BGR reports that it has received from a source photos of what are claimed to be screenshots from Apple's iBoot development and debugging software for the bootrom showing details on an iPad 3. The screenshots, which show references to the known "J1" and "iPad3,1" code names, reveal that the device will indeed be using a new application processor carrying an S5L8945X identifier, presumably as part of a new A6 system-on-a-chip.
For starters, the model numbers are J1 and J2 (iPad3,1 and iPad3,2), and while DigiTimes reported this a few weeks ago, these two models are not different devices, just a single iPad available in two versions — one with Wi-Fi only and one with Wi-Fi and embedded GSM/CDMA/LTE for all carriers. Also included in the photos is, for the first time, confirmation of which processor Apple will be using in the iPad 3: an A6 processor with model number S5L8945X. For reference, the Apple A4 model was S5L8930X and the A5 is S5L8940X.
The report notes that the processor is expected to be of the quad-core variety, up from the current dual-core processor used in the A5 on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. The report also reiterates claims that the iPad will support LTE alongside GSM and CDMA 3G networks in a single device.
BGR offers no assessment of the reliability of the source of the photos, and iBoot output could be easily faked, but if legitimate the details bolster claims that the iPad 3 will be a major upgrade to the popular tablet device.
Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app.
Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action.
Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
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A leaker known as "Majin Bu" today shared an alleged image of a component for the rumored, ultra-thin "iPhone 17 Air" model.
The blurry, pixelated image shows a pair of rear iPhone shells with a pill-shaped, raised camera bar along the top. On the left side of the bar, there is a circular cutout that appears to be for a single rear camera. On the right side of the bar, there appears to be an ...
Monday January 20, 2025 9:01 am PST by Joe Rossignol
A new iPhone SE is widely rumored to launch this year, and the device has potentially been confirmed today by known leaker Evan Blass.
In a private social media post, Blass shared an image of what appears to be source code mentioning an iPhone SE (4th Gen), which casts doubt on the alternative "iPhone 16E" name rumored for the device. However, the name in the source code could be a...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by Joe Rossignol
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory.
A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June.
The original AirTag was announced...
Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr.
The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models:
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhon...
Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon.
Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...
Tuesday January 21, 2025 6:40 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to release at least one new iPad Pro model this year, according to a supplier-focused report today from Korean website The Elec. It is likely that the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models would be updated simultaneously.
After receiving an OLED display last year, the report said the iPad Pro will receive only "minor" changes this year. Overall, the next iPad Pro is expected to...
Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features.
Notification Summary Changes
Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines.
For...
As it appears, this is not a retina display, unfortunately. I can literally see the pixels in the picture.
So I believe there are two possibilities: 1) The next-gen iPad won't have a higher resolution display and this info is correct 2) This is a second generation iPad and this debug software is fake
Interesting. :)
Errr it's not photos of an iPad's screen though... Looks like photos of a Mac's screen.
As it appears, this is not a retina display, unfortunately. I can literally see the pixels in the picture.
So I believe there are two possibilities:
1) The next-gen iPad won't have a higher resolution display and this info is correct
2) This is a second generation iPad and this debug software is fake
1) There's nothing to substantiate LTE in this article. They are reporting old rumors.
2) The source claims to be in possession of an iPad 3 prototype. Why would we get pictures of code but not the prototype? If they say they have the prototype and are providing code, that's just as incriminating as the prototype.
3) If the processor variant is real, then it does make sense for it to be a quad core A9. They went from ____30 to ____40 between A4 and A5, which saw an architecture change. This one is _____45, suggesting it is similar to the _____40 rather than being a whole new SoC. Perhaps quad core A9 and SGX543MP4 on a 32/28nm process?
A big question in my mind will be whether the A6 will be Cortex A-15 based or A-9 based.
A5 is Cortex A9, as is nVidia's Tegra2 (dual-core) and Tegra3 (quad-core).
All things being equal, Cortex A-15 is 40% faster than Cortex A-9... when you add 2 other dies on as well as I'm sure a faster GPU, the A6 could be one hell of a processor (though still 32-bit, as it is still ARM v7 instruction set based).
There's no reason to push for a change to ARM's 64 bit instruction set. Wider data paths are expensive, especially for mobile devices. They are especially helped by memory that is much faster than it was around 2002 when AMD was introducing their 64 bit architecture. You can get sufficient bandwidth without increasing data bus width. It's just too expensive overall where efficiency is the name of the game.
Not impressed, I could fake that up too. It's a freaking TextEdit document on Lion.
iBoot? Seriously? I hope BGR didn't pay to much for these images, cause they got scammed.
As much as I would like for it to be real I'm going to call fakety fake fake fake, until we get to an actual Apple press event.
I hope you do understand that "iBoot" is the name of the iOS bootrom, which is in charge allowing the device to boot and initialized all the peripherials and some hardware components. They didn't just make this up.
