In fact today we learned that we may have to wait quite a while until we see the “real” iPad 3 next year. According to DigiTimes, a source that’s not always reliable when it comes to such rumors, Apple’s iPad 3 will enter mass production in the near future and it will be launched in March 2012, or around that time.
But the real real iPad 3 will actually hit stores at some point in the third quarter of the year “at the earliest,” according to sources familiar with such matters. In other words it would seem that Apple will launch a “fake” iPad 3, or upgraded iPad 2 and an iPad 3 model next year.
The upgraded iPad 2 is said to feature a thinner design and longer battery life, but that’s about all that we have for you in terms of rumored specs and features. There’s no mention of that Retina Display the iPad 2 Pro/HD was said to feature.
The publication also reports that Apple is in no rush of launching an iPad 3 as the iPad 2 is still the “mot popular tablet PC product in the IT market.”
Is this an iPhone 4S / iPhone 5 kind of situation? Yes and no. Earlier this year we kept reading reports that Apple will launch a mild iPad 2 refresh, an iPad 2 Pro/HD that will feature a better display. That hasn’t happened yet and maybe Apple will launch the product next March and postpone the iPad 3 major upgrade for Q3 2012 in order to cash in on the holiday shopping season.
At the same time, we can’t but wonder whether Apple will want to overlap announcement iPad 3 and iPhone 5/6 announcements and release dates. After all, it certainly doesn’t want to compete against itself and force some buyers to choose either the tablet or the smartphone, which would be launched just around the same time.
