DigiTimes is a throw-stuff-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks kind of news org, so along with predicting that Apple will radically overhaul their iMac, iPhone, MacBook Air and iPad lineup in 2012 comes a separate report all about the iPad 3.
In the details, though, the iPad 3 report is much more interesting, because it predicts Apple will miss a March/April release window for the iPad 3 and instead launch in late summer.
According to the report, Apple is currently playing with two iPad 3 prototypes: the J1 and J2. The J1 would be similar to the iPad 2, but reportedly thinner, with a 2048 x 1536 Retina Display, a quad-core, quad-graphics A6 chip and two vertical LED backlights to help illuminate the display. The J2 is an amped up version of the J1. Apple hasn’t decided which one they’ll be launching yet.
When that launch does happen, though, expect there to be an iPhone 4S style wait between the iPad 2 and 3. In fact, mass production is only set to begin in March 2012, which will push a launch of the upgraded device into late summer.
To be honest, that makes some sense. March is close enough to Christmas that it isn’t an optimal period for Apple to launch iPads in. With iPhone launches now shifted to autumn, the summer months are wide open.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
26 responses to “iPad 3 Won’t Arrive Until Late Summer 2012 [Report]”
I hope it is round and comes in different colors like tangerine and blueberry. Call it the iPad G3!
The G3 then now would be retro. To do it then was very now-tro, if you will.
So I should start saving now?
And this I believe is a logical move, I expect iPad 3 in May/June with A6 chip, 1GB RAM, 12h battery and better resolution (not necessarily retina display but higher pixel density is welcome). Of course losing some weight would be great as always (1 or 1.1 pound would be awesome)
i get a little annoyed when you guys put [report] beside something that even you admit is speculation, at best.
We all know stuff like this is in the pipeline. I’d rather see speculation on 5-7 year-out products. An iPad that doubles as a hovering skateboard ala Back To The Future, or wall-screens that are retina displays or my favorite, corneal and ear implants with iCloud/Siri integration!
C’mon Leander, get with the future program!
“Cult of Cult of Mac”
isn’t is crazy how they keep making these things thinner, and making the battery last longer? how thin can they make these things before they become inherently flexible? can’t wait until we have an iPaper with a week long wifi use battery…
what you think, buy now ipad2 or wait 6 or 9 months…or more!
wait
same problem here :) but I will wait.
No different to anything IT related. You have to buy sometime otherwise you will be forever waiting. Face it, the next model is under development when the new model is released anyway.
Good info. Guess I will have to wait.
More guesstimates from less than reliable sources on products they have no control over.
I can see them moving the iPad to more like a April/May schedule now that the iPhone is likely to stay in the fall.
however the whole 2 models, which Digitimes was originally saying was an ipad2.5 and an iPad 3 six months later, is just a rehash of what they said for this year which was false.
and I really don’t believe that they are going to go 300+dpi on the iPad. it’s not as needed as the iPhone where a much smaller screen needs way way sharper images to be crisp. Anything more than perhaps 1200p is just pointless over kill. And that’s just not Apple’s style