Asian canaries revive 'one year, two iPads' launch rumour
iPad 3 in March, iPad 4 in October. Apparently
The notion that Apple will release not one but two new iPads this year is back. If you're hoping one will be a 7in tablet, you may be disappointed: both models are 9.7-inchers, moles maintain.
Assuming they actually know, of course…
Either way, they're saying the first of the pair will be the eagerly awaited iPad with a 2048 x 1536 display - double the number of pixels in each axis over the current iPad 2.
It's been said before, but the moles insist the current model will continue, but priced $100 cheaper than it is at the moment, DigiTimes reports.
Come Q4, and Apple will ship an 'iPad 4' for which the Taiwanese whispers can say nothing other than it will sport "much upgraded hardware specifications and integrated applications" to take on not only this year's crop of Android tablets but also new Windows 8 models too.
Hmmm. Heard it before. This time last year there were rumours that the iPad 3 would be released in the autumn of 2011, the better to help Apple combat Android tablets. As we know, it wasn't released and, by all accounts, won't be out until March.
We can see the inevitable iPad 4 likewise slipping to March 2013. It's hard to see even Windows 8 seriously slowing the iPad 3's momentum, especially when it will have been on sale for seven months by the time the moles' claimed iPad 4 release data, October, comes around. ®
COMMENTS
I think you're right and this is typical Microsoft FUD to convince buyers not to jump to the first tablet and wait, giving Microsoft time to get their own tablets into the market.
Wait what? That's not what you meant? What would Apple have to gain in spreading rumours about a better iPad coming out later in the year?
"ipad 4" really means "iOS 6"
They'll release a new iPad in the spring and a new iOS version in the autumn. So yes, it gets an upgrade twice a year - once with new hardware, and once with new features curtesy of the software update. iOS 6 will certainly make it even more competitive with windows 8 tablets, so that makes sense too.
In that sense the "iPad 3" rumour was kind of right just a little bit too - the iPad 2 did get upgraded, new features, speed improvements, etc.
@AndrewG Integrated applications just means the built-in apps. Calendar, camera,mail, browser, photos, all those apps that come pre-installed. The iPad will indeed get an update with new versions of these apps, most likely in the autumn - and as I said before, it'll be called iOS6, not iPad4.
What does integrated applications actually mean?
I thought the beauty of the iPad was it is what you make of it. This sounds like a rumour started by a windows integrator who installs gig after gig of crapware on new PC's.
