Tag: ipad

You might have expected that once Apple started sending out invites to next week’s iPad 3 launch event, the rumor mill might have entered a “wait and see” mode. Looks like you’d be wrong. Like kids who shake the presents under the tree right up until bedtime on Christmas Eve, Apple watchers are still trying to figure out what we’ll be seeing in just a few short days.

The first round of post-invite speculation came on the very day Apple sent out the invitations. Cult of Mac noticed that the invitation itself appears to show an iPad without a home button. Of course, there have been rumors for years that Apple would follow Android’s lead and get rid of a physical home button on its iOS devices. The event invitation seems to suggest that they’re doing exactly that. (As a side note, the display on the invitation certainly looks like a retina display; at any rate, it’s a good deal sharper than the display on the iPad 2.) Take a look at the invitation again for yourself and see what you think:

So, could it be true? Is Apple really, at long last, doing away with a physical home button? Maybe not. In a blog post this morning RepairLabs posted an image of a pair of iPad 3 front panels. The panels consist of the tablet’s digitizer (which the touchscreen functionality), and the glass panel that goes over the iPad’s display. If the panels are genuine, then it looks like the reports of the home button’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The panels clearly show a home button and the centered front-facing camera just like those on the iPad 2. The image also confirms that the iPad 3, like the iPad 2, will be available in both black and white at launch.

So it looks like all those who were celebrating the demise of the home button are probably going to be disappointed after all. We’ll know for sure next Wednesday when Apple officially unveils the device. In the meantime, check out our iPad 3 page for more information on what to expect from Apple’s next tablet.

Are you happy the home button is sticking around, or should Apple have gotten rid of it? Let us know what you think in the comments.

There’s new information about the A5X processor that appears to be going into Apple’s forthcoming iPad 3. It seems that the quad-core A6 processor that Apple had planned to put into the tablet will not be ready in time, prompting Apple to put an enhanced dual-core processor, the A5X, in the new iPad.

It looks like the explanation is actually pretty simple: Apple’s suppliers aren’t quite ready to produce the A6 yet. Industry analyst Steve Mullane told AllThingsD that the presumably 28-nanometer A6 chip is too small for Samsung’s current manufacturing facilities, which are currently tooled for 45 and 32 nanometer chips. According to Mullane, Samsung’s Austin facility is ramping up production on the 32 nm chips, which he says “validates the recent rumors that the iPad 3 will likely use a higher speed, die-shrink version of the A5 dual-core processor.”

In early January we reported that iOS developers had found references to a quad-core processor, presumably called the A6, in the code for the beta version of iOS 5.1, which will likely be launching with the iPad 3 (next week?). About a month later came apparent confirmation of the quad-core rumor when screen shots of a diagnostic report apparently run on a prototype iPad 3 showed that the device was running on a quad-core processor. Last week, though, an apparent image of the iPad 3’s logic board leaked. It showed a processor labeled A5X instead of the anticipated A6.

Yesterday, however, evidence surfaced that Apple had apparently been developing the two chips simultaneously. References to both chips were found in the current beta version of iOS 5.1. The reference to both chips sparked quite a bit of speculation as to why Apple would develop both chips at once. Mullane’s statement appears to confirm what we speculated in yesterday’s report, that the A5X is intended as a substitute for the A6, which isn’t ready yet.

Of course, the iPad 3 isn’t out yet, so we’ll still have to wait for it to be released before anything is confirmed, but it looks like iPad users won’t be getting the the quad-core A6 after all.

Of all the rumors floating around about the iPad 3, most have focused on two things: specs and release date. Very little attention has been paid to the new tablet’s price, probably because most have assumed that the price points for the iPad 3 would match those of the previous two iPads.

Now, however, it looks like that may not be the case. A recent image coming out of China suggest that Apple may be about to increase the iPad 3’s price tag by either $70 or $80 (depending on the model). The image, first published by MacRumors, comes from Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter, and is unverified. That being the case, take it with a generous helping of salt. Even so it may be that Apple feels a retina display and much nicer camera (among other things) merit a bump in the iPad’s price.

The image purports to show a price chart for the iPad 3. The first column shows the price of all six models of iPad 2, the second the price of the iPad 3, and the third shows the price of each model in Chinese yuan (apparently based on exchange rates from a few days ago). The wifi-only models of iPad 3 each get a price hike of $80, while the 3G model prices only go up $70.

What’s not clear from this image is whether the iPad 2 prices are included for comparison, or if those will be the prices of the iPad 2 after the iPad 3 launches. Rumors have suggested for some time that Apple would continue to produce the iPad 2 after the iPad 3’s launch, just at a reduced price. If this chart is to be believed (and that’s a big “if”), and the iPad 2 prices are not included for comparison, then the price of the iPad 2 will remain unchanged after the iPad 3’s launch.

The price of the iPad has remained constant since the launch of the original iPad in 2010. Moreover, many of the upgraded components that the iPad 3 will apparently feature are bound to be more expensive than their counterparts in the iPad 2. That being the case, a price increase is certainly possible. That said, Apple has kept the prices of new devices – iPhone, iPad, and iPods of all kinds – consistent from year to year. New generations of devices rarely come with a higher price tag, and even when they do, the price of the older generation device never remains the same.

What’s more, recent survey data suggests that a whole lot of people – including iPad, iPad 2, and Kindle Fire owners – are waiting to upgrade their device. A price increase is likely to make many of them think twice. That being the case, the odds are good that the price chart isn’t genuine. With just over a week (maybe?) until the iPad 3’s launch, we’ll find out one way or the other soon enough.

What do you think? If the price chart is genuine, would that impact your plans to buy an iPad 3? Let us know in the comments.