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iPad 3 rumor roundup

Some of the rumors make sense, others make no sense whatsoever. Let's start sifting through them!
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

As the predicted announcement date for the iPad 3 nears, there has been an explosion of rumors and speculation as to what Apple's updated tablet will bring to the market.

Some of the rumors make sense, others make no sense whatsoever. Let's start sifting through them!

  • iPad 3 to have 'retina' display A lot of pundits are predicting this change, and that the panels will be made by LG. I've written before in quite some depth as to why I don't think the iPad 3 will have a high-definition 'retina' display. That said, I'll be happy to be proved wrong! Probability: 1/10
  • 3D display I really don't see this happening, or why Apple would want to shove a 3D display into a tablet. Everyone dabbling with 3D ends up losing money because consumers don't want 3D, especially the crazy, magic-eye sort of 3D that's on devices like Nintendo 3DS. Probability: 0/10
  • Siri on the iPad 3 I am absolutely confident that the iPad 3 will have the Siri voice assistant built in. It's unthinkable that it wouldn't. Probability: 10/10
  • Bigger battery Very likely given that the new device will put more pressure on the battery. That said, I don't think we'll see a significant bump in battery life. Probability: 10/10
  • Quad-core CPU Bumping the processor up to a quad-core makes sense when you consider that the iPad is now a portable gaming platform, but a quad-core CPU would put a lot of pressure on the battery. Unless Apple can squeeze a bigger battery into the shell, this might not happen this time around. Probability: 6/10
  • Better cameras Quite likely, the iPhone 4S has a superb set of cameras and they would be great on the iPad 3. Probability: 9/10
  • Capacity bump A 128GB iPad 3 would be nice ... but I wonder if hat wouldn't bump the price up too high. Maybe adding 128GB to the existing line up. Probability: 6/10
  • NFC Pundits are desperate for iDevices to become NFC capable. Many see it as revolutionizing payments and authentication. Problem is, NFC, or at least the idea behind NFC, isn't new, and it's the latest in a long line of ideas that never really took off. Probability: 2/10
  • iPad 2S Who cares what it's called? If it's mostly evolutionary then it could well be called the 2S. But as has been demonstrated with the iPhone 4S, naming doesn't matter that much. Probability: 4/10
  • iPad 3 will have a stylus No way, forget it! Probability: 0/10

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