Despite apparently using the same single core, Cortex A8 generation of its ARM processor core, the same Power VR SGX 535 graphics core, and the same amount of system RAM, the iPad is around twice as fast as the iPhone 3GS in running native Cocoa Touch apps.
Benchmarks rate Apple's iPad 2x as fast at apps as iPhone 3GS
Benchmarks rate Apple's iPad 2x as fast at apps as iPhone 3GS