Apple Quietly Updates iPad 2's Processor

bonch writes "Apple has quietly replaced the iPad 2's A5 with a smaller 32nm die that increases battery life by 15 to 30%. It's theorized that Apple is using the iPad 2 as a test bed for the new hardware platform, which shrinks the surface area of the A5 to 57% of the previous size."

Re:Or

[spire3661]

I doubt it. Apple is all about user performance (for the envelope they target). You would probably see more real world dollars by keeping the stock battery and touting the 15-30% increase in battery life instead. 12 hour tablet? yes please!

iPad 2.5

[ajcoon]

The "quiet" nature of this change is likely to avoid attracting lawsuits from early adopters of iPad 2.0 that bought a (now) inferior product for more money.

Splitting product lines?

[gman003]

If they're continuing to update the "old" iPad well after the "new" iPad came out, it seems logical to conclude that they intend to maintain two lines of iPads.

I can see some logic to this - the iPad 2 is becoming their "low-end" tablet, and the iPad 3 is becoming their "high-end" tablet. You'll note that the 32GB and 64GB iPad 2s were discontinued, but the 16GB (aka cheapest) models are still made. Most likely they'll keep trying to chip down the price of the iPad 2 to make it more competitive with the cheaper Android tablets, while producing higher-spec (and higher-price) iPad 3 models.

There's probably going to be some brand-shuffling going on. Most likely they'll rename them to "iPad" and "iPad Pro", mirroring their old MacBook / MacBook Pro branding.

Re:Splitting product lines?

[MBCook]

They're not. That would be confusing for customers, and Apple has always loved simplicity.

This is the way of the electronics world. This kind of thing is always going on, it's just Apple is watched so closely, that when a an internal model number changes it becomes news and someone benchmarked it.

There were at least 2 or 3 PSPs before the Slim. The XBox 360 had 3 or 4 models before the slim. There were also multiple versions of the PS3 and PS2 before their redesigns. Other than often coinciding with the game bundles changing or a price drop, the manufacturers don't tend to make a big deal of this.

As time goes on, it becomes cheaper and easier to manufacture on a smaller process. This allows combining chips, cutting back on heat control, etc; all making the units cheaper to produce. This always reduces power draw, the difference is since this is a piece of portable electronics (and they didn't reduce the battery size), the battery life increased.

bonch was paid to post this

[Anonymous Coward]

bonch [slashdot.org] is a professional 'social marketing influencer' who is paid to post stories which promote Apple and slander their competitors.

Here are some of the shill's most recent submissions:

• Apple Quietly Updates iPad 2's Processor
• Google Faces FTC Fine For Safari Privacy Breach
• NY Times: EU May Reopen Google Street View Inquiry
• Google Supervisors Knew About Wi-Fi Data Harvesting
• FTC Escalates Antitrust Investigation Against Google
• Nintendo Hurt By New Rivals
• Nintendo Reports First Ever Operating Loss
• GPL Use Declining Faster Than Ever
• iPhone Tops Sales Charts Of U.S. Carriers
• iPad 3 Confirmed To Have 2048x1536 Screen Resolution
• Apple Clarifies iBooks Author Licensing
• Google Begins Country-Specific Blog Censorship
• Why Android Isn't Gaining On Apple In The Enterpri
• Android Malware May Have Infected 5 Million Users
• Apple Beats Android In U.S. Marketshare
• Apple Reports Record-Breaking Quarter Results

In the words of a paid commenter, Apple is breaking records and 'clarifying' its self to Authors, whilst including incredible new technology in its' tablets. Meanwhile, Google is being investigated by multiple governments, censoring, is full of viruses, and losing market share, Nintendo is failing when compared to the iPhone, and Free Software is a dying corpse that should be abandoned in favor of iPad apps.

bonch, why don't you disclose that you were paid to post this?

Re:bonch was paid to post this

[Graff]

According to Wikipedia:A journalist collects and distributes news and other information.
So, it seems you call yourself journalist.

On the other hand a spammer pretty much fits the same definition.

There are lots of journalists that specialize and only report on a certain type of news. There are journalists that specialize on the automotive industry or politics or finance or technology.

The tech industry is hurting so there's negative stories about tech companies, apple is one of the only tech companies doing well so there's a bunch of positive stories about apple. If it was 15 years ago the situation would be flipped and we'd here people complaining about conspiracies AGAINST apple.

Not that there aren't paid shills but I think in this case it's unlikely that bonch is one. He's posted plenty of stories that aren't just pro-Apple/anti-Apple's competition. Sure he has a focus but that's probably just journalistic specialization. Now if he started seriously spinning Apple's failures in a positive light or the competition's successes in a negative light then you'd have some meat for your theories.