iPad 2 has 'half the power of consoles' -

id's master of all things technology has sought to beat down misconceptions that iPad 2 is equal to current-gen HD games consoles in performance, saying it has "about half the performance power". He starts off saying how impressively powerful Apple's mobile device have gotten recently, and how that helps developers spend less time on optimisation. "We have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to mobile development," he said (thanks Kotaku). "We have more power than you can afford to take advantage of," he added, explaining however that developers are much more likely to earn their money pouring big budgets into console releases rather than in creating huge iOS games. But while considerably powerful, devices like iPad 2 still aren't quite up there with dedicated games machines yet. "There's been incorrect hyperbole about the power of these devices, where people are saying that they have console-level performance. The iPad 2 has about half the performance power, and that's a ballpark estimate," said Carmack. On a more positive note, he added: "But that does mean that mobile devices coming out, certainly next year, will be flat out more powerful, and they'll probably be powerful enough where you don't even need the hyper-optimizing, that you could do a fairly easy port-over of your technology and assets."iPad 3 has recently been rumoured to feature twice the screen resolution of the iPad 2, which is 2048x1536, which is - in case you're unsure - insanely high for a screen of that size if true. Mike Jackson