If a picture is worth a thousand words, Apple’s decision to invest in the new iPad’s graphics capability is a smart decision. “Images will be fantastic,” says semiconductor analyst Linley Gwennap. “Apple really did invest in the graphics side so the quad-core graphics will be significant.” Gwennap also likes Apple’s choice of a faster dual-core CPU. “There’s not a lot of software that will use four cores on the CPU side,” he told RCR, adding that most software that will take advantage of quad-core processing power is still several months away.
The quad-core GPU will support the new iPad’s 2048×1536 retina display, and the new iPhoto for the iPad, which Frost & Suliivan’s Ronald Gruia calls “software that has surpassed even Adobe’s innovation.”
Although some Apple (AAPL) enthusiasts were hoping for a quad-core CPU in the new iPad, the A5X processor was not a complete surprise. Reports that the chip was in production at Samsung’s Austin, Texas plant began to surface late last month.
Apple says the A5X chip is four times faster than the nVidia Tegra 3, the quad-core chip that powers the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700, and may also be slated for a rumored Google tablet. Gruia says the A5X is more than adequate for the new iPad’s software — software which he sees as the most compelling innovation in the product. “Look at every app from email to Safari – it has all been overhauled,” he says.
Gruia feels frustrated by comments the disparage the new iPad for not sporting enough new features. “In some ways Apple is a victim of its own success,” he says “What do they need to add – teleportation? In the end, an evolutionary product can have revolutionary results. Remember the iPhone 4S? Many people thought ‘this is it’? And yet look how well it has done.”
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