iPad: Possible Specifications - iPad 5

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by slwiser

My opinion is that incremental improvements will become the standard with six month launches. This will be required to keep the competition at bay. Keeping the launch at a 12 month interval would give the competition to much of a window for PR purposes.

People will get used to the incremental improvement schema quickly after a few times when it becomes the new norm and will forget anything else.

I doubt a 6 month product cycle. It simply doesnt make sense, even from an operational point of view. What's likely to happen, is that they shift it a month or 2 backwards per iteration till they eventually hit the March-April.

For example, the ipad 4 was launched in Oct, the ipad 5 perhaps in Aug-Sept, the ipad 6, June-July, managing a 10 month cycle.

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Originally Posted by Mrg02d

I doubt apple will increase hardware specs unless there is a new feature that needs it...IPad 4 is twice as fast as iPad 3 on paper, but only marginally faster in real life..

Exactly my point, there is bound to be new features hardware wise or via iOS, and therefore its inevitable that iPad maintains its performance lead.

[WhiteIphone5]

Originally Posted by daywiz

Compare the specifications below, and give your take on what's the most likely to come on the iPad 5.

If the launch happens on:
Mar-Apr Launch

Looks: iPad Mini Looks & Thinner Bezels
Weight Around 550g
Screen Technology: GF2 Screen technology & IGZO ( with supply issues)
Processor: New updated A6X processor - maybe called A7 with clocked speed around 1.6-1.8 Ghz ( 28nm Soc, shifted from 32nm Soc)
RAM 1GB
Graphics: PowerVR SGX554MP4 ( same as ipad 4)
Front Camera: 1080p ( improved from 720p)
Back Camera: 8mp (improved from 5mp)
4G: Qualcomm M9615 ( improved from previously used M 9600 - for increased global LTE usage / coverage but little performance improvements - upto 100Mbps)
Wifi Broadcom BCM4334 (most likely same as ipad 4 as iPhone is more likely to get new wifi innovations first)
Operating System: iOS 6
Battery Life Around 12 hours


Sept - Oct
If the launch is on this time frame, the specs are likely to be quite different

Looks: iPad Mini Looks & Thinner Bezels
Weight Around 525-550g
Screen Technology: GF2 Screen technology & IGZO ( with less supply issues)
Processor: Possibly A all new A7X processor with clocked speed around 1.8-2.0 Ghz ( based on a 20nm SoC compared to 32nm SoC)
RAM: 1.5GB
Graphics: PowerVR SGX6400 or super high performance G6630( up from Series 5 on ipad 4)
Front Camera: 1080p ( improved from 720p)
Back Camera: 8mp (improved from 5mp)
4G: Qualcomm M9625 ( Increased Speeds upto 150mbps & more globally applicable LTE chipset)
Wifi:Broadcom BCM4335 ( Wifi 5G )
Operating System: iOS 7
Battery Life Around 13-14 hours

This is not a wishlist. It's the mostly likely specifications, depending on the availabililty and logic of the launch date

A6X at 1.5 ghz, still same 720p front, 1080p back, the hours would be the same.
Apple will keep milking the iPad mini just like they did with Ipad 2/3/4. no new design or major tech, just spec bumps. sad but true

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by WhiteIphone5

A6X at 1.5 ghz, still same 720p front, 1080p back, the hours would be the same.
Apple will keep milking the iPad mini just like they did with Ipad 2/3/4. no new design or major tech, just spec bumps. sad but true

The jump to retina in such a thin & light device is a major upgrade for ipad mini 2. As for other things, there isnt much to work on, other than improving the performance, a few features, example GPS, NFC, etc, are the only immediate changes thats probably lined up anyway. Battery life should hopefully continue going up

[.Asa]

Originally Posted by smoking monkey

1.5 GB or Ram???

I'm no computer expert, far from it, but I've never heard of a single 1.5GB ram card.

Sure you could put in 1 x 1gig + 1 x 512meg card to get to that, but in such a small space they wouldn't do that.

It's 1 or 2. In fact, is there any mobile device anywhere in the tech world with fractional amounts of ram in them over 1 gig in size?

Perfectly true. I'm hoping they go with 2 GB.

[mac00l]

Originally Posted by daywiz

The jump to retina in such a thin & light device is a major upgrade for ipad mini 2. As for other things, there isnt much to work on, other than improving the performance, a few features, example GPS, NFC, etc, are the only immediate changes thats probably lined up anyway. Battery life should hopefully continue going up

To put a retina display in such a device is not a simple task as it seems. Battery life I believe is the major concern.

It took 2 year and 3 generations of iPads to get retina display. I see something similar for iPad mini.

If the iPad mini gets a retina display in the next release, it won't be coming before September. If it doesn't come with retina, then there is no reason to release it before September. Therefore every thing points to a Fall release.

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by mac00l

To put a retina display in such a device is not a simple task as it seems. Battery life I believe is the major concern.

It took 2 year and 3 generations of iPads to get retina display. I see something similar for iPad mini.

If the iPad mini gets a retina display in the next release, it won't be coming before September. If it doesn't come with retina, then there is no reason to release it before September. Therefore every thing points to a Fall release.

With the ipad 5, all set to follow the footsteps of the ipad Mini design, it is now but obvious that they have discovered how to incorporate retina in a thin, sleek design. Yes! battery life is a concern, but they will go around through it, by combining tech. Things like new power saving & efficient display tech like IGZO, a more power efficient chip ( a 28nm or a 20nm SoC), more powerful yet less battery consuming graphics chips (again based on 20nm process - Power VR Series 6 from Imagination: Rogue), Qualcomm & Broadcom's new Bluetooth & Wifi chips, that are expected to drop power consumption by a substantial amount. That should definitely solve the battery issue.

While some of these technologies, will only reach full production by June, it is obvious that Apple will looking to add them onto the ipad 5 and most of them onto the ipad mini.

I don't expect them to keep pushing the mini without the retina for the 2nd gen, it simply will be retina. They will just have the internals very similar to the ipad 4 (at best) to ensure that, the mini doesnt beat the full-size in terms of performance. It will always be a generation behind.

If the iphone 5S is indeed coming in June, then you can say the new iPads will hit by September, a month ahead of last year's launch. Depends on how soon they want to launch the new ipad 5 into the market, as the mini is doing remarkably well.

[Nimravus]

iPad 5? blah...

What do you think the iPad 6 will be like?

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by Nimravus

iPad 5? blah...

What do you think the iPad 6 will be like?

iPad 6. Sure!I think I will have a better picture and mention it, especially to you,once the ipad 5 is launched. I am still waiting to hear about the new tech updates that should presumably arrive by the end of the year that should make it into the 6th gen.

[darngooddesign]

Apple won't do a major update with a new case design without holding an event so they can show it off. If there isn't an event planned for the Spring, there won't be an iPad 5 in Spring.

[Nimravus]

Originally Posted by daywiz

iPad 6. Sure!I think I will have a better picture and mention it, especially to you,once the ipad 5 is launched. I am still waiting to hear about the new tech updates that should presumably arrive by the end of the year that should make it into the 6th gen.

Well, I only mention that because I've been upgrading my iPhone, iPad and MBA every 2 generations or about every 2 years.

[Menel]

Originally Posted by Abazigal

To me, the ipad doesn't have a hardware issue.

It's battery life is already more than enough to last me through a day's abuse. Sure, I don't mind it being lighter and thinner, but my arms are certainly not complaining (this is coming from a teacher who walks around class all day with an ipad in hand). Nor am I experiencing memory issues, though I wouldn't mind a faster processor - goodreader can lag pretty bad at times on my ipad3.

Most developers are probably still programming for the A5 chip (which the ipad2, ipad3, iphone4s and ipad mini use), so I doubt you will find many apps that take full advantage of a faster processor anyways (just not lucrative to market only to iphone5/ipad4 owners). The iPad-mini's popularity shows that you don't have to cram a device with every new feature out there. It's ultimately the user experience that counts.

What I feel Apple needs is a fresh-looking IOS to make people feel like they are getting a new experience on their IOS devices.

If the new A5Xr2 found in the updated AppleTV3 is any indication...

1. r2 means it's had cores disabled or something.
2. r2 means it's been die shrunk, smaller, more energy efficient.

If the later, we're going to continue to see the A5 micro-architecture continue to be used, on in to next gen iPad Mini Retina.

[slwiser]

Incremental update on Feb 5 already....WOW..Apple is putting some competitiveness up against Surface Pro....I have both Microsoft Windows 8 and the iPad IOS6.1... 6.1 has nothing to worry about from a performance standpoint from Windows 8. Even legacy apps on Windows 8 that are said to be compatible are hit or miss from my experience.

Windows 8 is truly nothing more than a hack shell (Metro) over Windows 7. Every program drops out of the shell to operate within the desktop when I run it. Chrome has a shell option but running it there limits it greatly. But then some of them do not operate saying they were install under a different operating system, go figure.

[A Hebrew]

I agree with the people who say no processor upgrade. The big thing about the 5 will be a size/weight reduction. Processor will be 6...Apple thinks profit.

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by Skygunner27

I would laugh so hard if they came out with a iPad 5 in March.....but not for very long. I own an iPad 4.

I don't think they will. I think they wanted to get all iOS devices updating in the Fall to end this whole ‘six months between the new iOS and new iPad hardware' stuff. After the griping they got about the 16 month wait for the 4s they decided to do the swing release in the iPad early, bringing it also in line with the new adapter. Add to this that holiday sales of iPads often suffered from 'there will be a new one in like two months, I'll wait' syndrome

So I think we'll see a 'slow' rollout of iOS/iPod devices from Sept to Nov with computers probably swinging into more of a Spring/early Summer to hit Back to School's kick off (at least in the US) rather than falling in the middle. We might even see them push WWDC earlier to more like late April/May so they can show off the new Mac OS and still give folks 4-6 weeks to update for it before new hardware comes out with it preinstalled.

[Rodster]

Originally Posted by charlituna

I don't think they will. I think they wanted to get all iOS devices updating in the Fall to end this whole ‘six months between the new iOS and new iPad hardware' stuff. After the griping they got about the 16 month wait for the 4s they decided to do the swing release in the iPad early, bringing it also in line with the new adapter. Add to this that holiday sales of iPads often suffered from 'there will be a new one in like two months, I'll wait' syndrome

So I think we'll see a 'slow' rollout of iOS/iPod devices from Sept to Nov with computers probably swinging into more of a Spring/early Summer to hit Back to School's kick off (at least in the US) rather than falling in the middle. We might even see them push WWDC earlier to more like late April/May so they can show off the new Mac OS and still give folks 4-6 weeks to update for it before new hardware comes out with it preinstalled.

That schedule is NO longer reliable. We thought we might see the 5th Gen iPad in March, some said in the Fall. So Apple announced the refreshed iPad 4 128GB which begins shipping early this month.

So no one really knows except that Apple has had to change it's release strategy due to increased competition.

[garybUK]

If they are moving Apple TV to A5X they will bump iPad mini to that with the shrunken die for the form factor (size and battery)

They may keep the next iPad with mini style chassis as A6X or A7 if they can shrink the die.

No other changes apart from iOS 7 because the selling point will be the new form factor...

My guesses anyway, the changes needed are iOS7 I think that may coincide with either the iPhone 5S/6 or the iPad

[bevsb2]

Originally Posted by charlituna

I don't think they will. I think they wanted to get all iOS devices updating in the Fall to end this whole ‘six months between the new iOS and new iPad hardware' stuff. After the griping they got about the 16 month wait for the 4s they decided to do the swing release in the iPad early, bringing it also in line with the new adapter. Add to this that holiday sales of iPads often suffered from 'there will be a new one in like two months, I'll wait' syndrome

So I think we'll see a 'slow' rollout of iOS/iPod devices from Sept to Nov with computers probably swinging into more of a Spring/early Summer to hit Back to School's kick off (at least in the US) rather than falling in the middle. We might even see them push WWDC earlier to more like late April/May so they can show off the new Mac OS and still give folks 4-6 weeks to update for it before new hardware comes out with it preinstalled.

This makes a lot of sense to me, but I'd never 2nd guess Apple's response to competition.

[Nimravus]

Originally Posted by Rodster

So no one really knows except that Apple has had to change it's release strategy due to increased competition.

How do we even know this was due to increased completion. Maybe it was planned all along? Everything is just speculation because we are not in that magical room when these decisions are made.

Coincidences happen. Past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior but not just that. An indicator.

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by garybUK

If they are moving Apple TV to A5X they will bump iPad mini to that with the shrunken die for the form factor (size and battery)

They may keep the next iPad with mini style chassis as A6X or A7 if they can shrink the die.

No other changes apart from iOS 7 because the selling point will be the new form factor...

My guesses anyway, the changes needed are iOS7 I think that may coincide with either the iPhone 5S/6 or the iPad

Even I was under the presumption that the A5X would mostly make the cut for the retina ipad mini, but after reading alot of threads and technical information, even I feel the A6 or A6X might be the choice for the mini. The apple tv doesn't really require such a powerful SoC as the ipads.

The mini will mostly pick up all the internals very similar to the present ipad 4.

The full size iPad will definitely get a slightly shrunk SoC ( a jump from 32nm to 28nm) and its LIKELY to come from TSMC, and not Samsung. Now whether they call it A6X or A6Y or A7X, is anybody's guess. In all probability the so-anticipated 20nm A7 SoC wouldn't be ready until the last quarter of this year, so expect it to feature on the 6th gen ipad, unless of course the trial run goes well, and Apple decides to start a slow-rollout of the ipad 5 in late-October ( even if they face supply issues, they will launch - similar to what they did with the mini). In that case, you might expect the 20nm- A7. My bet is still on 28nm A6X.

There are going to be a quite a few changes in the specification, as an October release will surely allow Apple incorporate a full suite of changes internally as well.

Much reduced weight
increased RAM: 2 GB
Graphics: PowerVR SGX6400 or super high performance G6630( both are Series 6 - up from Series 5 on ipad 4)
Front Camera: 1080p ( improved from 720p)
Back Camera: 8mp (improved from 5mp)
4G: Qualcomm M9625 ( Increased Speeds upto 150mbps & more globally applicable LTE chipset)
Wifi:Broadcom BCM4335 ( Wifi 5G )

[charlituna]

Originally Posted by Rodster

So no one really knows except that Apple has had to change it's release strategy due to increased competition.

And you don't know that competition has a thing to so with why they released a 128 GB iPad or even did it now.

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Originally Posted by bevsb2

This makes a lot of sense to me, but I'd never 2nd guess Apple's response to competition.

Apple has never responded to competition. Unlike the analysts, the bloggers etc they don't see it as a zero sum game. They aren't bothered by other companies making money, releasing products etc. so long as it is done without violating Apple's IP rights.

[WilliamLondon]

Originally Posted by charlituna

And you don't know that competition has a thing to so with why they released a 128 GB iPad or even did it now.

Why does everyone think it's external the reason they did this? I think it's quite possible it's simply because of the mini they did this. Come a version of the mini with retina, the features differentiating the mini and it's premium and full sized big brother will be minimal, so one thing they could do is to bump the storage in the bigger iPad, start it at 32 (then 64/128) and leave the mini starting at 16 (then 32/64) so the full sized iPad would be able to offer something the mini can't offer (enticing users to spend more for the full sized iPad). Also, right now it's a 4th option, more expensive, next iPad version they dump the 16, make the 128 the new 64 and it appears suddenly the iPad has more value (because you can get more storage for no additional cost than previous version). This makes more sense than its being a reaction to the Surface (which has not taken off at all yet and more storage in the iPad won't be the reason people don't buy it).

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by WilliamLondon

Why does everyone think it's external the reason they did this? I think it's quite possible it's simply because of the mini they did this. Come a version of the mini with retina, the features differentiating the mini and it's premium and full sized big brother will be minimal, so one thing they could do is to bump the storage in the bigger iPad, start it at 32 (then 64/128) and leave the mini starting at 16 (then 32/64) so the full sized iPad would be able to offer something the mini can't offer (enticing users to spend more for the full sized iPad). Also, right now it's a 4th option, more expensive, next iPad version they dump the 16, make the 128 the new 64 and it appears suddenly the iPad has more value (because you can get more storage for no additional cost than previous version). This makes more sense than its being a reaction to the Surface (which has not taken off at all yet and more storage in the iPad won't be the reason people don't buy it).

It's a possibility what you said is the reason, but there could be other factors. 128GB storage has been relatively quite expensive to purchase with less demand, and with the complications of cloud storage and securing inexpensive data packages extremely rare, it ensured that 128GB was expensive to add without hitting the corporate margin. Now with many tablet manufacturers starting to opt for a higher storage device including Microsoft, Apple, and soon to join / already joined Google (Android), the prices have started to slide.

As for the differentiation, if the mini does pick up the retina, its still going to be a generation behind the full-size ipad, in terms of performance, and the screen sizes are anyway different, making them different anyway. Many of us hope, including you and me that Apple does consider dropping the 16GB, and replacing it with 32GB as the entry level. I have quite a number of friends who have said the new range of retina ready apps eat alot more space than the non-retina ones. With apple claiming that the future is retina, they should definitely give us more space for the premium we pay anyway.

As for the Surface RT or Pro, they have already dug their own grave, by revealing that the Windows OS itself consumes over 50% of the storage on the tab. I still think they are better off, stopping hardware sales and concentrating on software development and deployment on the growing range of tablets ( e.g. Office, Windows OS). They will easily make a hell lot of money, then the loss they are incurring now. And seriously, any idea of subscription based office is a crappy way to start.

[shopboy0301]

Now there is a 128 gb Ipad 4 will it be available on the Ipad5? It would be crazy if there is no 128gb on ipad 5 then t:confusedhere is on the Ipad4 right?

[daywiz]

Originally Posted by shopboy0301

Now there is a 128 gb Ipad 4 will it be available on the Ipad5? It would be crazy if there is no 128gb on ipad 5 then t:confusedhere is on the Ipad4 right?

The 128GB option is here to stay. It's going to come on the iPad 5 for sure. Whether it makes its way onto the mini is anyone's guess. Personally, I think it should come on both ipad and the mini, and the pricing should be revised so that the 32gb replaces the 16, 64 replaces the 32, etc.

[Nimravus]

Originally Posted by daywiz

The 128GB option is here to stay. It's going to come on the iPad 5 for sure.

I hope so! Is that your guess or do you know someone inside Apple telling you this? More storage the better.

If they make 32gb the entry model, they would have to get rid of the 16gb and the starting price would be $599. I think the profit margin might not be good enough to do that yet. In my opinion, Apple doesn't respond so much to competition, t responds to cost of components. When the 32gb flash comes down in price enough, they might make it the entry level model?