Engadget’s now reporting that “engineering issues” have led Apple to make last-minute design changes to the iPad 2 that will cause it to launch without a Retina Diplay. What a load of total crap.
Editor Joshua Topolsky defensively writes:
It’s worth noting once again that these sources have been dead right on specific Apple plans and specifications for unannounced products in the past, and we have no reason to believe these changes are due to anything more than legitimate engineering decisions made close to launch.
The Retina Display was never coming to the iPad 2. It wasn’t feasible when Engadget first wrote about it, and it’s not feasible now: the technology simply hasn’t reached the economy-of-scale necessary to cram Retina Display technology into a $499 tablet. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber agrees. It’s always been bunk, and the soonest anyone should expect a Retina Display in the iPad is in 2012.
Otherwise, Engadget’s revised report is a compendium of the agreed-upon iPad 2 consensus: A5 CPU, more RAM, thinner design, new speaker, FaceTime-capable. If there’s any other surprises in the iPad 2, March 2nd will tell all, but they’ll likely be more a matter of software than hardware.