New 2017 iPad 5 Comparisons to Older iPad 2, 3 & 4 Models
The new 2017 iPad 5 is a HUGE upgrade and a big iPad leap from a 6 year old iPad 2nd generation and a very appreciable iPad upgrade from 5 year old iPad 3rd and 4th generation models.
I'll just reiterate some things here.
iPad 2 CPU is a 1.0 Ghz CPU dynamically clocked DOWN to 800 Mhz. New iPad 5 has an A9, 1.88 Ghz CPU.
iPad 3 & 4 CPUs use a 1.0 Ghz and 1.42 Ghz CPU, respectively. New iPad 5 has an A9, 1.88 Ghz CPU.
iPad 2 only has 512 MBs of RAM. New iPad 5 has 2 GBs of RAM.
iPad 3 & 4 only has 1 GB of RAM. New iPad 5 has 2 GBs of RAM.
iPad 2 DOES NOT have a retina display. All iPads after the iPad 2 have high resolution retina displays.
iPad 2 uses older Bluetooth 2.1 spec. New iPad 5 uses the latest Bluetooth 4.4 spec.
New iPad 5 has a much faster GPU and a M9 motion co-processor. iPad 2, 3 & 4 models have NO motion co-processor.
Older iPads only have one speaker. New iPad 5 has two speakers.
iPad 2 has a very poor 1.5 mp rear camera. New iPad 5 has an 8 mp rear facing camera.
iPad 3 & 4 models have a 5 mp rear camera. New iPad 5 has an 8 mp rear facing camera.
iPad 2 has an even poorer front facing FaceTime camera. New iPad 5 has a marginally better 1.5 mp FaceTime HD camera.
iPad 5 is a thinner, lighter design from iPad 2.
New iPad 5 use faster WiFi specs.
New iPad 5 has larger internal battery and up to 10 hours of operation.
New iPad 5 has 1st generation Touch ID.
New iPad 5 will run the new, current iOS 10 and newer, future iOS versions.
iPad 2 and 3 are forever locked to iOS 9.3.5.
The iPad 4 only uses the base features of iOS 10 and doesn't use any of the new and cool features of either iOS 9 or 10.
AND because the iPad 4 is a 32 bit device, chances are, it won't be eligible for iOS 11 when it comes out as iOS 11 will be a full 64 bit operating system to be used on newer 64 bit supported Apple mobile device hardware.
The new 2017 iPad 5 is a mix of some old and some very recent Apple mobile technologies at more reasonable price points.