they'll be packing in. I'm optimistic about biotechnology coming up with something that'll make break-downs like these micro-scopic
The iPad 3 is beautiful the same way the iPad two is, Apple should stop releasing new models with little improvements and wait more time to get something more interesting and technologically advanced, I think this is only a marketing strategy and not really an amazing new product anymore. Anyway the slides are very nice thanks!
Right Aldo, Apple should stop releasing new models just like the auto makers should stop releasing new models with little improvements each year. I'm sure it's only a marketing strategy to get you to buy the same old thing with minor tweaks. We only want revolutionary changes. Evolutionary changes are such a bore. ;-)
What can we expect with the auto companies showing how it's done. They taught us how to buy hype, personal expression, prestige, etc. while buying basic transportation of all things.
It's what makes it fun to live in the US of A. - watching others do it, I mean - I know better - most of the time.
I think Apple is the greedy giant. I don't support companies like these. I make my own desktops from mismatched parts from starter companies (one of the first to get GSkill ram cards at 800MHz) pay for OEM Windows and put my own sticker or logo on my computer, generally 20% cheaper too. I don't do it for the cost I do it for the pleasure of it. However apple does not only sell hardware, they sell art as well. There will come a day when I will select form over function. I have already succumbed to a galaxy G2X. Maybe one day i will own an Apple iPad or iPhone.
Spoken like a true engineer, Ervin. I have to admit that I don't have any Apple products, either. If I can get the job done with something less costly, I usually do. As an outsider looking in, it appears to me that Apple's greatest genius is marketing.
An interestingly low piece count. Is there no hope of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again? What was it that made for no turning back?
It's hard to stomach that something this expensive is an unapproachable and unrepairable throw-away. Thank goodness for the reliability of modern electronics.
I am also amazed at the marketing success of Apple. I have never bought anything from Apple and I don't plan to. As an engineer, I feel it my duty to resist succumbing to their marketing mania when other, lower cost products can generally do the same thing - at least for my needs. I thought the automakers' marketing success with SUVs beginning 25 years ago would never be topped, but I believe Apple has done so. SUV type vehicles were available long before the 80's, but the automakers started a marketing campaign that somehow made the general populus believe they "needed" SUVs.
Looks like a lot of us are not Apple users but you have to respect their ability to make product/technology decisions that have resonated with the needs/desires of consumers. The iPod, iPhone and iPad all show how they have been able to provide solutions that matched user needs. Plus they did a good job with software as well. Microsoft and others could learn from their success
Yes, Apple has been very successful. I owned Apple product many years ago and found they were significantly more user friendly than PCs. However, lately I've had friends turn to apple products (laptops, iPhones, iPads) because of their buzz. Many of these friends have found their Apple products very unfriendly. I myself recently had trouble using an Apple desktop. This is new. It makes me wonder whether Apple products have become more difficult or whether it's because we're accustomed to other systems.
I have always heard that apple computers were very good and user friendly computers with a lot less crashes. Have an iPad never had any problems with it but there are some features I'm not crazy about.
There's is certainly a portion of the personal computer world (and gadget world) who swear by Apple. Lately, however, I've had a number of friends switch to Apple for their personal computing and phone. These people did not enjoy the switchover and did not find the Apple products user friendly. I was a bit surprised, especially since this happed to three different friends.
I've heard the same thing about user-friendliness, Al. Since I'm not an owner of an Apple product, I don't really know whether it's true, but I can certainly see the loyalty of their customers. There's a sense of customer affinity -- maybe almost a sense of family between Apple and its customers. I was in downtown Chicago after Steve Jobs passed away and when I tried to walk past an Apple store on Michigan Avenue (which has a 15-foot wide sidewalk) I could barely move. Flowers were piled in front of the store and there were hundreds of Post-It notes stuck to the store's windows. Apple customers were actually sitting on the sidewalk in front of the store. I can't think of any other company that has that kind of relationship with its customers.
It's hard to stomach that something this expensive is as good as its single worst component.
When the worst shitty component goes; the whole thing hits the trash can.
Isn't that taking advantage of the shee(p-a)pple and people's ignorance?
I can see it.. ooops the batteries are toast.. or it hit the floor and sometihng got disconnected inside, .. well.. throw it away !
Then we will buy a new one, you know: the NEW ! model with multi-3d cameras on the edges, or the double sided screen, or the model with surround sound and 10 microphones or the model built-in explosives detector.
More crap we don't need to buy,
with money we don't have,
to make Apple's greedy moguls richer
built by people that make $ 1.00 a day,
in a country where people don' t have enough to eat,
to impress people we don't care about
and lie ourselves that we are going to be happier with that shiny piece of...
Apple sells to the same superficial specie that spends billions annually on cosmetics, billions more on hair care products. In that context Apples' goods & services don't seem so frivolous.
My wife won an I-Pad recently. She already has warned me not to take it apart!Your guys have calmed my curiosity.The construction is about what I had envisioned.Thank you for maintaining domestic tranquility.
Taking something apart, while very interesting, imparts no real knowledge on how it works, or being able to repair it.Modern micro electronics for the most part is non-repairable as the software has melded with the hardware and the parts cannot be purchased ready to install, not to even mention the problems of replacing BGA form factors on high density boards even if they were available. In the olden days I would remark TTL parts to provide some design protection, a trick I learned from Data General.Any competent engineer could have reverse engineered it. Not so today.I can dissect a real apple (the fruit), identify all the parts, yet can't make it whole again.Too much micro circuitry provided by Mother Nature!On the I-Pad I could do little more than perhaps replace the battery system with something that might work, but if one of the dual CPUs has a bad register bit or one of the memories has a bad bit, the whole thing is toast. Even a bad solder joint under a BGA would cause the unit to be history.
I have never owned an Apple product, but was a little saddened when they switched from Motorola 68000, a superior CPU, to Intel in their computers some years ago.But then too I am very displeased with Microsoft products and the sales hype about "viruses", a codeword cover for poorly designed software.I do keep some machines running Windows, but prefer Microsoft MSDOS for engineering projects.Linux is OK but I'm thinking about buying an Apple laptop.
I believe that Microsoft and Apple owners got rich not by being greedy, but by serving the public. Hell, I am greedy, but certainly not rich because of it.Baseball and other sports figures are rich because they sell what is in demand to the masses. Greed has little to do with gaining wealth.Gates and Jobs provided billions of units desired by the public. So why all the mystery?The mystery to me is why does the public desire these units at all?One does not need a dual core CPU with nanosecond memory or a wireless gizmo with G3 to send email or porn!A pretty case makes little difference to me, but then again my wife often comments that I am "One Strange Duck"!What do I know?
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