The ToyBox

Ricardo Bilton & Gloria Sin

iPad 3 with hi-res display coming 'early' 2012, says WSJ

By | August 19, 2011, 12:18pm PDT

Summary: Don’t be looking for an iPad 3 this holiday season as its rumored Retina display is proving a handful for Apple’s Asian suppliers like Samsung and LG.

Looking for the next iPad this holiday season? You will have to wait until “early” 2012 as the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple’s manufacturing partners in Asia are still building the next-generation device.

According to WSJ’s source at one of Apple’s suppliers, the Cupertino company has already placed orders for about 1.5 million iPad 3s, “Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012.”

The new iPad is rumored to have a much higher-resolution display that goes beyond full HD at 2048 by 1536 — the iPad 2’s display is only 1024 by 768 — but is proving to be a tall order for Apple’s flat screen suppliers. Apple has been testing display technologies from both Samsung and LG, which are having trouble meeting Apple’s iPad 3 dimensions “since the Retina Display screens require more backlighting and are thus physically larger,” according SlashGear. Meanwhile, Chimei Innolux the LCD supplier of the iPad 2 has failed certification for repeat (iPad) business from Apple, as DigiTimes reported.

Apple certainly sounds like it is going through a lot of trouble to create a new standard in tablet display resolution, but is this something consumers really need or want, especially if a higher-res screen could increase the price tag? What would you most like to see in the iPad 3?

[Source: WSJ.com, SlashGear, DigiTimes]

Related:

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

Topics

Gloria Sin is a freelance journalist based in New York City.

Disclosure

Gloria Sin

I have no stocks or investments in any companies or interests which may lead to a conflict of interest in my coverage.

Biography

Gloria Sin

Gloria Sin is a New York-based freelance journalist who writes about the tech toys that you can't live without for ZDNet. She has little patience for poorly designed user experiences, and is not afraid of opening the guts of her own machines for repair or hacking her gadgets for new uses.

She has written for FastCompany.com, Popular Science, Olympic News Service; she currently covers the startup scene in the Tri-State area for NYConvergence.com.

Prior to ZDNet, Gloria was the online editor for Dance International, and dabbled in web design and social media consulting. When she is offline, you will find her at an ice rink living out her figure skating dreams. Follow her on Twitter.

18
Comments

Join the conversation!

Just In

RE: iPad 3 with hi-res display coming 'early' 2012, says WSJ
ancillaDomini 12th Dec
The reason I currently don't own a tablet (iPad or otherwise) is because of the horrible resolution. Improved resolution would be a very good thing and is at the top of my tablet "want list".
I think that it would be like the iPhone 4 Retina Display. Before seeing the screen resolution first hand, you may think it's not so useful, and after, you would not want something else wink
@atari_z

A person can do without any luxury he has never had. But once he has become accustomed to a certain luxury then no matter how unessential it is, the person feels he cannot do without it.
As long as the price stays the same or lower, what's wrong with a higher resolution display even if you don't need one?
0 Votes
+ -
App Split
rhonin Updated - 21st Aug
@olePigeon
Nothing wrong with it. WOnder if they will be able to fix the manufacturing process to allow a spring launch....

One I will note based on what I have seen with iOS apps...
Today we have iphone/itouch only, iphone/ipad and ipad. There are some ipad that require the ipad2.
I see this expanding with a hidef ipad.
iphone/itouch - iphone/ipad - ipad1/2 - ipad1/2/3 - ipad3

Dislike having to buy another version of an app just for display enhancements.
Seems a little overboard.
0 Votes
+ -
Maybe 30-50%
rhonin 21st Aug
@ccrockett@...
Up the current resolution by 30-50% and call it hi-def.
I am not sure what it would take to do that.....
plain
One huge advantage Apple has is that they already use this display on the iPhone and could in theory use it on the iTouch as well as the iPad right? That would mean based on iPad2 sales figures and Apple's incredible reserves of cash they could buy a huge volume of this kind of display and get a very good price in theory.

Pagan jim
@James Quinn There's no such thing as an iTouch.
@Keonidas

It's a contraction, just like "there's" is.
I'm an illustrator who works with fine lines; low screen res wrecks my drawings. A 300dpi screen would be almost as good as paper for me. Go Steve!
0 Votes
+ -
Paper is the target
amicalola 19th Aug
@ebanfield -- I agree. Paper is now the target for displays. I have been desiring such a display for years -- and in tablet form, this is transforming. I would be able to literally write as small as I could see -- the screen displaying photo-quality resolution at various zoom levels.

I don't look at tablets/iPad as a one-per-user product, either. I see that they might be thinner and we might have more than one, using them in pairs, (at least, maybe paired w/ a laptop/desktop) rather than operating from printouts. Humans (like me) still like a spatial separation for some things.

But that's far afield. I think the retina on an iPad will bring in a large drop in photo printing and, perhaps, other sorts of printing. the original iPad has already cut my personal paper consumption by 2/3rds.
I was holding out for a hi-res screen iPad, so I guess I'm waiting until 2012 now.
Especially when reading text higher resolution would be quite welcome.
@jrp@...
well I know I'll switch from android tablets to iPad 3 just for the retina display
0 Votes
+ -
You can never have too good a display. A retina display will be welcome for viewing high resolution images and text. It is bringing the display much closer to the experience of reading printed material. With its cash hoard, Apple will be able to buy up all the retina displays and really leave the other tablet makers in the dust.
0 Votes
+ -
Battery Life?
rhonin 21st Aug
@J-Hermes
In order to accomplish the higher back-light requirements would they not need a bigger / higher yield battery?

plain
0 Votes
+ -
Please, Apple is already history here. My rep showed me the specifications for a new Windows 8 tablet made by a top-flight PC OEM. The tablet contains over 500GB of flash disk, a display with resolution of 4096 x 3072 and is capable of running any and all Windows applications. When one of my employees asked to see a demo, my rep told him no tablet shall be served before its time and that we should be patient. Although no device was demonstrated, we saw a PowerPoint presentation about it that was also done in HD.
The reason I currently don't own a tablet (iPad or otherwise) is because of the horrible resolution. Improved resolution would be a very good thing and is at the top of my tablet "want list".

Join the conversation!

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]
ie8 fix

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources
ie8 fix