Apple Quietly Updates iPad 2 With New A5 Chip

Image Credit: Anandtech

Apple is continuing to sell the iPad 2. However, it’s only available in 16GB flavor, whether you choose wifi-only or wifi+3G.

However, Apple didn’t tell everyone that they had updated the A5 chip. Internally, it’s called iPad 2,4. It’s not any faster than the previous iPad 2.

The chip is smaller at 32-nm. While the previous chip was 45-nm, like the A5X, which is in the new iPad. What does this do? Gives users better battery life. According to reports, it’s about 15-30 percent better battery life.

Website Anandtech ran a few benchmarks, and found said battery life improvements.

The bad news is that you can’t know for sure whether you have a new chip or the old one until you’ve opened your iPad and turned it on. There are plenty of the older tablets still in warehouses, we’re sure, so bummer on that part.

[via Anandtech]