I was thinking you were joking and then I realized you were serious. Were you? Did you see how you used the same phrase to mean two different things?

  ... they clearly stated 'quad-core graphics'
  ... as opposed to the A5's *'dual-core graphics'*

All of Apple's messaging around the iPad and 4S are 'dual core' means two CPUs. And with the 'New iPad' (nobody calls it an iPad 3 I notice) they said the A5X with 'quad core graphics'. They are being imprecise in their messaging and since it is uncommon for them to be imprecise it seems to reflect they are perhaps a bit touchy about the Tegra-3's claim of being quad-core.

So it was painfully easy for a non-technical person to come away from both the announcement, and the 'features' on the web site, thinking that there are four CPU cores in the new iPad. We can debate if that was an honest mistake or a calculated risk, I expect it will turn out badly for Apple either way.

[1] "The dual-core A5 chip delivers even more power. ..." https://www.apple.com/iphone/features/

[2] "The A5X chip with quad-core graphics drives four times the pixels of iPad 2" https://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

Agreed. Apple generally hides tech specs, so when they do talk techie it's for a very specific reason.

I'm not sure where I read the specs yesterday - the ipad isn't of a lot of interest to me, so I wasn't doing something like following a live blog as suggested elsewhere.

As I was just browsing the print WSJ a bit ago I did find an excellent example of why people like me might be confused. Note in the picture the chart the WSJ published of the specs shows: Processor - Quad Core (new ipad) - Dual Core (ipad 2)

pic: http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg69/scaled.php?server=69&...

You're right its a non-issue. Apple clearly states they have a quad core gpu. It's clear on their site and the tech specs state it has a dual core cpu and quad core gpu. Anything to get some traffic I guess.