Apple’s next tablet will have a higher-resolution screen.
While that may not shock anyone, it is the beginning of what is sure to be a long ride for the iPad 3 rumor train.
The Economic Daily, a trade publication in Taiwan, cited unnamed Apple sources familiar with the company’s plans, saying the next iteration of the wildly successful iPad will have a significantly improved screen resolution.
Specifically, the “image resolution [will be] 5-6 times higher than iPad 2,” Economic Daily reported.
The report also claimed the iPad 3 would be released in the fourth quarter of this year. That would be in contrast with the last two iPads, which came out in the first half of 2009 and 2010.
Releasing a new iPad in the fourth quarter would be a huge opportunity for Apple to rake in holiday sales. Indeed, many people who purchased an iPad for Christmas last year no doubt felt shunned when just a couple months later the iPad 2 came out, making their gift seem irrelevant.
But pushing out a refreshed version of the iPad so soon after the iPad 2 was released would also seem unfair, and certainly wouldn’t do much to lessen the stereotype of Apple pumping out new products on such a fast cycle that it’s almost laughable.
Also expected to come out this year is a new version of the iPhone, with differing reports suggesting it will be an ‘iPhone 4G’ or ‘iPhone 4S,’ or the iPhone 5. Because it’s Apple, of course, details are slim and unlikely to be made official until the respective product launch is imminent.
