Apple's next iPad will feature a higher resolution display and perhaps a slimmer body, according to the latest rumors.
Apple's next iPad could feature a
high-resolution screen along the lines of the company's "Retina Display," as
well as a slimmer body.
That rumor derives from two separate
sources. On July 11, Taiwanese publication
DigiTimes
paraphrased unnamed "industry sources" as claiming that Apple will launch the
next iPad either at the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth
quarter. The tablet "may be named iPad 2 plus and will be thinner than its
predecessors yet with upgraded display."
A slimmer body could present a
substantial engineering challenge, considering that the iPad 2 already boasts a
0.34-inch thickness and (based on third-party teardowns) tightly-packed
internals.
The second report came from the tech
blog
This Is My Next,
which also claimed Apple will launch an iPad later this year with a higher resolution
display.
"As hard as it might be to believe,
the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536) and
will be dubbed the -iPad HD,'" read the July 7 report, authored by Joshua
Topolsky. "The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a -pro'
device aimed at a higher end market ... and will be introduced alongside
something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture."
He suggested that the tablet will be
marketed as part of the iPad 2 line, not as a successor.
With the iPad 2 a solid marketplace
success, the rumor mill has recently refocused its attentions on a possible
sequel. As with seemingly every other Apple product, the rumors start as a
cluster of vague (and often contradictory) predictions by Asian publications,
often quoting unnamed sources. Then stateside publications get into the game,
citing their own behind-the-scenes moles. While some of the scuttlebutt indeed
proves accurate, much of it ends up being little more than the purest
conjecture. Nevertheless, these stories attract substantial buzz and Internet
traffic, ensuring their continued publication (not to mention millions of
dollars in free publicity for Apple).
In this case, though, there is some
evidence suggesting that Apple's next iPad could feature a higher resolution
display. In June, the blog TechUnwrapped posted screenshots of some extra-large
images in iOS 5, the upcoming operating system for Apple mobile devices,
including the iPad.
"As I was going through the iOS SDK,
I came across some images in the new Twitter .framework. The resolution appears
to be 1,536 x 2,048,"
a tipster wrote to the blog, while also sending the aforementioned screenshots to back
up the claims. With the resolution of the iPad 2 now standing at 1024 x 768,
that new resolution would represent a substantial upgrade-one perhaps akin to
the iPhone 4's high-resolution "Retina Display."
Apple plans to release iOS 5 sometime
this fall, which just about coincides with the rumored launch of this next
iPad. On June 14,
Reuters
paraphrased Taiwan's Economic Daily as saying the iPad 3 would launch in the
fourth quarter with an "image resolution 5-6 times higher than the iPad
2."
Whether these iPad rumors pan out
remains to be seen. However, an iPad release later in 2011 would disrupt
Apple's nascent tablet release schedule, which seems to center on a new launch
roughly every year.
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