iPad 3 May Not Feature a Quad-Core Processor?

According to recent rumors, Apple's next generation iPad may feature a quad-core processor along with Retina Display, improved cameras and support for LTE networks.

But TheVerge has just reported that according to "people familiar with the product" that though iPad 3 will be powered by Apple's next generation A6 chip, which will include a significantly more powerful GPU, it won't be powered a quad-core processor.

According to people familiar with the product, though the new iPad will be touting that double resolution display — a true iPad Retina Display, clocking in at 2048 x 1536 — the device will be nearly physically identical to its predecessor, but the slate will be about one millimeter thicker overall. We're also told that the A6 CPU the iPad 3 is likely to sport will include a significantly more powerful GPU — no big surprise there. What is surprising, however, is that our sources say that the A6 will not be a quad-core chip, but will remain dual-core. We've previously had heard that the device would have a quad-core CPU as well as an LTE cell radio on-board, but at least part of that story wasn't accurate.

Apple is rumored to unveil iPad 3 at a special media event in March. Will the lack of a quad-core processor be a deal breaker for you to upgrade or buy iPad 3?

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12 Responses to iPad 3 May Not Feature a Quad-Core Processor?

  1. OGT says:

    NOOOOOOOOOOOO…..!!!!!

  2. Frosti7 says:

    it wont – because the way iOS built,
    I suspect that due to nature of “fake” multitasking, a quad core wont make sense, a faster dual-core will yield more gain,

    Any thoughts on this?

  3. @iLikeTech_ says:

    I wouldn’t mind, they might bump up the speed a bit of the A5, but I think its fast enough to go another year.

  4. noooooooo. i think that is just some rumors , hopefully this ain’t true.

  5. Danny says:

    Off course it’s going to be dual core. Apple may have slick software, but hardware wise, it’s behind Android manufacturers.

  6. DJScope says:

    Quad-core would consume less energy and would be much better than a dual-core in any situation. Though if they made it a 28nm dual-core it would be an enormous upgrade over a 45nm quad-core in all aspects.

  7. mohgui says:

    whatever it may be… please have the next iPad retina displayed.

  8. fas says:

    Apple always sets the expectations so high and then bang breaks it

  9. Boomerang says:

    Knowing apple, they could just throw in a 2 meg pixel rear camera in the same iPad 2 and market it as new innovation. Remember the first gen iPhone, then 3G then 3GS? Apple I sheep will be killing themselves for a higher resolution camera, when android is way ahead in the hardware department. Poor I sheep.

  10. apple is not about selling devices based on specs!! Thats android manufacturers!

    what will be the point of a quad core processor if there wont be signifigant gain on performance? Thats the case with android! and for Android manufactureses that helps in marketting for sellign new devices.

    Apple will never tell you if a device has a processor runs at X clock speeds or has X cores! Apple is beyond the specs game!

    Apple is about delivering faster devices than their predecessor regardless of hardware specs!
    if you are not convinced look at the prformance of the iPhone 4S w a 800mhz processor compared to android phones with 1.4Ghz processors! 4S smokes the competition!

    ipad is just that, is beign as efficient as possible in order to drive perfomance its not about sellign on mere spec numbers!

    • geekinit says:

      I completely agree. PCs an Androids always boast numbers so when you compare them to each other you obviously want the highest resolution, the most number of cores. What you can’t really compare between these devices is the build quality, the quality of which the software is integrated with the hardware, the battery life, the efficiency of the software, etc. I have a MacBook Air. The specs are lower than most PC laptops but I swear that thing is thinner and runs faster than any other computer I own :) Apple is just weird like that.

      • thatonegeekguy says:

        I don’t know about that. At least on the desktop front, I’d love to see anything apple builds come close to what I build for myself! (^.^)

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