SpecEagle review · Apple

Apple iPad (3rd gen, Retina 2012) review: 2012 first Retina iPad.

Item: Apple iPad (3rd gen, Retina 2012)
Rating: 82
Author: SpecEagle Editorial

SpecEagle Editorial·Mar 2012·$499

Overall

82/100

Class rank

#1 of 4

Tier

Vintage

Buy?

At the right price

The verdict, up front

iPad (3rd gen, Retina).

Apple's 2012 iPad 3 brought first Retina to iPad — 1536 x 2048 + first LTE option, replaced 6 months later by iPad 4.

01Display

88/100

At 88/100 this is one of the strongest display showings among vintage phones of 2012 — 7 points above the cohort average.

TypeRetina IPS

Size9.7"

Resolution1536 x 2048

02Performance

76/100

76/100 — right at the average for vintage phones of 2012.

ChipsetApple A5X

CPU1 GHz dual Cortex-A9

GPUQuad-core PowerVR SGX543MP4

RAM1 GB

03Camera

70/100

70/100 puts it above the 68-point average for vintage phones of 2012.

Main5.0 MP AF

FrontVGA

04Battery

84/100

84/100 puts it above the 81-point average for vintage phones of 2012.

Capacity11,560 mAh

Web10 h

05Software

86/100

86/100 — right at the average for vintage phones of 2012.

What works

First Retina iPad (1536 x 2048).
1 GB RAM bump.
First LTE iPad option.
5 MP rear cam.

What doesn't

Heat issues from A5X.
652 g heavier than iPad 2.
Replaced 6 months later by iPad 4.
Final iOS 9.3.6.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 4-phone cohort of vintage devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .