Teardown Reveals Full iPad 3 Specs

As avid readers will remember, iFixit flew over to Australia this week to grab one of the first new iPads going on sale this Friday. They bought one, improvised an “operating table” on site, and took the thing apart.

(Regardless of Apple’s choice for the name of “the new iPad”, it’s probably best not to clutter the headline this time around and just call it what it is - the third iPad. Or, as we’ve been calling it for over a year now, the iPad 3.)

With that out of the way, iFixit has mercilessly torn down Apple’s new tablet PC to discuss all the technical details behind its beautiful Retina display.

They’ve been able to confirm stuff like:

• The device uses a dual-core Apple A5X processor with integrated quad-core graphics (no surprise there).
• A 9.7 inch LED backlit in-plane switching LCD with 2048×1536 pixel “Retina Display” made by Samsung, with iFixit noting “we hear that Sharp and LG may be supplying panels at a later date.”
• 16, 32 or 64 GB Toshiba NAND flash memory.
• 5 MP HD rear-facing camera.
• 1 GB DRAM comprising two 4Gb Elpida LP DDR2 parts.
• Broadcom BCM4330 802.11a/b/g/n Baseband/Radio with Integrated Bluetooth 4.0+HS.
• Qualcomm MDM9600 3G and 4G wireless modem (not the expected 2nd generation MDM9615).
• Qualcomm RTR8600 multi-band/mode RF transceiver for LTE bands.

iFixit said getting inside the new iPad was just as difficult as with the iPad 2: “The front panel is glued to the frame,” reads the teardown report.

“We carefully used a heat gun to loosen the adhesive, worked to budge the panel with some guitar picks and plastic opening tools, and finally gently lifted it off with some heavy duty suction cups.”

Visit the tinkerers’ site for the full details and some high-resolution shots of the key iPad 3 parts photographed up close.

Posted in: Hardware, Review, Tablet