Yes, that's right. Just like they did with the iPhone 5, everybody on the Internet knows everything about the iPad 3. Let us drink in their collective wisdom:
First, there is
this series of notes from an iLounge source, who says that the iPad 3 will be a millimeter thicker, have improved cameras and will be more like an "iPad 2 Pro," rather than a totally redesigned machine.
Second,
Taiwanese rumor factory Digitimes hears from its "sources in Apple's supply chain" that the company just might use a new type of display panel (IGZO, or indium gallium zinc oxide (his name is my name too)) in order to achieve a
thinner, less power-hungry tablet.
To sum up, the iPad 3 will either be thinner or thicker than the iPad 2, unless it is simultaneously both, in which case I will simply defenestrate myself.
Defenestrate myself, I say.
Other iPad 3 specs stories: Mac Rumors found
a sweet pic on a Korean message board of what might be the iPad 3 display (disembodied iPad display screens!);
Macotakara has what it claims are the Mic Flex Cable Ribbon and the Power On/Off Flex Cable for the iPad 3 (disemboweled iPad3!); and, in what must be the least exciting iPad 3 story of all time, 9to5Mac has -- wait for it --
what just might be the home buttons on the next iPad. Yes, the home buttons.
The home buttons.
The home buttons.
No, the home buttons don't tell us much, but to wrap-up the iPad 3 design consensus: It is going to have a Retina Display screen, upping the resolution from 1024 x 768 to 2048 x 1536, but there will probably not be any major design changes to the body. Rumors that the iPad 3 will have a slightly thicker frame to support the Retina Display have been persistent but are, so far, thinly sourced and far from conclusive.
Anyway, now that we've covered purported photos of the iPad 3 home buttons (sigh), let's move on to something else everyone knows about: the iPad 3's release date. Speculation machine, take us to the next slide!
First Posted: 01/08/12 10:21 PM ET Updated: 01/08/12 10:21 PM ET