The Latest iPad: Retina Display, A5X Chip, 5MP Camera & 4G LTE

The short version: Apple's third-generation iPad, announced in March 2012, answered every criticism of its predecessors at once: a 2048×1536 Retina display, the A5X chip, a usable 5-megapixel iSight camera, and real 4G LTE — in a body virtually identical to the iPad 2.

The display that ruined the old one

The headline feature was the Retina screen: 264 pixels per inch, which Apple claimed exceeded the resolution limit of human vision at normal viewing distance. The practical effect was immediate and cruel — the iPad 2's screen, which had seemed perfectly fine days earlier, suddenly looked soft. Text and images were simply sharper in a way that needed no explanation once seen.

Everything else caught up

• A5X chip: enough processing power to drive all those pixels without stutter.
• iSight camera: a 5-megapixel sensor borrowed from the iPhone 4S, recording 1080p video. Previous iPad cameras had been notable mainly for being bad; this one was actually usable.
• 4G LTE: transformed the cellular iPad from a slightly faster version of its predecessor into something genuinely fast enough to stream video without frustration.

The Apple pattern

Meaningful internal improvements in industrial design stable enough that cases, accessories, and muscle memory all carried over. Reviewers had learned the cycle by then: Apple announces specs that sound like marketing superlatives, critics test them and find they're largely accurate, consumers buy in large numbers.

The third-generation iPad was a continuation of a category Apple had essentially invented — and evidence that the inventors were still paying close attention.

From the archive: this piece was originally published March 8, 2012, and has been refreshed for clarity.