More rumors about the iPad 2 are swirling and fans of Apple's Retina Display (and SD slots) won't be happy.
Today's iPad 2 tidbits come courtesy of Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who has written a report indicating that iPad 2 won't get higher resolution screen as had been widely expected. The eagerly-anticipated tablet successor will use the same 1024 x 768 panel found in the original iPad according to the report.
But all's not lost. Although it won't contain a Retina Display (nor higher resolution) Kuo claims that the iPad 2 display will be "better quality":
The improvement of iPad 2 display focuses on thickness and anti-reflection, not resolution. iPad 2 display module is 30~35% thinner than iPad 1 and it’s helpful for better form factor. Thanks to anti-reflection, iPad 2 could have better sunlight readable experience and it's helpful for Apple to compete with Amazon's fast growing Kindle business.
The most important reason why iPad 2 won’t have retinal display is yield rate of panel making. At this point, making high resolution and bright IPS/FFS panel is not easy and the production volume and cost couldn’t meet Apple’s requirements.
According to Kuo, in addition to its better quality display iPad 2 will ship with:
- Faster CPU (ARM Cortex-A9 dual core processor running at 1.2GHz)
- Dual core GPU (Imagination’s SGX543)
- 512MB RAM running at 1,066 MHz (same as iPhone 4 and twice as much as iPad 1, and faster. iPhone 4 memory clock is 800 MHz).
- Separate CDMA and GSM SKUs (GSM will use Infineon chip, CDMA will use Qualcomm chip)
- iPod touch-like dual cameras
In addition to waning chances of getting a higher resolution screen an earlier rumor that iPad 2 will be getting a SD card slot also appears to be evaporating. AppleInsider throws cold water on the SD speculation indicating that the new port is mostly like, in fact, a SIM card slot. Bummer.
Tip and photo: AppleInsider