1. An apparatus for reducing power consumption in an iterative decoder, comprising: a memory device for storing, for each iteration of the iterative decoder prior to a maximum number of iterations, a decoded codeword for a current iteration; and an iteration termination device for comparing the decoded codeword for the current iteration to a previously stored decoded codeword for the previous iteration, incrementing a confidence value when the decoded codeword for the current iteration matches the previously stored decoded codeword for the previous iteration, and terminating further iterations of the iterative decoder when the confidence value exceeds a pre-specified threshold value.