LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – The forthcoming iPad 3 will be thinner than the iPad 2, Cult of Mac has exclusively learned at the Consumer Electronics Show from a well-placed source.
A major accessory manufacturer already working on iPad 3 cases has told Cult of Mac the upcoming device is measurably more svelte than the iPad 2, despite the fact that the iPad 2 is already Apple’s thinnest profile iOS device.
The iPad 3 is widely anticipated to be the first iPad with a Retina Display, doubling the resolution of the current generation iPad and affording a picture quality in which pixels are indiscernible to the human eye.
However, while Apple’s predilection for increasingly thinner devices with every generation is well known, the most recent report coming from CES has the iPad 3’s casing pegged as marginally thicker than the iPad 2’s due to the increased demands of the Retina Display, which requires thicker illumination.
Our report contradicts that most recent report. However, it does confirm a report from December that says Apple could keep the iPad as thick or thin as the current generation while maintaining Retina Displays by using thinner IGZO displays.
If Apple could have an iPad 3 that was thinner than the iPad 2, they would. Since the iPhone 3G, Apple’s devices have universally tended to either decrease in thickness every generation, or stay the same. A thicker iPad 3 would fly in the face of a four year trend, and be very atypical for Apple.
It’s worth nothing that the Retina Display iPhone 4 was substantially thinner than the iPhone 3GS, despite a sizable upgrade in resolution. If the iPad 3 is not thinner than the iPad 2, the company will be bucking an almost half-decade long trend.
