When Apple unveiled the new iPad, at the same time the company dropped the price on the iPad 2 16GB WiFi edition to $399 — what we didn’t know is that this is actually a different iPad from the ones before. Anandtech discovered that some of these models were in fact the iPad 2,4, rather than the older iPad 2,1 — and they have a new chip on board. Rather than the 45nm A5 chip, the iPad 2,4 has a smaller 32nm version.
This new version of the A5 chip is smaller, less expensive, provides better cooling, and most importantly, significantly improved battery life. Like up to two hours more. Sounds like a good deal, huh? Unfortunately, there’s no known way to tell which iPads have the new chip without opening the box and testing to see — so you can’t go and grab one directly off the shelves.
It sounds like this is a test manufacturing run for the next generation of iOS products, so that any kinks in the supply side can be worked out far enough in advance that there won’t be any bottlenecks when the new iPhone launces.
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