We’ve known all along that the next generation iPad would have an upgraded chip, and many assumed that it would be an A6 chip. This is a logical choice, because there’s an A4 chip in the original iPad and an A5 chip in the iPad 2.
New information from a forum post at Chinese Site WeiPhone indicates that the chip in the iPad 3’s logic board might be labeled “A5X” rather than A6.
The post offers a photo of the system-on-a-chip, which is clearly marked with the apple logo and the A5X lettering. There’s a date code of “1146” on the chip, which means that it was manufactured during the 46th week of 2011, or November 14-20.
If this photo is to be believed, the processing upgrade from the current iPad 2 might not be as impressive as we’ve thought. Many sources believe the iPad 3 will be sporting a quad-core processor, but that has yet to be confirmed, and this chip does not look promising.
The logic board photo also reveals dual 16 GB flash memory chips from Hynix, and a rectangular Apple-branded chip that is likely responsible for power management.
The iPad announcement is supposed to be coming on March 7th, so we don’t need to wait long to find out the details behind its processing power. Quad-core or not, it will be an upgrade, and the iPad is also said to feature a Retina display plus an 8-megapixel rear camera.