Apple iPad 3 in Q3 :Review

Apple is reportedly planning to introduce two new iPads next year, a revamped iPad 2 and a completely new iPad 3 sometime in Q3.

According to Digitimes, the next generation iPad 2, let’s call it iPad 2.5, will enter production soon. It is expected to launch in March 2012 and it will be an evolution of the existing iPad 2, which itself is an evolution of the original iPad. It will be thinner than the original and it should deliver better battery life.

The rumoured iPad 3, let’s call it Earl, is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2012. Earl will be an entirely new design, but details on the new tablet are rather scarce, so we expect a flood of rumours over the next few months. 

There is much speculation about Apple’s iPad strategy. Some punters expect Cupertino to roll out a cheaper and smaller device, that would be better positioned to take on Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Others expect a quad-core beast with a Retina display and dismiss talk of a smaller, cheaper model.

Despite reporting that the next iPad would be unveiled in Q1 2012, Taiwanese publication DigiTimes has also disappointingly claimed that this device will be nothing more than an updated iPad 2, with the next generation of the world’s best-selling tablet not set to appear until Q3 2012.

Traditionally, this period has always fallen to the release of the latest iPhone. However, the magazine goes further to claim that 2012 will bring about a complete overhaul of the Apple line-up, adding to the theory of an alternate release schedule.

Should the publication be believed, we can expect to see an updated iPad 2 released to US consumers sometime in March, providing longer battery life and an even thinner and lighter design. This practice has not been against Apple’s policy of getting the most from each generation and may therefore create a long wait for the arrival of the iPad 3.

Whilst cynicism is easy in this situation, DigiTimes have often been privy to news straight off the production line and successfully predicted that there would be no iPhone 5 release in 2011.