Picture of iPad 3 Part With "A5X" Processor Shows Itself

Lately, there have been a lot of photoshopped pictures of iPad 3 parts circulating around the web. So when we hear about a picture of an iPad 3 with an "A5X" processor, "Photoshop" is pretty much the first word that pops into our minds. Yet, look at the picture. It's so clear, and the reflection of the light on the bubble wrap looks perfect. The date code's number, 1146, means it was produced in the 46th week of 2011, corresponding to November 16-20. This is approximately when construction on the iPad 3 began. And yes, the processor's name is A5X.

This picture showed up yesterday on the Chinese site Weiphone. It appears to be the processor and part of the memory unit of the upcoming iPad 3. Currently, the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and 5th generation iPod Touch all sport A5 processors. So, it was expected that the iPad 3 would see an A6 processor. But this picture suggests that the change in processor speed would be more minor, just as an iPhone 4S would be a more minor change than an iPhone 5.

But what could this tell us about the iPad 3? Well, if the changes in the processor are minor, it could be that it becomes quad-core, but the GHz stay the same. Or maybe the GHz goes up from 1 to 1.5, but it stays dual-core. Either way, if this picture is in fact correct, this certainly changes our predictions about the iPad 3. Sure, you could just wait 16 days for the media event, but waiting is hard when it's for something like an iPad...