The first iPad was announced in January 2010 and then started shipping 5 months later in April. The second iPad was announced in March 2011 and shipped the very same month. Assuming Apple follows this 1 year cadence, we’re likely to see the third iPad be announced during Q2 of 2012. We’re expecting it to have a brand spanking new quad core processor that’ll likely be called the A6, and more importantly it’ll also sport a new display with four times the number of pixels. Similar to how Apple doubled the vertical and horizontal resolution of the iPhone 3GS when they went to the iPhone 4, it’s widely accepted that the same will happen with the third generation iPad. In other words, expect the iPad 3 to have the same 9.7 inch screen, but with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. Such a pixel density isn’t that easy to produce en masse according to an anonymous source who spoke to C|Net, their exact words are:
“They have production plans for 2,048×1,536 displays. Starting in November. But those are only plans at this point. It’s not a question of making just one. That, of course, can be done. The challenge is making lots of them. This is a quantum leap in pixel density. This hasn’t been done before.”
Apple’s backup plan, according to the source, is to release the iPad 3 with a screen resolution of 1600 x 1200 pixels. We did that math, and it actually makes a lot of sense. Instead of doubling the number of vertical and horizontal pixels, this backup solution is simply a 156.25% increase on both axes, which is still pretty significant. That being said, Samsung is in Japan right now showing off a 10.1 inch LCD panel that pushes 2560 x 1600 pixels, though to achieve that they had to resort to using PenTile technology.
Either way, we’re bound to see some exciting stuff in 2012. First in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, then in February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, then at CeBIT in March in Hanover, and finally, hopefully, an Apple event in April at their Cupertino headquarters.