Today at Apple's iPad Mini event the company announced a variety of new hardware, including a refreshed mainline iPad. Still known as just "iPad" (Apple dropped specific iPad naming with the 3rd generation iPad released in March), the new device features Apple's new A6X chip. This new hardware replaces the A5X chip found in the third generation iPad with Apple promising performance that is "twice as fast."

The new iPad also features dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 802.11n Wi-Fi which should increase Wi-Fi speeds in real-world settings. iPad owners that spring for cellular access will now be able to connect to LTE networks. It also drops Apple's old 30-pin connector in favor of the company's smaller new Lightning connector.

Beyond these internal upgrades, the iPad remains the same. It's features the same Retina Display screen resolution as well as the same size and weight. The refresh generally seems designed to keep pace with the ever-growing graphics requirements of high-end games and apps and to keep the iPad up-to-date with Apple's previous iPhone 5 improvements.

The new 4th generation iPad starts at $499.

Justin is Editor of IGN Wireless. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN.

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