text: ipad ( 4th generation ) the fourth - generation ipad ( marketed as ipad with retina display , colloquially referred to as the ipad 4 ) is a tablet computer produced and marketed by apple inc . compared to its predecessor , the fourth - generation ipad maintained the retina display but featured new and upgraded components such as the apple a6x chip , and the lightning connector , which was introduced on september 12 , 2012 . it shipped with ios 6 . 0 , which provides a platform for audio - visual media , including electronic books , periodicals , films , music , computer games , presentations and web content . it has supported 5 major ios releases , they are ios 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 10 . this being the third ipad to support 5 major ios versions , after the ipad ( 3rd generation ) and the ipad 2 . it was announced at a media conference on october 23 , 2012 as the fourth generation of the ipad line , succeeding the third - generation ipad , and was first released on november 2 , 2012 in thirty - five countries . the device was released throughout december in ten other countries including china , india and brazil . the third generation was discontinued following the fourth 's announcement , after only seven months of general availability . the device is available with either a black or white front glass panel and various connectivity and storage options . storage size options include 16 gb , 32 gb , 64 gb , and 128 gb ; the available connectivity options are wi - fi only and wi - fi + cellular with lte capabilities . the fourth - generation ipad received primarily positive reviews and was praised for its hardware improvements as well as the retina display , which was also featured in the device 's predecessor . furthermore , benchmarks reveal that the fourth - generation ipad is able to perform cpu - reliant tasks twice as fast as its predecessor . during the first weekend of sales , an aggregated amount of three million fourth - generation ipads and ipad minis were sold . history rumors regarding the next - generation ipad emerged shortly after the release of the third - generation ipad . at that point some speculated that the next ipad released would be of a smaller size . further speculations emerged in july 2012 when , with the help of unspecified sources , claimed that apple made small revisions to the then upcoming ipad and scheduled its release for late 2012 . on october 16 , 2012 , apple announced a media event scheduled for october 23 at the california theatre in san jose , california . the company did not pre - disclose the subject of the event , but it was widely expected to be regarding the ipad mini . photographic images of the device 's dock connector and front camera emerged shortly before the media event . at the media event , apple ceo tim cook introduced a new version of ibooks and new generations of the macbook pro , mac mini , and the imac before unveiling the fourth - generation ipad and the ipad mini . during the unveiling , apple stated that the fourth - generation ipad would be available to pre - order online in a selected number of countries starting october 26 . on november 2 , apple released the wi - fi model of device in thirty - five countries across europe , east asia and north america . the cellular model was released in - store a few weeks after the initial release of the device . the release of the fourth - generation ipad led to the discontinuation of its predecessor , which angered many third - generation ipad users . in response , apple extended its 14 - day return policy to 30 days . noted that , since the price of both models is identical , consumers that purchased the third - generation ipad within this time frame were effectively allowed to exchange their discontinued device for the fourth - generation model . on january 29 , 2013 , apple announced and scheduled the launch of the 128 gb variant of 4th generation ipad . it was released on february 5 , 2013 . following the announcement of the ipad air on october 22 , 2013 , sales of the fourth - generation ipad was discontinued . the fourth - generation ipad was reintroduced on march 18 , 2014 , following the discontinuation of the ipad 2 . in order to make its reintroduction a low - end device to the ipad air , its price was cut by 20 % over its original launch price . on october 16 , 2014 the fourth - generation ipad was discontinued in favor of the ipad air 2 and ipad mini 3 . the ipad air takes its place as the entry - level ipad . features software the fourth - generation ipad is shipped with ios 6 . 0 . it can act as a hotspot with some carriers , sharing its internet connection over wi - fi , bluetooth , or usb , and also access the apple app store , a digital application distribution platform for ios . the service allows users to browse and download applications from the itunes store that were developed with xcode and the ios sdk and were published through apple . from the app store , garageband , imovie , iphoto , and the iwork apps ( pages , keynote , and numbers ) are available . the ipad comes with several pre - installed applications , including siri , safari , mail , photos , video , music , itunes , app store , maps , notes , calendar , game center , photo booth , and contacts . like all ios devices , the ipad can sync content and other data with a mac or pc using itunes , although ios 5 and later can be managed and backed up without a computer . although the tablet is not designed to make phone calls over a cellular network , users can use a headset or the built - in speaker and microphone to place phone calls over wi - fi or cellular using a voip application , such as skype . the device has a dictation application , using the same voice recognition technology as the iphone 4s . the user speaks and the ipad types what they say on the screen , though the ipad must have an internet connection available ( via wi - fi or cellular network ) due to the feature 's reliance on apple servers to translate the speech . the fourth - generation ipad has an optional ibooks application , which displays books and other epub - format content downloaded from the ibookstore . several major book publishers including penguin books , harpercollins , simon & schuster , and macmillan have committed to publishing books for the device . despite being a direct competitor to both the amazon kindle and barnes & noble nook , both amazon.com and barnes & noble offer e - reader apps for the ipad . it was announced at the apple wwdc 2015 that the 4th generation ipad ( along with various other ios devices ) will support ios 9 . it was announced at the apple wwdc 2016 that the 4th generation ipad ( along with various other ios devices ) will support ios 10 , which is the latest version of ios , while dropping support to its immediate predecessor the 3rd generation ipad . hardware the device has an apple a6x soc which comprises a 32 - bit apple swift dual - core cpu running at 1 . 4 ghz and a quad - core powervr gpu , 1 gb of ram . it also features a 5 - megapixel , rear - facing camera capable of 1080p video recording ; and a 720p hd front - facing videophone camera designed for facetime . the device features a 9 . 7 " ( diagonal ) display with a resolution of 2 , 048 by 1 , 536 ( ) resulting in 3 . 1 million pixels , this gives the display a pixel density of 264 ppi . the total number of pixels used in the display of the fourth - generation ipad is four times that of the ipad 2 – providing even scaling from the prior model . as with all previous generations of iphone and ipad hardware , there are four buttons and one switch on the fourth - generation ipad . with the device in its portrait orientation , these are : a " home " button on the face of the device under the display that returns the user to the home screen , a wake / sleep button on the top edge of the device , and two buttons on the upper right side of the device performing volume up / down functions , under which is a switch whose function varies according to device settings , generally functioning either to switch the device into or out of silent mode or to lock / unlock the orientation of the screen . externally , the fourth - generation ipad is identical to its predecessor apart from the differences between dock connectors used and change of manufacturers that produce the display . in addition , the wi - fi only version weighs 652 grams while the cellular model weighs 662 grams – 2 grams heavier than their respective predecessors . the display responds to other sensors : an ambient light sensor to adjust screen brightness and a 3 - axis accelerometer to sense orientation and switch between portrait and landscape modes . unlike the iphone and ipod touch 's built - in applications , which work in three orientations ( portrait , landscape - left and landscape - right ) , the ipad 's built - in applications support screen rotation in all four orientations , including upside - down . consequently , the device has no intrinsic " native " orientation ; only the relative position of the home button changes . the tablet is manufactured either with or without the capability to communicate over a cellular network . all models can connect to a wireless lan via wi - fi . the fourth - generation ipad is available with 16 , 32 , 64 or 128 gb of internal flash memory , with no expansion option . apple sells a " camera connection kit " with an sd card reader , but it can only be used to transfer photos and videos . the audio playback of the fourth - generation ipad has a frequency response of 20 hz to 20 , 000 hz . without third - party software it can play the following audio formats : he - aac , aac , protected aac , mp3 , mp3 vbr , audible formats ( 2 , 3 , 4 , aea , aax , and aax + ) , alac , aiff , and wav . this ipad uses an internal rechargeable lithium - ion polymer ( lipo ) battery that can hold a charge of 11 , 560 mah . the batteries are made in taiwan by simplo technology ( 60 % ) and dynapack international technology ( 40 % ) . the ipad is designed to be charged with a relatively high current of 2 amps using the included 12 w usb power adapter and lightning connector . while it can be charged by an older usb port from a computer , these are limited to 500 ( 0 . 5 amps ) . as a result , if the ipad is in use while powered by a computer , it may charge very slowly , or not at all . high - power usb ports found in newer computers and accessories provide full charging capabilities . apple claims that the battery can provide up to 10 hours of video , audio playback , or web surfing on wi - fi , 9 hours of web surfing over a cellular connection , or one month on standby . like any rechargeable battery , the ipad 's battery loses capacity over time . however , the ipad 's battery is not user - replaceable . in a program similar to ipod and iphone battery - replacement programs , apple promised to replace an ipad that does not hold an electrical charge with a refurbished unit for a fee . during the battery replacement process , user data is not preserved / transferred , and repaired or refurbished units come with a new case . the warranty on the refurbished unit may vary between jurisdictions . accessories the smart cover , introduced with the ipad 2 , is a screen protector that magnetically attaches to the face of the ipad . the cover has three folds which allow it to convert into a stand , which is also held together by magnets . the smart cover can also assume other positions by folding it . smart covers have a microfiber bottom that cleans the front of the ipad , and wakes up the unit when the cover is removed . it comes in five colors of both polyurethane and the more expensive leather . apple offers several other accessories , most of which are adapters for the proprietary lightning connector , the only port besides the headphone jack . a dock holds the ipad at an angle , and has a dock connector and audio line - out port . the ipad can use bluetooth keyboards that also work with macs and pcs . the ipad can be charged by a standalone power adapter ( " wall charger " ) compatible with ipods and iphones , and a 12 watt charger is included . reception the fourth - generation ipad received primarily favorable reviews from critics and commentators . the review by gareth beavis of techradar praised the device for its high resolution retina display , which techradar wrote is " ... one of the most impressive we 've seen on a tablet to date . " however , the reviewer also wrote that the screen " lacks the ' punch ' seen in super amoled screens seen on devices like the samsung galaxy note 2 . " the review also praised the interface of the ipad for its simple design and easy to use layout . additionally , other aspects , such as the design of the ipad and updated soc were noted and praised in the review . critically , beavis noted that the ipad can still moderately heat up under medium usage , however not to the extent seen in the third - generation ipad . tim stevens of engadget praised the retina display and labelled it as the best screen available on tablets . benchmarks and tests conducted by engadget resulted in stevens concluding that the fourth - generation ipad is the fastest apple mobile device available , surpassing a " record " that the iphone 5 held for a brief period . benchmark tests conducted by concluded that the soc of the fourth - generation ipad is able to perform cpu - reliant tasks more than twice as fast as that of the third - generation ipad . a series of benchmark tests conducted on the graphics performance of the fourth - generation ipad by anandtech resulted in the device achieving the highest score compared to other consumer mobile devices , including the samsung galaxy s iii , nexus 10 and third - generation ipad . the performance increase of the fourth - generation ipad varies between tests , however an increase is nonetheless evident . furthermore , battery longevity tests conducted by the same organization suggests that the battery of the fourth - generation ipad is able to last longer than its predecessor . however , the battery of the updated ipad 2 is able to outlast the fourth - generation ipad . commercial reception in the first weekend of sales of the ipad mini and fourth - generation ipad , apple reported that it sold an aggregated number of 3 million units . techradar noted that the first weekend sales figures for the fourth - generation ipad are lower than corresponding figures for the third - generation ipad , which sold 3 million units in its first weekend . subsequent reports and analysis such as that from david hsieh , a technology analyst , suggest that the ipad mini is selling better than the fourth - generation ipad . despite the noted slump in sales , apple 's stock price , in direct response to the figures released , rose by 1 . 4 % to $ 584 . 62 on november 5 . criticism in a review conducted by , the fourth - generation ipad scored 2 out of 10 ( 10 being the easiest to repair ) due to the use of adhesive to attach components . however , reviewers noted that several components such as the screen and battery could be removed easily for replacement .