Rumors about the iPad 3 are coming out of our ears. Leaked parts and pictures are all over the Web. But, what does it all mean? No need to search from article to article trying to get the scoop. Today I'm going to break it all down.
Thicker Body
First, we're expecting the iPad 3 to be announced on March 7. Leading up to that date we are getting lots of rumors, the latest coming from
MIC Gadget, who are reporting that the size of the iPad 3 will be a little thicker. How do they know anything about it? They apparently got a hold of an iPad 3 shell, and are showing off lots of pics and comparisons with the iPad 2. The iPad 3 shell appears to be thicker by a few millimeters. Why would the iPad 3 be thicker? I thought the objective was for them to keep getting thinner, slimmer and lighter? Well, there are a couple of reasons why a thicker iPad might be the way of the future.
Reports are pointing to a higher resolution screen, and if that's true, the shell might need to be thicker in order to fit the display. Another possibility for a thicker iPad 3 -
LTE? An LTE chipset is pretty hefty. In case you haven't heard, LTE doesn't come in small yet, and it takes a lot of battery power. Which leads me to the last reason for thickness - better battery. Whether it's to power LTE, the display, or a bigger processor, we're guessing a larger battery is quite possible.
Bigger Camera Lens
A thicker unit isn't the only thing MIC Gadget is reporting. In fact it looks like they have also discovered that the iPad 3 will sport a
better camera, at least one with a larger lens that is, will it be better, that we can't confirm.
Higher Resolution Display
The body of the iPad 3 may be a little curvier, and possibly come equipped with a better camera. But, what about the display?
Macrumors has somehow gotten their hands on what they say is an OEM LCD iPad 3 screen display. How they got it, we'll never know, but here's what they are claiming. The screen size is the same as the iPad 2, but that's where the similarities end. Macrumors put the display under a microscope, literally, and were able to determine that the display had double the amount of pixels as the iPad 2. Does this mean that the iPad 3 is retina though? Well according to Apple's specifications as to what retina is, no. In order to be retina a display has to be over 300 pixels per inch. For example, the iPhone 4 has a retina screen with a 326 PPI . The iPad 2 had a PPI of 132, and is obviously no where near retina. However, if we go on what Macrumors has reported, the iPad 3 would have a PPI of 264. So it looks like they got awfully close to retina, but aren't quite there. Don't get me wrong, the display will likely be much crisper compared to the iPad 2.
Processor
Finally let's talk about what we can expect under that sexy exterior. Lots of reports recently have been talking about an Apple A6 chip with a quad-core processor being incorporated in the iPad 3. However, WeiPhone has published images of what appear to be an iPad 3's logic board housing an Apple
A5X processor. We're thinking it will likely be a souped-up dual-core, with other minor improvements. Like a faster CPU and GPU plus better RAM. And if you think about it a quad-core processor might use too much power anyway.
