DailyTech compiles iPad 3 rumors: Custom A6, 14K mAH battery, LTE, Retina

[Bateluer]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=23912

All rumors, so take them with a grain of salt.

On the new iPad 3 this will likely work out to 2048x1536 (264 ppi), assuming the aspect ratio doesn't change. Its display will be 264 ppi.

Wait for people to scream 'Thats not Retina!'

DigiTimes claims that Apple's final solution for LTE is simply to put in a huge battery, bumping the LTE model from 6,500 mAh to 14,000 mAh. The publication indicates price will remain constant.

Curious about its thickness, thats a pretty hefty battery. If true.

Two trusted sources -- one close to ARM Holdings plc, and the other an ex-Apple low-level executive, provided information that indicates that Apple is preparing to build its own custom ARM core for the first time.

I first spoke to the ex-Apple source, who told me that the firm was "building its own quad-core CPU." The humorous thing is that even if Apple is baking its own cores for the A6, it will reportedly still have to rely on Samsung for production. Apple wants the A6 produced on the 28 nm node and was hoping to ditch Samsung -- whom it has grown to be a bitter legal [1][2][3][4] and sales rival [1][2] of.

But Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp., Ltd.'s (TPE:2330) 28 nm process is reportedly having some serious yield issues. So Apple had to come crawling back to its ex (fab) -- Samsung.

Some things never change.

(The new A6 is expected to incorporate a new and slightly improved graphics core from Imagination Technologies Group Plc.'s (LON:IMG) PowerVR series on-die.)

Two dual A9 designs, most likely, similar to the Tegra 3. Last we heard, TI was going the launch partner for Cortex A15 with OMAP5. Also very curious to see what PowerVR chip they'll use, the 543MP2 is still pretty much the top performer. And woefully underutilized today. What improvements, if any, would be needed to drive the higher resolution display?

Humorous to see them use Samsung to fab the chip too. 'We're suing you because you made a rectangle . . . please make our CPU for us?'. Still wouldn't be a wise fiscal move for Samsung to tell them to fvck off with A6 production. Eventually, TSMC will get their issues ironed out, and Samsung would rather Apple pay them for every A6 manufactured. And the iPad 3 will sell in the tens of millions, easily.

 

[Red Storm]

I just hope it comes out in March. I know what my sister wants for her birthday.

 

[Aikouka]

Curious about its thickness, thats a pretty hefty battery. If true.

Yeah, I really doubt that rumor. If I recall, the battery in the iPad 2 takes up the majority of the space in the back since the silicon board isn't that big. I don't see how they could include such a large battery and not increase the thickness by quite a bit. Although, I'm certainly not a battery expert!

Last we heard, TI was going the launch partner for Cortex A15 with OMAP5.

Although, does "launch partner for A15" only refer to the CPU design purchased directly from ARM? If the reports are somewhat correct, Apple is designing their own chip, which might circumvent TI's position.

Also very curious to see what PowerVR chip they'll use, the 543MP2 is still pretty much the top performer.

I thought the comment on the GPU in the article was odd. It seemed to suggest an entirely new but only marginally better chip. I guess that could suggest the SGX543MP4, but I wouldn't call that a new chip since it's mostly just the MP2 with two more GPU cores (over simplification, but you get what I mean).

Humorous to see them use Samsung to fab the chip too. 'We're suing you because you made a rectangle . . . please make our CPU for us?'. Still wouldn't be a wise fiscal move for Samsung to tell them to fvck off with A6 production. Eventually, TSMC will get their issues ironed out, and Samsung would rather Apple pay them for every A6 manufactured. And the iPad 3 will sell in the tens of millions, easily.

One thing you learn very quickly in large businesses is that separate divisions of a company are almost like separate businesses in themselves. I doubt the fab portion of Samsung's business really cares what Apple is doing to their mobile division. If they ignored Apple's business, that could potentially hurt their revenue.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Eventually, TSMC will get their issues ironed out

I wouldn't hold my breath, TSMC has had delays or problems with every new process for the last couple of years now.

 

[Bateluer]

Yeah, I really doubt that rumor. If I recall, the battery in the iPad 2 takes up the majority of the space in the back since the silicon board isn't that big. I don't see how they could include such a large battery and not increase the thickness by quite a bit. Although, I'm certainly not a battery expert!

Not a battery expert myself, but how much of a thickness increase would be required? If any. I'd imagine many people wouldn't even notice an extra 1mm of depth, especially if it meant 50% more battery life. Course, that LTE modem could well drain that very fast.

Although, does "launch partner for A15" only refer to the CPU design purchased directly from ARM? If the reports are somewhat correct, Apple is designing their own chip, which might circumvent TI's position.

No idea. But with OMAP5 a ways off still, if Apple plans to launch a quad core ARM chip, two dual core A9s seems more likely.

I thought the comment on the GPU in the article was odd. It seemed to suggest an entirely new but only marginally better chip. I guess that could suggest the SGX543MP4, but I wouldn't call that a new chip since it's mostly just the MP2 with two more GPU cores (over simplification, but you get what I mean).

Shrug, could simply be higher clock speeds. Won't know anything concrete until very close to the launch or at the launch itself.

One thing you learn very quickly in large businesses is that separate divisions of a company are almost like separate businesses in themselves. I doubt the fab portion of Samsung's business really cares what Apple is doing to their mobile division. If they ignored Apple's business, that could potentially hurt their revenue.

I believe I said that. Any fab company would jump at the chance to get a contract to manufacturer millions of SoCs.

 

[Brian Stirling]

First off, the electronics of the iPad need not be any larger than a smart phone.

Second, the LTE radio should not eat any more power than a smart phone with LTE.

So, you have a much bigger box (L x W) and only a small portion of it needs to hold the electronics so there is a large area for battery. I doubt the 14,000 mAHr claim but I can see 10,000. A 10,000mAHr battery in a case that's roughly 8" x 10" could be as little as 1/8" thick.


Brian

 

[MrX8503]

A 14k mah battery is insanely big. I'm still doubtful that Apple will add LTE in it, but having a battery that large should compensate for the power draining LTE radio.

Wasn't Verizon requiring their future devices to be LTE? Maybe this means LTE for iPhone5 and iPad3.

 

[runawayprisoner]

14K mAh at 3.7v translates to roughly 51WHr, or double what the current iPad 2 has... and it's almost 40% bigger than what's already in the MacBook Air, which is absurd. They're saying the iPad 3 has a battery larger than or equal to most consumer laptops but with a fraction the thickness?

9K mAh is more believable. At that capacity, it's 33WHr, or about a little less than what the current MacBook Air has, and it still would improve battery life from the insane 10 hours to 16 hours.

Sincerely, I wouldn't just take those numbers with a grain of salt, I think some of the stuffs in there are flat out wrong.

 

[Mopetar]

Wait for people to scream 'Thats not Retina!'

Retina is a marketing term first and foremost so it means whatever the hell Apple wants it to mean. The general description is that a display can be considered retina if you can no longer distinguish the individual pixels. Now obviously this is based on viewing distance as I could make a display with 4-foot pixels, but if you're miles away it's going to be a retina display. All Apple needs to do is pick some viewing distance where most people can't pick out individual pixels and they've got a retina display.

Curious about its thickness, thats a pretty hefty battery. If true.

One way is to make a thicker battery. The other way is to increase the energy density. If it's the former approach, they're going to get a bigger, and heavier battery. If it's the later, or mostly the later, the size and weight remain fixed while the capacity increases.

If something like this existed, we'd probably have heard about it though; the only other alternative is that Apple has paid them a lot of money for their entire production run and not to go around making press releases about their improved battery technology. If this is true, I expect it to be a major selling point in the next iPad and iPhone.

Two dual A9 designs, most likely, similar to the Tegra 3. Last we heard, TI was going the launch partner for Cortex A15 with OMAP5. Also very curious to see what PowerVR chip they'll use, the 543MP2 is still pretty much the top performer. And woefully underutilized today. What improvements, if any, would be needed to drive the higher resolution display?

Unless it's something new, they could use a 543MP4, which is just doubling the number of cores. They may also just keep the 543MP2 found in the A5, which is already one of the most powerful GPUs available and bump the clock speed because of the die shrink.

 

[alent1234]

ipad - A4 CPU
ipad 2 - A5 CPU
ipad 3 - A6 CPU (Rumored)

this is some amazing investigative journalism here

as far as LTE, there are LTE only data chips that aren't energy hogs. reason it's a hog on phones is they use LTE and regular radio chips

 

[shabby]

Whats the point of lte in a tablet? Don't people who own tablets have smartphones with tethering? I could never see myself buying an additional data plan just for a tablet.

 

[alent1234]

If you have a company blackberry or iPhone you can a data tablet so as not to buy your own smartphone

But still better to buy own phone and tether it