The Federal Communications Commission beat iFixit to the punch in publishing the first iPad take-apart photos, although the Commission did have an unfair advantage since it got pre-launch access to the device for its usual RF testing. The photos do give a first look at the iPad's laser sculpted aluminum casing as well as a little detail about how the hardware is put together.
What's not surprising is that most of the internal volume us taken up by two large Li-Ion batteries. The logic board is tiny and appears to be not much bigger than an iPhone. All of the internal components are jammed in there good and tight, as one might imagine. But what's most surprising is that there is actually a good amount of empty space inside.
Lest you think iFixit took this challenge lying down, however, the company craftily removed the FCC's meager attempts to cover up details of the chips that Apple requested the FCC keep "confidential." iFixit analyzed the source of the components, but none of them are major surprises so far. There's an Apple A4 processor, Toshiba flash memory, and Broadcom radio chips. The IPS display panel is also suspected to be made by LG Phillips.
Some of the components are too small to make out in the relatively low-resolution images, and some of the components might be slightly different in the actual shipping version. iFixit promises have a more detailed analysis after receiving its own iPad.
Source: Arstechnica.com
