The upcoming iPad 2 has some moxy, flashing its rear to us just a few short days before its announcement. The shot seems credible enough, jiving well with a previous leak showing the side of the tablet. The most glaring addition is the camera on the back, a feature which was conspicuously absent from the original. The external speaker has also been re-thought, hugging the bottom-left corner tightly. Style-wise, the iPad 2’s back looks perfectly flat with beveled edges, versus the slight curvature and squared-off edges of the first iPad.
With so many more competitors in the tablet space than last year, a lot is hinging on the iPad 2. The status of a Retina-quality display and SD card slot is still up in the air, but looking doubtful. Apple still has a significant lead in apps, especially tablet-optimized ones, but given the momentum of Android, it won’t take long for the Market to catch up. Even if the iPad 2’s hardware is mostly just an iterative upgrade à la iPhone 3GS, the addition of a camera should be enough to keep folks happy, especially if there’s a decent iOS upgrade to go along with it.
Of course, we’re all wondering what the front looks like, but seeing as Apple’s announcement is only a few days away, it won’t take long to find out out all the details, or if this pic is legit.
[via BGR]
Update: Nevermind renders, how about some pictures of the real thing? The front has a camera too by the looks of it.
Update 2: BGR’s saying the rendering at the top is likely fan-made, and on closer reading, those “live” snaps are actually Chinese dummy units used by accessory manufacturers.
Update 3: How about some more pictures? This batch comes from China, and looks pretty consistent with everything else we’ve seen. The quality of the snaps are also the best we’ve seen yet, and provide some pretty awesome profile shots comparing it with the original iPad.
