A6X

 

Apple was quick to obsolete the "new" chip in the third-generation Retina iPad -- not to mention the iPad itself. So the question is, why so fast?
But before we answer that question, let's look at some of the improvements. Apple says the A6X "delivers up to twice the CPU [central processing unit] and graphics performance of the A5X chip" -- the A5X being the processor Apple just announced back in March when it rolled out the first Retina iPad.
A lot of that improvement comes from the goodness of Apple's new A6 chip design, according to Anand Shimpi of Anandtech. "The 2X performance [improvement] on the CPU side points to the same move [as the iPhone 5] to Apple's own design," he said in an e-mail.
In other words, the A6/A6X is the first design Apple can truly call its own -- or what Anand calls "Apple's first fully custom" chip.