Battery deal points to thinner, lighter iPad 3
Keeping ahead of the competition
Apple's upcoming iPad 3 - now expected in February 2012, or thereabouts - may be rather thinner than the current model.
Apple has allegedly chosen battery units for the iPad 3 that are thinner, lighter and last longer than the ones in the iPad 2.
Like the latter, the new batteries are made by Taiwan's Simplo and Dynapack, local site the Taiwan Economic News reports, but are 20-30 per cent more expensive. Good news for the suppliers, the site says.
So a pricier iPad 3 then? Almost certainly, if reports are correct that yields of the 2048 x 1536 display the tablet is said to sport are low. Low yield equals high price.
But will the iPad 3 be thinner than the 8.8mm iPad 2? Quite likely, we'd say, though don't discount the possibility that the display unit is thicker than the current one, mandating a thinner battery if Apple is not to release an iPad 3 that's chubbier than the iPad 2. ®
COMMENTS
it's just a consumer electronics product
New version of a product, due in a number of mnonths, likely to be better than its predecessor.
You could say that about pretty much any consumer electronics product, so why oh why do people get so gussied up when it's an iThing?
Lighter: go ahead, thinner: meh
At least that's my opinion of what is needed. If you make them any thinner, they'll become transparent.
Completely agree
What's with the anorexia? Just as there is a point along the thin-ness scale (apparently missed by the fashion industry) where a woman stops being sexy and starts being skeletal, there's a point beyond which there's no practical or aesthetic reason to make a phone or tablet thinner. Thinner + sharp edges + glossy finishes = more difficult to hold, more of a pain to grip, easier to slip, and more fragile.
In fact I would rather phones stayed the same size as say an iPhone 3 or Nexus, and any extra thinness squeezed out of other components be used to squeeze in a bigger battery.
On the subject of battery technology - continuous extrusion
Interesting piece on Radio 4 recently about Leeds Uni having developed continuous extrusion lithium polymer gel batteries that are safer than typical lithium batteries using liquid electrolytes, and extrusion means a continuous manufacturing process and just chop to length. This could slash manufacturing costs.
I don't suppose for a minute that there's a UK based manufacturer who's licensed this....... is there? Be nice if there was.
Don't be an idiot
The iPad 3 is a forthcoming product which is expected to have new features. Do you perhaps expect a dedicated technology news site to not post news about such things?
