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Topic: iPad

'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

Summary: The iPad 2 has only been available for three months but this isn't enough to kill off the rumors that Apple is preparing to release the iPad 3 this year, and that this iPad will feature a 'Retina Display' screen.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

The iPad 2 has only been available for three months but this isn't enough to kill off the rumors that Apple is preparing to release the iPad 3 this year, and that this iPad will feature a 'Retina Display' screen.

This batch of rumors seem to have been kicked off by a TechUnwrapped tipster who came across mention of 1,536 x 2,048 resolution images in the iOS SDK for the new Twitter and Newsstand .framework.

The thinking by Techunwrapped is that because the high-resolution images are found in the Twitter and Newsstand parts of the iOS SDK, which are new to the iOS codebase, it means an iPad 3 will come out at around the same timeframe as iOS 5.

This doesn't make for a number of reasons:

  1. Why release another iPad within months of the iPad 2? I'd understand this knee-jerk move if Apple was under pressure from other tablets in the market, but it's not.
  2. Why restrict the high-resolution 'Retina Display' to certain aspects of iOS (like Twitter and Newsstand) rather than making it available across the whole OS?
  3. Supply chain contacts say that there is no iPad 3 incoming any time soon.
  4. It's not the first time that people have used 'evidence' gathered from the iOS SDK to convince themselves that a 'Retina Display' iPad is imminent. Remember all the speculation before the iPad 2 was released?
  5. A 'Retina Display' panel the size of the iPad's would be a serious number of pixels to move about and it would need some serious hardware. The cost doesn't justify the benefit. Yes, sure, a 'Retina Display' panel might be nice and 'cool' but what's the point when HD movies would run windowed or need upscaling?
  6. How do you explain this?

I'm putting this rumor firmly into the 'wishful thinking' file.

Topics: iPad, Mobility

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26 comments
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  • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

    I think they rumor is being generated from competing interest(s) to slow down the number of iPad2's currently being sold...
    Bonzo202
    Reply Vote

    • Not sure about competitors, but iPads now sell really well; in April and ..

      @Bonzo202: ... May Apple sold 6 millions of iPad 2 (on June 6th Jobs stated the total quantity of iPads sold as 25 million; the number was 19 million by the end of March).

      This will mean that for calendar 2Q2011 Apple will sell like 7-8 (even might be 9, but I am not sure since it is summer) million -- this is at the time when Acer just slashed their plans for tablets almost twice.
      DDERSSS
      Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @Bonzo202

      I don't think the plan to slow down sales is working. My wife went to buy one for me last week for a Father's day present. Supply is still constrained. There were some 3G models available, but Wi-Fi was sold out.
      techconc
      Reply Vote

      • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

        @techconc
        That's because the Wi-Fi models have alway's been the biggest seller since generation 1.
        T-Wrench
        Reply Vote

      • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

        @techconc
        T-Wrench - that isn't a reason, it is only a statement without factual evidence, even though everyone knows it is true!

        The reason is that people do not want to have to pay a monthly fee on top of having to pay more for the 3G iPad, which already costs a tiny bit too much for a tablet. (I know you can go month by month, but people don't think that way when considering the cost as "3G iPad + 3G service" vs. the price of the wifi only model.)

        as hardware goes, I cannot believe that these things sell for that much, unless you consider it as an inflated cell phone, considering the "MSRP" on most smart phones is $400-$900.

        I think more in the lines of home computing device
        PC
        4-core CPU with 8GB ram, 2x500GB HDD (plus 2x 250GB, 1.5TB, and a 2TB from my old system), video card in the top ~20-30, reasonably decent cooling case, and I spent a total of $600 on it.
        Notebook
        2 core CPU, 4GB ram, 340GB HDD, video card with HDMI out, and I spent $600 on it.
        Netbook
        2 core atom, 2GB ram, 16GB SSD, and it cost $289
        Tablet
        2 core Tegra2, 2GB ram/rom + 8GB storage, wifi only, 10.1" display, and I spent $550 plus shipping and bought a 32GB micro SDHC for an extra $65. (only got it because I was able to get $400 as a gift towards the purchase, I felt it was worth about $350 and now think of it as just something else I bought that will need to be replaced before it earns it's cost)


        I keep most of my systems for around 5 years before upgrading, I think my tablet my last 18 months (unless I cannot afford a new one, then it might be the last one I ever get). If I had to consider paying a 3G data service as part of the cost of any of those systems, then something would have been removed.
        aiellenon
        Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @Bonzo202 Interesting take, but doubtful. It would just make their products, with inferior displays look bad. If your goal is boosting your own sales, you don't want to make people want the other guy's latest product.
      snoop0x7b
      Reply Vote

  • There is hardware: the only reason why iPad 2 was not released with Retina

    ... screen is that the lines for massively and cost effective production of such displays are not ready yet. But Retina model is definitely in testing at Apple since this spring.<br><br>Since iPad 2 graphic co-processor is up to nine times faster than that of iPad 1, and three-four times faster than NVidea's Tegra-2 (no wonder, since PowerVR's SGX 543MP2 occupies as much area on the crystal as whole Tegra-2 SoC), iPad 2 technically is well able to handle 4x resolution and graphics comparing to iPad 1 handling 1024x768.<br><br>However, for this working better, A5 has to include 1 GB of memory, rather than just 512 MB, as it has now. But this is the only update it necessarily needs.<br><br>As recent test showed, iPad 2 handles Real Racing 2 HD 1080p TV output perfectly and without hickups. 2048x1536 is thirty percent more detailed picture than FullHD, but yet iPad 2 might handle it very well in less complex graphics than RR2HD.

    <b>More importantly, Retina resolution is needed not for games, but for basic OS UI, browsing the internet and reading books</b>.

    Whether we will see iPad 3 by this Christmas or on next March is to be seen; too early to tell.
    DDERSSS
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @DeRSSS That size isn't really all that hard to handle in and of itself, since I've been able to use dual monitors with 1024x768 (about the same size) since the late 90s... Where the challenge lies is probably rendering on it.
      snoop0x7b
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

    That incorrect phrase "Retina Display" should be taken and executed.
    It's false advertising.
    raggi
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @raggi How is it false advertising, when prior to Apple using the term it had absolutely no meaning?

      Even today it means nothing, other than "what Apple calls its iPhone 4 screen."
      lelandhendrix@...
      Reply Vote

      • Also, while formally 'Retina Display' is incorrect, in the essense it is,

        @lelandhendrix@... ... since there is no way how person can see the dots on Retina display at twelve inches distance.
        DDERSSS
        Reply Vote

      • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

        @lelandhendrix@... and@deRSSS

        Retina Display implies that it is somehow equivalent to what the eyes can see and is comparable to what we see in nature. It is not.

        Resolution alone is not enough. What about if you look at the screen turned 45 degrees?

        Why do you think that professional printers use terms in thousands of DPI?

        what is missing is this:
        Contrast. The main key. Take a bright white area, put a black spot on it 1 mm across, Look at it from a few meter distance and compare. Or let a child look at it. It might see the dot 4 meters distance.

        @DeRSSS, NOT seing a dot, even a black dot on a very low quality display with low contrast, compared to nature, is not a measurement of the limits of human vision.

        Color scale. the Display cannot show all colors that the human eye can see.

        Glare. compare a dollar bill to a picture of a dollar bill on the display.
        raggi
        Reply Vote

  • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

    An Apple Store employee told me yesterday the ipad 3 is slated to be released Dec 2011...Not really believing this though
    kvolkan
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @kvolkan <br>I somehow doubt this is true VERY much, since the only rational explanation for this frantic pace, would be shamelessly cashing in on a passing fad - you know, the way a celebrity cashes in on their persona? - and not a sustained business model. Releasing products back-to-back-to-back obseleting the old model so quickly just frustrates consumers and the fervour generated by the product will die off as its release gradually becomes more and more a ho-hum event. I don't think Apple will do this, much as I dislike their products, I believe they definitely have and know their limitations.
      12312332123
      Reply Vote

  • All you need is patience and consumer demand.

    The iPad 3 will come, dictated by demand of new features.<br>I would think about the same release time as this year.<br><br>I'm holding tight, since the pace of hardware technology is rapidly evolving.
    Smart_Neuron
    Reply Vote

  • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

    Good thing its not a rectal display. ;-)
    sjc1963
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @sjc1963 Nicely done. Even if it was a rectal display, I know the apple fans would be dying to have one. Inserted or otherwise.
      snoop0x7b
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

    An iPad 3 release around March 2012 seems most likely. There's really no reason for Apple to release it sooner (especially in 2011 as had lately been rumored). Look at sites like iPad2Tracker.com and it's clear demand still far exceeds supply. If a new version is released just shortly after the masses finally purchase an iPad 2, there will be a lot of angry iPaddicts (and ex-fans).
    Bpo3333
    Reply Vote

    • RE: 'iPad 3 with Retina Display coming in 2012' rumors won't die

      @Bpo3333 Maybe, but I should remind you that the only way to anger an Apple fanatic (the sort of person who buys/upgrades at every iteration) is by criticising apple. Thus, the apple fans will be pissed-off when they're told they're getting a bum deal by their beloved apple, when actually they're overjoyed at every chance they get to jack up the sweet opiate that is an apple hardware release to them...
      Li1t
      Reply Vote

  • iPad 3 with Retina Display...

    I disagree that there isn't any pressure from other tablet makers. First of all, you can't walk in and buy a iPad 2 anywhere. Secondly, the specs on nearly every tablet out there exceed the iPad 2 - more expansion, more connectivity, better cameras, Flash playback. Really the only thing holding most other tablets back is the non-intuitive interface on Honeycomb. Geeks get it, but the average person I see trying it at Best Buy puts it down after 5 minutes of fumbling. The HP tablet won't have this limitation - it has a very nice interface. The RIM device is another tablet with a decent interface. Since those are both just arriving, the next 6 months should put serious pressure on Apple to bring their specs up to match (or exceed) everyone else. This means camera upgrades, at a bare minimum. Remember, not everyone wants or needs access to 75,000 applications, so those people can purchase based on specs. Plus every other tablet displays Flash.

    I feel there is a long-shot chance that an iPad 3 (or 2S with iOS 5?) would appear at the end of this year, which might explain why they haven't bothered ramping up fully to meet the demand for the iPad 2. You still can't find them anywhere. BUT - if an update appears at the end of this year, it probably won't be Retina. It will be minor tweaks.

    A Retina display version of the iPad won't appear for 9 months at least. I'd love to see it, but we won't. Personally, I can't wait to see a fully HD version with at least 1920x1080 resolution. That would push them past everyone else. I would also love to see 128GB of storage. I'd be putting a few of my Blu-rays on it.
    BillDem
    Reply Vote
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