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Apple appears to have transitioned the A5 processor in the second generation iPad tablet to a new 32nm chip resulting in longer battery life.
AnandTech spilled the beans on the move to introduce a new model of iPad 2, confusingly dubbed the iPad 2,4. The difference is that the A5R2 SoC processor is fabricated by Samsung on a cutting edge 32nm process instead of the old A5 45nm process.
Estimated battery consumption, AnandTech said that the newer chip used 28 per cent less power which also resulted in the iPad running a couple of degrees cooler to touch in addition to pushing battery life up from 10 to nearly 12 hours.
The bad news is that there’s no way to tell what model of iPad 2 the customer will get. Only the WiFi-only version has the new chip. AnandTech managed to find one at the US chain Best Buy but other attempts to find the latest model in US retail "came up short."
Sadly the device that could really use the same process, the power hungry third-generation iPad and the massive A5X SoC, hasn’t any sort of transition on the cards.
To put it in perspective, playback of 720p high-definition video on the first iPad 2 consumes 2.4W, it’s down to 2.2W in the iPad 2,4 but it’s a hefty 4.9W in the third-generation iPad. Which is why, of course, there’s a massive battery in the iPad 3.
The bottom line is that if you’re in the market for an iPad and don’t feel the need for the pricey high-spec latest generation, the new model of iPad 2 looks like pretty good value and now has even better battery life. That said, you may have to wait awhile until the channel runs out of the older stock.
