No internal design changes found in 4th-gen iPad teardown

Source: iFixit

A teardown of the fourth-generation iPad, which some have taken to calling the iPad 4, reveals that besides the addition of Apple's Lightning connector, the tablet's internal design has remained untouched when compared to the previous iteration.

Hours after iFixit tore down the iPad mini, the firm did the same with Apple's new 9.7-inch tablet to find that the iterative component changes didn't warrant a redesign of the chassis or internal layout.

The tablet dissected by iFixit happened to be using an LG-sourced Retina display, not a Samsung panel like those first seen with the initial rollout of the third-generation iPad. At the time, it was reported that LG Display was ramping up production of their own high-resolution displays and began shipment months later. Samsung is still thought to be one of the main suppliers for the 9.7-inch panels, though Apple has recently made moves to diversify its supply chain.

Most of the significant changes were seen in the device's logic board, which now boasts an A6X processor clocked at 1.4GHz with quad core graphics and 1GB of memory. Components on the backside of the board, such as the Broadcom touchscreen controller, were identical to the third-generation iPad.

Full list of chips found on the logic board:

Apple A6X SoC
Hynix H2JTDG8UD2MBR 16 GB NAND Flash
Apple 338S1116 Cirrus Logic Audio Codec
343S0622-A1 Dialog Semi PMIC
Apple 338S1077 Cirrus Logic Class D Amplifier
QVP TI 261 A9P2

It appears that Apple chose not to utilize the space afforded by its switch to the Lightning connector, as the extra room is left unfilled. In fact, the Lightning connector is placed in a frame that is the same size as the outgoing 30-pin unit.

The other notable change is the tablet's upgraded front-facing camera, which gets a spec bump from 0.3 megapixels to 1.2 megapixels, granting it the FaceTime HD moniker.

Unveiled alongside the iPad mini at a special event in October, the fourth-generation iPad is available today at only at brick-and-mortar Apple Stores, as preorders for the device sold out on Tuesday.

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23 Comments

apple ][

said about 11 years ago

The iPad 4 caught a lot of people by surprise, including me.

To be honest, I do not believe that Apple even planned that they would be releasing an iPad 4 six months ago. Maybe we'll find out the details behind that story sometime in the future.

I don't think that they would have came out with the third gen and called it the "new iPad", if they'd known that they'd be releasing an even newer one 7 months after the introduction of the third gen. Just throw in a lightning connector, the new A6 chip and it'll be ready before the holidays too! Then Tim Cook and the upper management said, why the **** not! Let's do it!

As far as I'm concerned the four iPad models that have been released so far will be called - iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad 4. At least, that's how I will refer to them.

iPad 1, iPad 2, new iPad, fourth gen iPad just sounds totally retarded and confusing.

aaronj

said about 11 years ago

As far as naming goes, why not just do it like one would do with an iMac or MacBook Pro? Late-2012 iPad, 2013 iPad, etc.

suddenly newton

said about 11 years ago

iPad, iPad 2, New iPad, and iPad (Fourth Generation).

telecomsroadwarrier

said about 11 years ago

As I have highlighted elsewhere the BIG change for the iPad 4 is in relation to the LTE chip .. the previous iPad 3 offering was a solely North American product. The US has adopted an unusual and highly inefficient band plan for the 700 MHz spectrum band. Other countries/regions are allocating more frequency to wireless broadband.

Thus, the key reason for the update - was to enable the iPad to offer high speed LTE connectivity outside the US, Canada etc ...

There was no compelling reason internationally (other than the retina screen) to buy the iPad 3. International sales internationally were way less than they could achieve with global LTE connectivity.

There is no teardown yet for the iPad 4 with wireless connectivity.

bugsnw

said about 11 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apple ][

The iPad 4 caught a lot of people by surprise, including me.

To be honest, I do not believe that Apple even planned that they would be releasing an iPad 4 six months ago. Maybe we'll find out the details behind that story sometime in the future.

As far as I'm concerned the four iPad models that have been released so far will be called - iPad 1, iPad 2, iPad 3 and iPad 4. At least, that's how I will refer to them.

iPad 1, iPad 2, new iPad, fourth gen iPad just sounds totally retarded and confusing.

I agree that Apple jumped quickly. They had the faster A6 in the iPhone 5 and LTE or 4G or whatever it's called ready as well. Add the new connector and it was a sensible move to rush the iPad 4 out the door. I'm sure they new they'd piss off a lot of recent iPad 3 buyers, but I think I read they are offering trade-ins to those that bought just recently.

Also, from the teardown, there was this: "It appears that Apple chose not to utilize the space afforded by its switch to the Lightning connector, as the extra room is left unfilled. In fact, the Lightning connector is placed in a frame that is the same size as the outgoing 30-pin unit."

I would expect that the iPad 5 fills this empty space. Apple wouldn't have left this empty space unused or filled it with a frame had they had time to do a full revision. The mini used the extra space from the new, smaller connector to add a speaker.