Good Apple fanboys and fangirls just might have an iPad 3 waiting for them under the tree this Christmas. Research firm CLSA claims Apple will unveil its third-gen tablet just in time for the peak holiday shopping season.
"While most vendors appear fixated on matching the specs and features of iPad 2, our checks suggest Apple will release iPad 3 in time for the holiday season, sporting a better display and LTE capabilities," the firm said. CLSA also predicted that the iPhone 5 will come LTE-ready.
Rumors that Apple will release a second iPad in 2011 have cropped up periodically. However, Apple generally sticks to an annual product update cycle, which would mean the iPad 3 probably won't appear until spring 2012. There has been buzz that Apple could break this habit with the iPhone 5; there are unconfirmed reports that say Apple won't debut the smartphone until this fall at the earliest. Earlier versions of the iPhone have been unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. WWDC 2011 kicks off on Monday in Cupertino and Apple has announced it will show off iCloud, Mac OS X Lioni, and iOS 5, but it has made no mention of a new iPhone.
iPad 3 speculation started even before Apple launched the iPad 2. The most recent reports suggest that it's possible preliminary production on the iPad 3 has already begun, with Taiwanese iPad component makers allegedly in the process of certifying their parts with Apple.
Recently there has been a fair amount of chatter that indicates the iPad 3 will get an upgraded display. DigiTimes has claimed that the iPad 3 would get a brighter, higher-resolution Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display. A Korean newspaper corroborated that rumor when it said Apple and Samsung were in talks to bring Samsung's AMOLED technology to the iPad 3. But considering Apple and Samsung are currently in a legal battle, duking it out over patent and copyright infringement, this rumor might be false.
Digitimes has reported that the iPad 3 won't launch until 2012. Apple could not be reached for comment.