Evidence within the iOS 5 Beta suggests that Apple’s planning a future iPad with a Retina Display, but before we all get excited and take this as confirmation that the iPad 3 will pack a 2048 x 1536 display, let’s remember that we’ve heard all of this before.
Techunwrapped points out that inside the iOS 5 SDK, some of the iPad specific images for the new Twitter framework come in both 1024 x 768 resolutions and 2048 x 1536 resolutions. The same is true of Apple’s new Newsstand app.
The extrapolation here is that Apple will double the resolution of the iPad 3, as they did with the iPhone 4 when it went Retina. Not so fast, though: the assets for the iPad 2 also contained Retina Display graphics before release, but Apple still didn’t deliver a Retina Display this generation.
Take these assets for what they are: not proof that the iPad 3 will have a Retina Display, but a statement of intent from Apple that if it is possible to put 9.7 inch Retina Displays in the next iPad while maintaining the same price, they’ll do so. The very earliest that’ll happen is the iPad 3.
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.
