Although iPads have supported 802.11 a/b/g/n protocols since the very first model that was only in the 2.4GHz band. It wasn't until the 2013 iPad Air that dual channel (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) and MIMO (multiple-input and multiple output) capability was added. That required a hardware change to implement.
If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?
