According to a well trusted source, Apple is definitely getting ready to unveil the next gen iPad early next month on March 7th. The famous blogger Jim Dalrymple has also confirmed the same date for the next generation iPad’s announcement. Word on streets that Apple is currently testing a smaller edition of the 9.7-inch iPad. The Wall Street Journal expects that Apple is planning to announce the 8-inch iPad later this year. In fact, this isn’t the first time that we’ve heard that Cupertino company may be coming to market with a smaller iPad.
According to an unknown source, 8-inch Apple iPad sports a 1024 x 768 display, which is same as the 2nd gen iPad 2. 8-inch iPad’s test panel are being produced by Taiwan-based LG Display and AU Optronics. Smaller edition of the iPad is expected to be priced at an affordable price range, so that it can give a tough competition to the other budget priced tablets such as 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire and the upcoming Asus Transformer Prime Mini tablets and it can also dominate the tablet market beating out Samsung and Motorola. The Wall Street Journal also believes that 8-inch Apple iPad will have LTE connectivity on-board.
In another news, The Wall Street Journal has also reported that Verizon Wireless and AT&T are set to begin selling 4G LTE versions of Apple iPad 3. According to the previous rumors, the Apple iPad 3 will be running iOS 5.1, sporting a 10 inch Retina display with 2048 x 1536 pixels of resolution, powered by a quad-core processor and a pair of improved cameras.
According to China Times, Apple has already ordered 65 to 70 million iPad 3 panels from Samsung and LG Display, and expects to ship many new tablets this year. Another rumor is also reporting that Apple is prepping a device with support for an attachable physical keyboard dock.