back to article Apple's new 'iPad Air 2' sliced open, revealing (possible) A8X core

Cruel Apple fans have exposed the innards of what they claim is the forthcoming iPad Air 2, giving the world a glimpse of what could be the most intimate parts of a slab millions will soon be fondling. The rabid fanbois who run a Taiwanese site called Apple Club have posted pictures purportedly showing the rudest parts of the …

  1. Thomas Gray

    I suspect

    the event will be to announce a new Mac Mini, or even a new design of iMac - neither of which have really changed for several years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's been way too long

      Surely they will announce a replacement of the superdrive (2001) and possibly magic mouse (2009).

      We might finally get a blu ray drive, woohoo!

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: I suspect

      I really hope we see a new Mac Mini - I've been considering replacing my old Windows desktop and old MacBook with a single machine for a while, but have been waiting for a newer Mini since the spec is so old.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I suspect

        I guess it's not Haswell but the Mini is only incrementally behind state-of-the-art.

        The current Mini is still a pretty good deal. It's hard/impossible to find or build a PC that size with comparable computing power and storage and an integrated power supply.

        1. JDX Gold badge

          Re: I suspect

          "I guess it's not Haswell but the Mini is only incrementally behind state-of-the-art.

          The current Mini is still a pretty good deal. It's hard/impossible to find or build a PC that size with comparable computing power and storage and an integrated power supply."

          Neither the price nor the spec has changed for 2 years. You wouldn't pay today's prices for a 2-year-old PC normally.

          It might be good value for the size (in fact I'm sure it is) but that's not an issue to me. It's just the cheapest way to get a decent spec Mac and PC, and by the time you put in a quad-core CPU it's rather expensive. The price creeps up on you... so a refresh would be nice even if only so I can buy a 2012 model more cheaply :)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I suspect

      The Mac Mini has been without an update for so long (current version is from 2012), I suspect it'll be killed off.

    4. launcap Silver badge
      Alert

      Re: I suspect

      Or even (please, please) an new 17" Macbook Pro.. mine is getting a bit long in the tooth!

    5. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: I suspect

      I suspect the event will be to announce a new Mac Mini, or even a new design of iMac - neither of which have really changed for several years.

      That would certainly explain "it's been far too long". Because another ipad doesn't.

  2. Admiral Grace Hopper

    Whatever's announced

    I do hope that you've got some snark left with which to report it.

  3. JDX Gold badge

    Minor bump

    1->2Gb RAM is rather a big improvement really

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Minor bump

      Honest curiosity: were you running up against the 1GB limit on your existing iPad? So far, I've been able to do everything I can think of on my Mini Retina. My Galaxy Note 2, OTOH, runs up against it's RAM limits every few months. (Probably have more background services on the Note 2).

      Curious if that's just Apple's different design, or if my experience is uncommon.

      1. Silver

        Re: Minor bump

        Honest curiosity: were you running up against the 1GB limit on your existing iPad

        Quite frequently in Safari, where I would open up one tab, then create a second and then flip back to the first.

        At that point the first tab would have to be reloaded (conveniently losing any buttons I'd toggled or forms I'd filled in) - presumably because there wasn't enough RAM to have two tabs on the go at once.

        I don't need the ability to open a hundred tabs on my iPad, but at least 2GB will stop Safari from being the painful browsing experience it currently is.

        1. Mark 65

          Re: Minor bump

          This ^^^^^, the constant tab reloading is really starting to get on my tits and that's with hardly any apps (Safari and Mail) or tabs (reloads with more than 4) open.

      2. JDX Gold badge

        Re: Minor bump

        I don't know how I'd tell if I was running up against the RAM limit as a user running multiple apps but as a developer you have memory limits and increased RAM presumably increases those. For serious apps/games, you can easily use that much memory. Not just in terms of bigger resources, but some algorithms can trade CPU for RAM, etc.

        I'm not saying we should need 2Gb, but doubling the RAM is not insignificant.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

          Re: Minor bump

          Welp, today I learned something about other people's issues with the platform. Learning == good.

      3. jbuk1

        Re: Minor bump

        Yes, with multiple tabs open in chrome/safari it's a frequent occurrence for the page to have to reload when returning to the tab.

        Very annoying if for instance you're filling in a form on one tab and checking data for the form in another only to come back and find the page refreshed and the form blank.

  4. Conor Turton

    But maybe it's been a bit too long since Apple did anything really exciting and innovative.

    Definitely. Put a 2009 unibody MBP next to a 2014 non-retina one and other than slightly different shaped ports on the side they're identical and its only because you're told in "About this Mac" that you'd notice any difference.

    1. Toothpick

      Would you rather have your MBP littered with crappy stickers telling you what processor it has got and its speed, what graphics it has etc? I wouldn't

      1. Matt_payne666

        Its quite useful when doing a quick visual audit of kit....

        As are barcodes and serial numbers that aren't microscopic and printed in grey....

        But then apple were never really into large scale deployment....

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Its quite useful when doing a quick visual audit of kit...."

          Put different color stickers or paint on them, then.

          It's ridiculous to expect Apple to change the design of their laptops every year to make your corner case duties slightly easier.

          They have a nice design for laptops and it continues to work for them and their customers. Sort of like Porsche. Are you also upset that Porsche only makes small incremental changes to their design?

  5. Joey

    On the other hand...

    ...it's a very long time since Jasper wrote anything new, exciting or innovative!

  6. returnmyjedi

    That 2GB of RAM is no doubt to aid it in running IOS 8 which had turned the missus's iPad Air into a bit of a stuttering and crashing mess. I'm also going for NFC so that I can revel at folks thwapping their ipads against unsuspecting contactless payment terminals.

    1. James O'Shea

      Errm... iOS 8 turned an iPad _Air_ into a 'stuttering and crashing mess'? I've got a 32GB Air and haven't noticed any stuttering or crashing. I haven't noticed much of anything wrong with it, actually. Well, other than the fact that wireless backups don't work anymore, but that's not stuttering or crashing, that's just a straight out glaring bug which should never have got past QA.

      I suspect that 'tis not iOS 8, but rather the combination of iOS 8 and some other software she might have installed. Which would be another straight-out glaring bug which should never have got past QA. Apple's QA has been going downhill for a while now. iOS 8 appears to be particularly annoying in that respect.

      1. GrandpaChris

        The questions is;"Can Apple write bug free software anymore?" World Steve stand for this.Think not.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      They are just following the Hudl 2, Tesco are more innovative than Apple. They should ban Jona Ive from their stores.

    3. ravenviz Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re:

      I have (had) a perfectly working iPad 2, until I loaded the Facebook app, and now the performance is terrible.

      1. Joerg

        Re: Re:

        No iOS app is allowed to access the system at low level, which means that any running app can't affect the others nor the OS services. If there are issues with any background operation that is continously running with an app slowing down calls for other apps and the OS due to some very bad coding then it's still possible for the user to limit what an app can do thru the privacy settings... or just kill the app off and don't use it in background if it's buggy.

    4. jbuk1

      I think you missus has another issue with her ipad air. ios run seamlessly on the ipad air.

  7. P0l0nium

    Heat spreader .....!!!!

    Oooh look!! ... One of those efficient 'power sipping' ARM chips with a heat spreader.

    Never seen that before ;-)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    New iPad, new Mabooks, perhaps also a Mini and would be nice to have a Magic Mouse and / or keyboard with a fingerprint scanner to update older Macs to add more secure features?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A pen?

    Anyone else think that Apple graphic looks like a pen? Stylus interface (aPen) on the new iPad?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: A pen?

      Yep - my first thought.

  10. stu 4
    Gimp

    no no no

    it's a pun. must be.

    something is waay too long. and has been so, for waay too long.

    My bet in the ipad - it is very very long and thin.

    I heard a rumour that is one will in fact be very very short, but fatter... with the screen innovatively on the fat side. In fact today, I can exclusively reveal that someone in the office just showed me one of these new 'Ipad-shorts'.

    they are an absolute revolution !!!!

    The old one was over 9 massive inches long!!!

    Length: 240 mm (9.4 inches); Width: 169.5 mm (6.6 inches); Depth: 7.5 mm (0.29 inches)

    I have just measure the prototype I have been shown and here are its measurements:

    Length: 7.5 mm (0.29 inches); Width: 169.5 mm (6.6 inches); Depth: 240 mm (9.4 inches);

    it's a game changer I tell you!!!!!!!!

  11. Sean Timarco Baggaley

    "But maybe it's been a bit too long since Apple did anything really exciting and innovative."

    Strange how so few reporters (and El Reg readers) understand the basics of good design. I recommend Donald A. Norman's seminal "The Design of Everyday Things". It's surprisingly full of clues, which is clearly something Mr. J. Hamill lacks.

    Here's a hint: "innovation" is most emphatically not limited to hardware alone.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: "But maybe it's been a bit too long since Apple did anything really exciting and innovative."

      I don't really see how the fundamental design of the iPad CAN be improved. I'll probably look back on that comment with hindsight but it's basically just a screen. Adding stuff for change's sake would more likely be gimmicky than innovative.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Spell check, no substitute for proof reading.

    You misspelled sleep as weep.

  13. NeilPost Silver badge

    Battery

    Some 'truly all day battery life', no matter how hard you ride your iPad with mail, web, app's, WiFi, Video, gaming, 3G/4G would be really exciting and innovative.

    1. Joerg

      Re: Battery

      What are you babbling about? If you expect playing 3D graphic intensive games for 24/7 on any tablet then you must be dreaming. Of course playing games drains the battery quickly.

      1. NeilPost Silver badge

        Re: Battery

        iPad/iPhone battery life has barely moved on in 4 years. Samsung seem to have got the message with the battery Miser tech in the GS5, making improvements.

        1. Lord Elpuss Silver badge

          Re: Battery

          I'd agree with you on the iPhone, but my iPad has a stupendous battery life.

  14. Frankee Llonnygog

    could just be the Apple A8X

    "What's that you ask? Well, it's just like the old processor, only a bit more powerful."

    Something tells me AnandTech won't be offering Jasper a job anytime soom

  15. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    That logo.

    Isn't it a little - well - bendy?

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