With the iPhone 4S making its mark, selling millions and also coming up for pre-order in India, the next round of Apple rumors seem to be the 2012 releases from Cupertino. Rumor mongers are now busy speculating what Apple would offer in 2012, be it an iPad with high resolution display, the iPhone 6 (no it isn’t called iPhone 5) or thinner MacBook Pro. The usual routine of rumors guiding more rumors continues, so take everything with a pinch of salt.
The iPad 3 rumors aren’t much of a surprise, Apple generally maintains a yearly refresh cycle for iOS products (2011 has been an exception) and expecting the 3rd generation tablet to come up in March 2012 isn’t really off the mark. But given that there isn’t any good iPad 2 competitor out there, Apple might well delay the iPad 3 just as it delayed the iPhone 4S, but we wouldn’t venture into that zone for today. The rumor is clear, a higher resolution display is being sourced from LG, Samsung and Sharp. This might well be a product of billions Apple invested in components. The rumors of iPad 3 components being lined up by Apple already go in line with multiple rumors suggesting iPad 2 components requirement has been cut down. The latest rumor claims Apple would have as many as 3 million display panels for the iPad 3 ready by November end.
Given the rate at which components are being lined up, Digitimes estimates that Apple would begin production of the iPad 3 by January 2012. The odd bit comes with Digitimes also mentioning a 7.85-inch display being shipped to Apple. Now we have heard Jobs giving his verdict on a 7″ tablet and we have had our case in favor of the same, in the post-Jobs era, is Apple trying things like Samsung does?
Rumors are also ripe about a new iPhone as soon as March 2012. The Android brigade is hammering the samrtphone market and Apple would love to accelerate its growth in an industry where only 1 our of the 5 billion mobiles are smart. The iPhone 4S does well for itself, but a refreshed design might well make its way sooner than the usual June refresh. The more interesting bit is of course the talk of a 4″ display coming in. Now would this be a super high resolution display keeping the Retina claim by Apple? The highest criticism of the iPhone 4S has been due to the 3.5″ screen size being maintained. Times have changed and a 4″ display is considered very normal for a smartphone today.
We are also hearing about thinner MacBook Pro’s from Cupertino in early 2012. Given the success of MacBook Air which has captured 28% notebook sales within the Mac family, Apple knows thinner and lighter is the way to go. We would bank on this claim, but 2012 is still a holiday season away!