Today Apple officially let the wraps off on the successor to the original iPad, the iPad 2. It’s thinner, lighter, and more powerful.
To start, the iPad 2 is just 8.8mm thick, that’s thinner than the iPhone 4 (9.4mm) and the original iPad (13.4mm). It also weighs 1.3 pounds, which is lighter than the original iPad’s 1.5 pound weight. But thinner and lighter doesn’t mean less power. Under the hood it’s packing a dual-core Apple A5 processor that Apple says is 2X faster than the iPad’s CPU. The new iPad 2 also offers 900 percent faster graphics, and uses the same low power as the earlier A4 chip, which allows the iPad 2 to offer the same 10-hour battery life as the original iPad. Apple also added a gyroscope, which has been included in the iPhone and iPod touch.
Apple will release 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models that are priced at $499, $599, and $699 for the Wi-Fi models, respectively, and at $629, $729, and $829 for the Wi-Fi + 3G models. The 3G capable versions will be offered on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The iPad 2 will launch in the United States on March 11 (yes, next Friday), and will launch in 26 more countries on March 25.