Live teardown of Apple's iPad 2 currently underway
Immediately after Apple's release of the iPad 2 on Friday, iFixit began a teardown of Apple's iPad 2, discovering a slight increase in battery capacity compared to the original iPad and confirming that the tablet has 512MB of RAM.
iFixit gave Apple's just-released iPad 2 a repairability score of 4 out of 10 after completing its teardown on Friday. According to the report, the touchscreen tablet contains only standard Phillips screws, while the battery is "very securely" stuck down to the rear case.
The Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2 sports a new model number: A1395, compared to a model number of A1219 for the original Wi-Fi iPad and A1337 for the original iPad 3G. iFixit confirmed via software that the tablet has 512MB of RAM.
Unlike the original iPad, which iFixit described as having "gorgeous symmetry," the iPad 2 requires a heat gun in order to remove the front panel, as Apple has opted to glue the panel in place this time around instead of using clips.
The iPad 2's Li-Ion Polymer battery, which is made up of three cells, is rated at 3.8 volts, 25 watt-hours, slightly more than the original iPad's rating of 3.75 volts, 24.8 watt-hours. As with the original iPad, Apple claims "up to 10 hours" of battery life on the iPad 2.
According to the teardown, the logic board of the tablet contains the Apple 1GHz A5 Processor (APL0498), Toshiba NAND Flash, and additional chips from Apple and Texas Instruments.
"The A5 processor has manufacture dates of late January and mid-February 2011," the report noted. "Production was clearly ramping up through the last minute."
iFixit discovered that Apple has again tapped Broadcom for several of the iPad 2's touch controller chips, as well as a "Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM tuner combo chip" that powers the Wi-Fi board. Also, the tablet's new gyroscope is labeled AGD8 2103.
The report also discovered that the iPad 2 LCD component is 2.4 mm thick, while the glass panel is 62 mm thick. By comparison, the original iPad employed a 3.2 mm thick LCD and .85 mm thick glass panel.
Apple's launch of the iPad 2 at 5 p.m. Friday drew long lines (1, 2), despite reports that increased distribution outlets could shorten wait times. Within hours of opening up online orders for the tablet early Friday morning, Apple began quoting shipping estimates of "2-3 weeks."
Analysts have predicted Apple could sell as many as 1 million iPad 2 units this weekend, though average estimates are closer to 500,000.
For more details, see the detailed step-by-step teardown at iFixit.
iFixit gave Apple's just-released iPad 2 a repairability score of 4 out of 10 after completing its teardown on Friday. According to the report, the touchscreen tablet contains only standard Phillips screws, while the battery is "very securely" stuck down to the rear case.
The Wi-Fi version of the iPad 2 sports a new model number: A1395, compared to a model number of A1219 for the original Wi-Fi iPad and A1337 for the original iPad 3G. iFixit confirmed via software that the tablet has 512MB of RAM.
Unlike the original iPad, which iFixit described as having "gorgeous symmetry," the iPad 2 requires a heat gun in order to remove the front panel, as Apple has opted to glue the panel in place this time around instead of using clips.
The iPad 2's Li-Ion Polymer battery, which is made up of three cells, is rated at 3.8 volts, 25 watt-hours, slightly more than the original iPad's rating of 3.75 volts, 24.8 watt-hours. As with the original iPad, Apple claims "up to 10 hours" of battery life on the iPad 2.
According to the teardown, the logic board of the tablet contains the Apple 1GHz A5 Processor (APL0498), Toshiba NAND Flash, and additional chips from Apple and Texas Instruments.
"The A5 processor has manufacture dates of late January and mid-February 2011," the report noted. "Production was clearly ramping up through the last minute."
iFixit discovered that Apple has again tapped Broadcom for several of the iPad 2's touch controller chips, as well as a "Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM tuner combo chip" that powers the Wi-Fi board. Also, the tablet's new gyroscope is labeled AGD8 2103.
The report also discovered that the iPad 2 LCD component is 2.4 mm thick, while the glass panel is 62 mm thick. By comparison, the original iPad employed a 3.2 mm thick LCD and .85 mm thick glass panel.
Apple's launch of the iPad 2 at 5 p.m. Friday drew long lines (1, 2), despite reports that increased distribution outlets could shorten wait times. Within hours of opening up online orders for the tablet early Friday morning, Apple began quoting shipping estimates of "2-3 weeks."
Analysts have predicted Apple could sell as many as 1 million iPad 2 units this weekend, though average estimates are closer to 500,000.
For more details, see the detailed step-by-step teardown at iFixit.
Comments
That's how they made it so thin compared to the first. The spread the battery out over 3 segments, as opposed to two - as before. I prefer the outside of these products
We knew this from the event a week and a half ago.
Has the RAM been finally confirmed? 512MB?
Yes, that was confirmed the day it was announced.
Wow that came quicker than I expected !
blah blah blah...that's what she said....blah blah blah
Man, I used to take everything I could apart when I was a kid. It just wouldn't be as much fun nowadays. Aside from so many things being glued together instead of screwed (although snapped is just as bad if you don't know where the snaps are), there's just nothing inside stuff any more!
It's surely harder to see the stuff but there is a lot more inside with each new gadget evolution.
iPad 1: 24.8 Watt-hours/3.75V = 6.61 Amp-hours
iPad 2: 25 Watt-hours/3.8V = 6.58 Amp-hours
Edit: the 2nd Apple chip is in a power supply section, and may be a custom voltage regulator or some kind of system controller. The printed circuit board looks like it's been built to a price point. For example, it does not appear use the HDI technique that you see in their iPhones and Macbooks. It looks downright cheap, actually. This could mean many things (or none, since this is just speculation):
- Apple really has to work hard to keep the cost down
- Apple's preparing for a price war
- It's going to be hard for non-Apple tablet makers to match Apple's prices
It's actually a tiny bit smaller:
iPad 1: 24.8 Watt-hours/3.75V = 6.61 Amp-hours
iPad 2: 25 Watt-hours/3.8V = 6.58 Amp-hours
Total Power is less [barely] but are the physical dimensions of the iPad 2's batteries combined area and/or volume larger in the new set up?
Total Power is less [barely] but are the physical dimensions of the iPad 2's batteries combined area and/or volume larger in the new set up?
The new battery holds 25 W-h?90,000 Joules?of energy. That's more than the old one (by a tiny bit). Who cares about amp-hours? The device will draw as much current as it needs. Drives me crazy on car batteries?so many "Amp-hours"?why are you telling me this? How much energy does it hold?
Man, I used to take everything I could apart when I was a kid. It just wouldn't be as much fun nowadays. Aside from so many things being glued together instead of screwed (although snapped is just as bad if you don't know where the snaps are), there's just nothing inside stuff any more!
Please don't tell me you'll have to move up to small animals... then humans...
I'm curious to find out if the CPU is Cortex-A9 based, or is just an old dual core Cortex-A8.
There is NO such thing as a dual core Cortex A8. ARM never designed a multi-core version of Cortex A8.
It's actually a tiny bit smaller:
iPad 1: 24.8 Watt-hours/3.75V = 6.61 Amp-hours
iPad 2: 25 Watt-hours/3.8V = 6.58 Amp-hours
Those are rounded-off numbers. The teardown showed that the battery is listed on the label as 6930mah, even though the "math" would have been 6579mah.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad-...eardown/5071/1
It also mean that the "math" on the original ipad that came up with 6610mah may be understated.
The new battery holds 25 W-h?90,000 Joules?of energy. That's more than the old one (by a tiny bit). Who cares about amp-hours? The device will draw as much current as it needs. Drives me crazy on car batteries?so many "Amp-hours"?why are you telling me this? How much energy does it hold?
Amp-hours is important because batteries are, in theory, constant voltage sources, so they need to supply the current necessary to maintain their output voltage. The Amp-hour rating gives you a way to compare that. The new battery may have more energy, but if it's run at a higher voltage, it has less runtime.
Amp-hours is important because batteries are, in theory, constant voltage sources, so they need to supply the current necessary to maintain their output voltage. The Amp-hour rating gives you a way to compare that. The new battery may have more energy, but if it's run at a higher voltage, it has less runtime.
But they are all "rounded off" --- can't rely on them if the math said 6579mah and it's listed as 6930. That's a 5% difference.
Usually it's listed the other way around. For example, the batteries may be spec'ed to be 1000mah +/- 5% --- and you list the battery as 950mah so that you don't get sued by consumers.
Also listed on the battery is a capacity of 6930 mAh. Since mAh = watt-hours / volts * 1000, converting using the above numbers yields 25 / 3.8 * 1000 = 6,579. It looks like there might be some rounding going on here
In any case, not really article worthy...Or worthy of me writing this. Touché
There is NO such thing as a dual core Cortex A8. ARM never designed a multi-core version of Cortex A8.
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Thanks for writing that, it has been the most ridiculous bit of FUD floating about the interwebs.