Tech

The new iPad teardown surprises

Three surprises from iFixit's teardown of the new iPad.

Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Senior Contributing Editor March 16, 2012 at 2:46 a.m. PT

The guys and gals over at iFixit got their hands on a brand new 'new iPad' (aka, iPad 3) and guess what they did with it? Yep, they took it to pieces! Contained in that teardown are some interesting surprises.

First major surprise is the battery. We already know that the battery was a massive upgrade over the one in the iPad 2, holding 42.5 watt-hours of power as opposed to 25 watt-hour in the older model. How did Apple accomplish this trick? With new battery chemistry? Magic? Nope. Apple fitted a much bigger battery.

Image credit: iFixit.com

Each cell is about 70 percent bigger compared to the battery in the iPad 2 but the power capacity of the cells remains about the same at around 0.0014 watt-hour/mm³.

Another interesting result of the teardown for me is that Samsung is still supplying parts for the new iPad despite being locked in patent disputes with Apple. There are rumors that both Samsung and LG are supplying the 2048x1536 'Retina' display panels so we have to be careful in drawing too many conclusions from a single teardown. However, for now it is confirmed that Samsung is still supplying parts for the iPad.