The iPad's new engine: The A5 chip
Apple is not only touting that the iPad 2 will be the first dual-core tablet to ship in volume but also making a lot of noise about the '9X' improvement in graphics processing.AppleBut Apple isn't being shy about the boost in performance--and analysts are duly impressed."Nine times faster graphics is a reasonable marketing number," said Joe Byrne, an analyst at The Linley Group, a chip consulting firm."For iPad owners, this means games that are a better match for the larger screen size...appear much better. There's enough potential iPad volume to justify [game] developers' extra investment," he said. All of this is not good news for Motorola, whose Xoom tablet, which began shipping last month, was the first dual-core tablet from a top-tier supplier. "I don't think anybody else has a fighting chance in this market," said Kumar, referring to Apple's dominance."I think this is the first dual-core tablet to ship in volume," said Jobs.And he may not be far off the mark, considering Apple's ability to ramp up large volumes very quickly. The A5 follows a hugely popular A4 chip."Driven by the soaring sales of products including the iPad and the iPhone 4, Apple's shipments of products based on its A4 microprocessor reached nearly 50 million units in 2010 from virtually zero sales in 2009," IHS iSuppli said.
