Apple's new smaller iPad, the iPad mini, might have stolen all the headlines with its recent release, but as the reviews begin to roll for the device a new narrative is emerging. The iPad 4 may be the real star of Apple's newly released tablets.

One of the biggest factors behind those favorable reviews may be the iPad 4's A6X chip, which packs a brand-new graphics engine that boasts a serious step up in horsepower from the third-generation iPad's A5X. Apple has not been coy about this; the company sees the graphics chip as one of the tablet's key selling-points.

"Nothing's incremental about this. The A6X is one massive processing machine," Jim Morrison, a product manager at Chipworks, said to CNET.

According to Chipworks, Apple's newest chip is a full 30 percent larger than the A6 used in the iPhone 5, and most of that extra chip space has been allocated to graphics.

"The A6X uses the identical [central processing unit of] the A6...Much of the extra area has gone to the GPU cores...each of these GPU cores is much larger...The overall area occupied by the A6X [graphics processing unit] cores is more than double that of the A6," Chipworks wrote in its posted analysis.

The graphics processing unit, or GPU, is a quad-core PowerVR SGX 554MP4 from Imagination, according to an analysis from Anandtech.

That SGX 554MP4 has raw performance of 76.8 GFLOPS, compared with the 38.4 GFLOPS rating for the quad-core Imagination chip in the third-generation iPad, Anandtech said in its report.

For now, a lot of this much the A6X chip is still largely impressive for its future potential horsepower. Outside of the iPad 4's browser, there aren't many games or apps that have been optimized for the chip's graphics.

Benchmark tests may help paint a clearer picture, though.

In some tests, Anandtech is seeing "about 2x the performance of the previous generation iPad," adding that "it looks like the A6X is the [chip] that the iPad needed to really deliver good gaming performance at its native resolution." An observation that is generally echoed in the first reviews coming out about the device.

CNET

CNET wholeheartedly supports Apple's claims of greatness in its A6X chip.

"Theoretically, games should run faster and smoother on the Retina Display. Indeed, the ones I tested did. N.O.V.A. 3, a first-person shooter from Gameloft that's often prone to choppiness in heavy action, was silky smooth. Other games seemed equally fast-loading and zippy."

"Other tablets may be going quad-core for the most part, but the A6X does its part to provide what feels like very fast performance, and easily enough power to do anything you'd dream of doing on iOS."

"It's worth noting that the built-in Wi-Fi antennas on the fourth-gen iPad are now dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11a/b/g/n), which should offer better connections and speeds over the average home network. Apple made the move to dual-band on the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, too."

"The latest iPad's battery life, based on our formal tests, is even higher than we expected: it lasted through 13.1 hours of continuous video playback, compared with 11.4 hours on the third-gen iPad. An extra hour and 42 minutes of battery life to go with a significantly faster processor and graphics makes for an awfully nice one-two punch. The fourth-gen iPad lasted a good solid day, and then some, through continuous video-playing, game-playing, Web-browsing use. Incidentally, it also outperformed the iPad Mini's battery life by a full hour."

"The new fourth-generation iPad is the best iPad. It's the fastest iPad. But it's no longer the smallest iPad, or the most affordable. Who are we kidding? It's still pretty portable, and at $499, it's decently affordable. For those who care about the best screen, excellent battery life, impressive performance and the greatest compatibility with cutting-edge apps, look no further."

Slash Gear

Slash Gear says its difficult to find too many changes in the iPad 4 from the last version, and can hardly fathom why Apple updated the device this early after the release of the iPad 3. However, the site loves the crisp display quality, video performance, and speed performance.

"You have to look closely to spot the differences between the third-generation iPad and this new fourth-generation model. In fact, from all angles but the very bottom, it's the same as before: the only outward difference is that the old, 30-pin Dock Connector has been replaced with the new Lightning port as on the iPhone 5 and latest iPods."

"Overall, though, it's the same slick tablet we've seen before. You still get the beautifully crisp, bright, and responsive Retina display, sturdy construction with glass and aluminum sandwiched together neatly, and the same three options for storage: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB."

"One place you do get a useful boost is in the browser. We turned to the SunSpider test of JavaScript performance, and were mighty impressed by the iPad 4th-gen's score of 879.2ms (faster is better); that's near desktop browser level (286.1ms on MacBoook Pro 13" Retina core i5), and a significant leap ahead of the iPad 3rd-gen's score of 1,688.9ms."

"We then looked to iMovie HD video processing, which is a solid test of CPU and GPU performance. Apple has gradually massaged the video crunching workflow with each generation of iPad, to balance speed and video quality, and the output from the latest model is the best - to our eyes - so far."

"The third-generation iPad arguably didn't need refreshing; in fact, if Apple hadn't opted to change to Lightning, it could realistically have held off changing its largest tablet until early 2013, as per its typical yearly refresh cycle. That makes for a reasonably straightforward upgrade decision if you're a 3rd-gen iPad owner. Unless you're desperate for Lightning - perhaps you've also got an iPhone 5, and want to use all the same accessories rather than buy the adapter dongle - then we're yet to see apps that really demand the potent A6X chipset."

Engadget

Engadget, too, notes the similarities between the iPad 3 and 4, but says this is hands-down the best iPad yet, and the best 10-inch tablet on the market available.

"The most important point to make here: in terms of look and feel, absolutely nothing has changed compared to the third-generation iPad. We got out our scales and our calipers and couldn't find a fraction of a millimeter difference in dimensions or a gram's adjustment of weight."

"Twice as fast, better battery life, same cost. What more do we need to say? The new iPad is a hit on all fronts -- but it of course won't be received that way by all."

"The new iPad is the best 10-inch tablet on the market. That said, we'd be lying if we didn't say the new iPad mini is an incredibly compelling alternative, a device so good that perhaps this update was released so soon after its predecessor to maintain the appeal of the bigger, more expensive unit."

"This is still the best display you'll find on a tablet. The Retina display in the new iPad still looks fantastic. Brightness, contrast and viewing angles are all world-class, color reproduction is brilliant and even outdoor visibility is superb. And we haven't even mentioned the resolution yet. Yes, the 2,048 x 1,536 pixel count beats all other portables (though not for long, thanks to the forthcoming Nexus 10 matching it)."

iPad 4 Specs

OS

iOS (6)

Dimensions

9.50 x 7.31 x 0.37 (241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm)

Weight

23.35 oz (662 g)

Display

Physical size:

9.70 inches

Resolution:

2048 x 1536 pixels

Pixel density:

264 ppi

Technology:

IPS LCD

Touchscreen

Capacitive, Multi-touch

Features

Light sensor

Hardware

System chip:

Apple A6X

Processor:

Dual core, 1400 MHz, Apple Swift

Graphics processor:

PowerVR SGX 554

System memory:

1024 MB RAM

Built-in storage:

16 GB

Camera

Rear-facing camera:
5 megapixels

Aperture size:

F2.4

Features:

Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Auto focus, Touch to focus, Face detection, Geo tagging

Video:

1920x1080 (1080p HD) (30 fps)

Features:

Digital image stabilization

Front-facing camera:

1.2 megapixels

Technology

GSM:

850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

UMTS:

850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz

LTE:

700 MHz Class 17, 1700/2100 MHz

Data:

LTE Cat3 Downlink 100 Mbit/s, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS

Positioning:

A-GPS, Glonass, Wi-Fi positioning

Navigation:

Yes

Connectivity

Bluetooth:

4.0

Wi-Fi:

802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz

Mobile hotspot:

Yes

USB:

Yes

Connector:

Proprietary

Features:

USB Host

HDMI:

Yes