The New iPad: What We Know Now
Source: Michael J. Miller

I had a number of questions about the new iPad before it came out, most of which have been answered after having used it for more than a week and having read other teardowns and tests.

I will wait a bit longer until I write a "Living With…" post, though my initial feeling is still that it's a great tablet but not a must-upgrade for owners of previous versions. In the meantime, I thought I'd recap what we know about the new iPad.
System Costs

UBM TechInsights estimates that a 4G 16GB version of the new iPad has a bill of materials (BOM) of $310, a bit higher than the $271 BOM cost    for the original iPad 3G from 2010, and the $276 BOM cost for the 3G version of the iPad 2. All had list prices of $629.

IHS iSuppli estimates the bill of materials plus manufacturing cost notably higher, at $358.30 for a 4G 16GB unit. For a 16GB Wi-Fi only unit, it estimates a BOM plus manufacturing cost of $316.

We will likely never know the exact prices Apple pays for its components, since neither Apple nor its suppliers will share that information. It seems safe to say, however, that Apple's gross margin on each machine is lower in this generation than in the previous one, mainly because of the additional costs of the higher-resolution screen, the new A5X processor, and the 4G LTE chip set. Of course, Apple is selling many more units―three million in the first weekend―so its marketing costs are spread out over a much larger number of sales.
Processor

Apple didn't disclose many details of the A5X processor other than the fact that it is a custom design with two CPU cores and now has quad-core graphics (as opposed to the dual-core graphics on the A5) in order to better run the higher-resolution display.

Analysts from UBM TechInsights and from Chipworks indicate that the A5X measures about 163 square millimeters compared with 120 square millimeters for the A5. It suggests the processor is manufactured by Samsung on the same low-power 45nm CMOS process.

Chipworks had detailed die photos of the A4, A5, and A5X processor, while UBM Techworks also looks at the A5X compared with the A5.

In all these cases, it seems clear that the A5X continues to have two ARM Cortex-A9 cores, running at up to 1 GHz, along with graphics from Imagination Technologies' PowerVR SGX family, said to be the SGX543MP4 (although I don't think that's actually been confirmed). It now has 1GB of DRAM memory compared with 512K in the previous versions.
Display

The increase in graphics capability and memory seems mainly designed to improve the display performance, or more directly, to keep the new 2048-by-1536 Retina display as responsive as the previous generation. Almost all the teardowns indicate that the display is the most expensive part of the system. And all the teardowns I've seen (including those above and one from iFixit) indicate that Samsung is manufacturing the screens in the units they've seen. However, as with DRAM and Flash memory, it is likely that there are other manufacturers as well, with most expecting that LG Display and Sharp will also be making displays for the iPad.

Apple calls the display a Retina display but note that it has a 264 pixels-per-inch (ppi) display, rather than the same 326 ppi as the iPhone 4. That's ok though, because at the distances people normally hold a tablet, you can't see the pixels.

DisplayMate has the most in-depth coverage of the display I've seen. It points out that the display is indeed the best yet seen on a tablet. Apple's display uses a technology known as Super High Aperture (SHA) to help allow the pixel density to work over a larger screen.    DisplayMate's Ray Soneira points out that the display uses Fringe Field Switching (FFS), which is related to the In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology Apple says its displays use.

As I noted in my initial take, as far as I can tell, any application that runs on the iPad also runs on the new version, but a lot of applications already take advantage of the new display. My colleague Sascha Segan has a list of 20 of these Retina-ready iPad apps.

The one application that I've seen that looks notably worse on the new display is the Wall Street Journal. According to Dow Jones (which publishes the Journal), it will release a new version that addresses the problem around April 1.
Battery and Heat Issues

A lot of folks have discussed the big issue with the new display: it takes a lot more power to run. As a result, the new iPad has a much larger lithium-ion battery―at 42.5 watt-hours, it is 70 percent larger than the 25 watt-hour battery in the iPad 2. That's undoubtedly why the unit weights a bit more (1.46 pounds for the 4G version of the new iPad versus 1.35 pounds for the 3G GSM version of the iPad 2) and is slightly thicker (9.4mm versus 8.8mm). In the real-world, I doubt most people will be able to tell the difference unless the two are side-by-side.

With the larger battery, the new iPad seems to get about the same battery life as the earlier model. Apple estimates ten hours of normal use, and nine with a broadband connection. Most of the reviews I've seen generally confirm this. However, battery life depends a lot on application and in the case of the new iPad, it varies a lot depending on the screen brightness. At full brightness, battery life is considerably shorter than on the iPad 2, according to PCMag's tests. It ends up with only about five and a half hours of video playback. However, with the brightness down to 50 percent, battery life is almost twice as long, nearly 11 hours. As I noted, in its default "auto-brightness" setting, the new iPad seems to be dimmer than the iPad 2 and this is probably the reason.

The larger battery also takes a lot longer to charge―about seven hours from a completely uncharged state. There are reports that the battery actually claims 100 percent charge when it still has some room to go, as many other tablets do. I've been charging mine overnight about twice a week, so I haven't noticed this in my real use.

Perhaps more serious is a claim that the new iPad is hotter than the previous versions. Consumer Reports says the new iPad can heat up to 116 degrees when playing games, 13 degrees hotter than the iPad 2. However, even CR says that it wasn't "especially uncomfortable," and other tablets seem to get just as warm. I've certainly used laptops that felt a lot hotter.
Other Issues

I've also read that the new iPad easily runs through 4G data limits and that some people have had issues connecting to Wi-Fi. I've had no trouble with Wi-Fi connections (and few reviewers seem to note that), but with any wireless broadband connection, it's pretty easy to get to your limit, especially if you're streaming video.       

Another issue is repairability. iFixit observes that the new iPad is very difficult to repair, if it ever gets broken. The same is true for older iPads and many other tablets, but it's still worth pointing out. Some users are disappointed that FaceTime isn't available on 4G, and some complain about the 4G plans in general, but this seems to mostly be a carrier issue, not an Apple one.

I haven't read a lot of reviews about the new built-in speech dictation. I'm still testing, but my initial reaction is that it's okay, but still a long way from where I'd like to see it. For instance, this is how it reacted to my reading of John F. Kennedy's inaugural speech―great in some places, not so good in others.

iPad speech screen

To be fair, I've yet to find the perfect speech recognition program.

In any case, we know a lot more about the new iPad now. Read PCMag's full review.