14 DAY TRIAL // A new video featuring an iPad 5 shell and digitizer is making the rounds today, showing how the upcoming tablet stacks up against the current generation of iPads.
Apple may not unveil its fifth-generation iPad at next week’s event, but most bets are on a release sometime this fall. No wonder then that the tablet’s parts have been leaked.
The video embedded below depicts a semi-assembled iPad 5 featuring its biggest parts: the aluminum back shell and the digitizer. Put them together and what you get is basically an iPad 5 with no electronics.
But it’s enough to paint an accurate picture of the device, and even more so when you decide to compare it to an existing, fourth-generation iPad.
As uploader unboxtherapy reveals, Apple is making a few big changes, as well as a few minor changes.
The major alterations include the reduced size and heft, while retaining the same screen real estate (and likely the same resolution and pixel density).
Another big change is the reduced screen bezel, which actually allows a male user with an average-sized grasp to hold the iPad 5 with one hand only.
Looking at the smaller changes, the Home button stays in place, but the volume controls are now getting individual (pill-shaped) buttons, instead of a unified strip of plastic.
The speaker grills are located in the same place as on the iPad mini, and it appears that the iPad 5 will have dual speakers.
Also, the chamfered design of the iPad 5’s rear shell (as opposed to tapered on the iPad 4) will allow for the sound to shoot out closer to the user (rather than away from the user, as with current iPads).
The iPad 5 will most likely hit store shelves later this year, just in time for you to grab one for Christmas.
