iPad 3 A5X Prototype Chip Revealed

An image showing an Apple-branded A5X chip is floating around the Internet as leaks intensify in wake of an impending Apple event for the much-rumored iPad 3.

A WeiPhone forum poster has obtained and published the image to the left (click to enlarge) with claims that the hardware belongs to an iPad 3 prototype unit.

Apple was apparently testing a new iteration in the A-series of processors - not the rumored quad-core A6, but an A5X version allegedly boasting just two processing cores.

The poster himself points out to the code naming, starting with the original iPad’s A4 chip (S5L8930X), the iPad 2′s A5 silicon (S5L8940X), and now the A5X (S5L8945X).

The emphasized jump of only 5 increments between the A5 and the “A5X” should lend credence to recent rumors that Apple is not equipping the iPad 3 with a quad-core silicon, but a two-core A-series processor with improved graphics.

People familiar with the next-generation iPad have been quoted by The Verge as saying that Apple ordered a double resolution display — “a true iPad Retina Display, clocking in at 2048 x 1536,” and that “the A6 CPU the iPad 3 is likely to sport will include a significantly more powerful GPU.”

According to the February 8th report, the same people specifically said that “the A6 will not be a quad-core chip, but will remain dual-core.”

And a recent discovery by Patently Apple revealed that Cupertino had recently trademarked the term “Macroscalar,” which Extreme Tech’s Joel Hruska related to 3D transistors as part of a new A-processor architecture.

It remains to be seen which of these rumors holds water when Apple unveils its third-generation of iPad computers (hopefully, early next month).

Posted in: Hardware, Preview, Tablet