Software May Have Caused Wi-Fi Issue on New IPad

The Wi-Fi problems facing the new iPad of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may be dealt with through a software update, according to Rapid Repair CEO Aaron Vronko. Rapid Repair is a supplier of parts for the iPod Touch, iPhone and the iPad. Vronko said that the main problem may not be the hardware of the new iPad and will likely be related to its software. It may even be related to a quirk in the hardware of the new iPad that the software needs to deal with.

Vronko indicated that there should have been a chip failure or an error in the assembly of the new iPad if the Wi-Fi problem is linked to the hardware of the tablet. But the effect of a chip failure would have far worse effects on the device.

A number of users have indicated that they were having problems in connecting to a Wi-Fi network while others have indicated that they experienced a weak Wi-Fi signal as well as slow download speeds. The Wi-Fi problems of the new iPad were initially noted following its release into the market last March 16.

The speculation of Vronko was also based on the advice from Apple following a n earlier announcement by the company that the Wi-Fi problems may be solved when the network settings of the device were reset to the factory default.

The new iPad features the same BCM4330 chip of Broadcom that is used on the iPhone 4S. The chip manages the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections of the new iPad. The BCM4330 chip features a new design that includes some power-saving features.

Since the new iPad features a bigger display and new GPU that uses up a good amount of power Apple had to deal with the per milli-watt performance of components of the device especially with the power requirements of a WI-Fi connection on mobile devices.

Even as no public acknowledgement was made by Apple on the Wi-Fi problem of the new iPad, the problem may be dealt with by modifying the power management software of the device to increase the power going into the BCM4330 chip.