How does the performance of the iPad 2 compare to the original iPad? How much faster is the iPad 2?

Please note that the original iPad and the iPad 2 both have been discontinued. However, this Q&A is up-to-date and is quite useful for anyone considering either model on the used market.

The iPad 2 models -- the iPad 2 (Wi-Fi), iPad 2 (Wi-Fi/GSM/A-GPS), and iPad 2 (Wi-Fi/CDMA/A-GPS) -- are powered by a dual core 1 GHz Apple A5 processor compared to a single core 1 GHz Apple A4 processor for the original iPad line. In addition, the iPad 2 has a PowerVR SGX543MP2 graphics processor that Apple claims is up to nine times faster than the graphics processor in the original.

With a dual core processor and a faster graphics processor as well, it is a safe bet that the iPad 2 is significantly faster than the original iPad. How much faster, however, can only be determined with benchmarks real-world testing.

Performance Overview

For a solid general overview of the performance differences between the iPad 2 and the original iPad, Everyi.com's own Ultimate iComparison makes it quick to compare side-by-side Geekbench benchmark averages for each device as well as the original iPad and all iPhone and iPod touch models.

The iPad 2 models return an average Geekbench score of 721. This compares to 454 for the original iPad.

Consequently, overall performance of the iPad 2 is roughly 59% faster than the original iPad.

Third-Party Benchmark Tests

Geekbench is great for an overall estimate of the theoretical maximum performance difference between devices, but other tests can be useful, too.

After also running their own benchmark tests, Engadget remarked:

The CPU and graphics performance of this tablet felt extremely impressive to us -- the iPad 2 performed excellently no matter what we threw at it, games and graphically taxing apps seemed to have higher frame rates, and even when dealing with CPU intensive programs like GarageBand, it rarely (if ever) seemed to be struggling.

SunSpider Javascript tests -- which measure web browsing performance -- also demonstrate a major speed boost. MacWorld hit the iPad 2 with this benchmark and reported:

Part of the speed boost, especially when I started to test performance in Safari, probably needs to be credited to iOS 4.3, which ships with the iPad 2 and includes a dramatic improvement to Safari's JavaScript engine. When I installed the golden master version of iOS 4.3 on an original iPad, performance improved as well. But even when both devices were running iOS 4.3, the iPad 2 was 1.6 times as fast as the original in running the SunSpider JavaScript test, and 1.9 times as fast as an iPhone 4 running the iOS 4.3 golden master.

In short, the iPad 2 is the fastest iOS device ever made, by a long shot. And it's not just an academic distinction: you can sense the speed when you use it, because everything's faster and smoother than it was on the original iPad.

Gaming benchmarks are even more impressive. Using the GLBenchmark 2.0, AnandTech found the iPad 2 to be at least twice as fast as the original iPad in some tests and even faster in others:

While we weren't able to reach the 9x figure claimed by Apple (I'm not sure that you'll ever see 9x running real game code), a range of 3 - 7x in GLBenchmark 2.0 is more reasonable. In practice I'd expect something less than 5x but that's nothing to complain about.

Real-World Performance

Although benchmarks and reviewer commentary are a good way to get an idea of relative performance, a side-by-side video of the two devices may be even better.

This video, from YouTube user DetroitBorg, demonstrates the relative performance difference of the original iPad and the iPad 2 in a variety of applications:

Performance Summary

Ultimately, the iPad 2 is significantly faster than the original iPad in benchmark tests and noticeably faster in many day-to-day tasks as well, particularly in graphics-heavy tasks like gaming.