Question from today’s Hardware 2.0 mailbox:

Does the hardware plus shape element changes present inside the newly introduced iPhone 5 provide you any clues because to what the iPad 4 or iPad mini could need to provide?

There’s definitely which there’s a symbiotic relationship involving the iPhone as well as the iPad, with 1 being utilized because a testing ground for development inside the additional — plus it’s commonly it’s the iPhone which leads the technique. With all of the talk of the iPad mini landing shortly, as well as the iPad 4 looming found on the horizon, it’s a superior time to a bit of prognosticating.

Let’s take a tour of a few of the brand-new hardware qualities present inside the iPhone 5 plus see that may create it into the iPad 4 or the mythical iPad mini.

Lightning dock connector

One quite disruptive changes brought to the table by the iPhone 5 is the Lightning dock connector. Gone is the older 30-pin connector which served for the iPod, iPhone plus iPad for virtually a decade, plus inside its spot is the fresh double-sided 8-pin connector.

It created sense for Apple to finally dump the aged 30-pin connector. It had been a product of the different era. Big, clumsy, fiddly, plus containing a amount of today obsolete pins. The modern Lightning connector is small, simpler to employ, plus more advanced. It provides Apple a lot more flexibility inside terms of connectivity, plus leaves more area inside the modern iPhone plus iPod touch for additional more significant stuff.

I do not have question which Apple may extend this connector to the iPad 4, plus it is present of the iPad mini — when which ever makes an appearance.

Nano-SIM

With the iPhone 5 Apple decided which the micro-SIM — that was initially introduced found on the iPhone 4 — was too big plus changed it with all the even small nano-SIM.

I can’t come up with a single compelling cause why Apple could take this tiny SIM card plus try plus employ it found on the iPad 4 or iPad mini. While room isn’t because much of the concern inside the iPad, it doesn’t create sense for Apple to fragment SIM use amidst device.

Updated processor

At the core of the iPhone 5 is the revamped A6 system-on-a-chip (SoC). It qualities a dual-core 1.3 GHz custom Apple-designed ARMv7 CPU, plus triple-core PowerVR SGX 543MP3. The present iPad 3 utilizes an A5X processor — an upgraded A5 found inside the iPhone 4S yet with a quad-core GPU boost.

I think which whilst the CPU inside the A6 is effective enough for the iPad 4, I might anticipate Apple to incorporate at minimum 1 additional GPU core. As for the iPad mini, the A6 can be effective enough because is to run this pill, because is has a small screen — specifically when which screen not a Retina show panel.

In-cell display

Another hot feature present inside the Phone 5 is the in-cell show. While conventional displays composed of 3 different components — the LCD itself, the touchscreen layer, as well as the safety glass — in-cell technologies combines the LCD plus touchscreen levels into a single layer.

The leading benefit of in-cell development is the fact that it enables the show to be slimmer plus lighter, 2 of Apple’s biggest obsessions, as well as the cause why I anticipate the upcoming slew of iPads to feature this technologies.

Worldwide 4G

While the iPad 3 has help for 4G LTE in the U.S., it didn’t help 4G networks inside additional nations, like the U.K. plus Australia. This has been fixed inside the iPhone 5, with all the Qualcomm RTR8600 found inside the iPad 3 being changed by the more capable Qualcomm MDM9615M LTE modem.

Again, there’s no cause why Apple won’t utilize this LTE modem — of a update of it — inside the upcoming iPad.

Screen aspect ratio

Prior to the iPhone 5, the each iPhone had a screen resolution of 1.5:1. With the move to the 4-inch screen, Apple changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio that enabled it to keep the width of the iPhone the same. 16:9 is the standard aspect ratio for of HD-TV, non-HD digital tv plus analog widescreen tv, plus as a result the ratio is perfect for movie.

The iPad has a 4:3 aspect ratio. It is this which provides the iPad which distinctive pill form. However Android pills are 16:9 or 16:10, thus there will be a precedent for creating the switch. There are even rumors recommending which the upcoming iPad may indeed be 16:9, though there is not a difficult evidence because yet to help this.

A change of aspect ratio might equally provide the iPad a brand-new look, anything that Apple strives for each thus frequently.

Image source: Apple, iFixit [2, 3].