Does my new iPad 3 have an audio input …?

Question

I bought a Griffin guitar cable when I picked up my iPad 3. It plugs into the headphone socket which I assume is supposed to act as an audio-in jack.

It didn't seem to work and after testing and much checking online, including the tech specs at apple.com, I was left with the impression that the iPad doesn't have a combined input & headphone output on the headphone jack (like say the 13" MBP). I took the cable back to the Apple store and the Genius guy patronised me at length and insisted that either the cable was faulty or my iPad was. I will be taking it to see them in a few days so see if there is something wrong with my iPad, but deep down, I am convinced I am right. I would appreciate someone settling this for me one way or the other. Do I need an audio interface that works via the dock or should this simple cable work with my headphone jack doubling up as a line in?

Thanks for reading.

Answer 1

The new iPad, like all iPads, have a combined audio input/output jack, like the iPhone and newer MacBooks. The Genius was correct: Griffin cable should have worked. If it didn't, either the cable or the iPad was faulty.

One other possibility is that it was the software. This isn't very likely, but it's possible that the software you were using had some sort of compatibility issue with the new iPad.