Rumour: iPad 2 equipped with two GPUs

The rumours concerning the iPad 2 are coming in thick and fast today, with another claim we can all file in the ‘possible, but not likely’ filing cabinet and then conveniently forget all about it when the actual device surfaces.

This latest rumour centres more on the internal workings of the next iteration of the tablet device, with an unnamed source (him again!) telling Apple Insider that the new machine will be packing not one, but two SGX543 graphics processors.

In terms of graphical grunt, the extra chips equate to around three to four times more power in the fictional device’s favour, meaning higher resolution surfing and smoother 3D gaming.

It’s quite a step up from the original iPad, which shipped with one SGX535 chip and is real.

In terms of the CPU, it’s strongly suspected that Apple will upgrade from the A4 (based on the ARM A8 processor) to a Cortex A9 design. This was most recently seen powering the Nvidia Tegra 2-based dual-core Android tablets revealed at CES earlier in the month.

This rumour is a lot more believable (hence no pithy comments from me), as it would be surprising if Apple kept to single-core processors when everyone around them was upgrading.

However, we’ll no doubt find out if this, or indeed any, of the rumours are actually true in the next month or so.