You might want to be sitting down for this. According to 9to5Mac, Apple has killed plans to release the iPad 3 this fall and will instead stick to its typical annual product update cycle.
Citing a Digitimes report that claimed Apple canceled orders with suppliers, 9to5Mac said Apple nixed a fall iPad release because of problems with the Retina Display. Digitimes said Apple originally targeted the second half of 2011 for a new iPad launch, with nearly two million units planned for the third quarter and upwards of six million for the fourth quarter.
At issue is the yield rate in the production of the 2,048-by-1,536 display Apple had requested from suppliers like Sharp, Samsung and LG, keeping Apple from producing a high volume of the third-gen tablet. 9to5Mac, however, said the third version of Apple's tablet will debut in spring 2012 and will reportedly include the high-res screen.
The iPad 3 has been a topic of discussion since before Apple even launched the iPad 2 in March, and its display has been a pervasive part of that discourse. Last month the Korea Times said Apple will push the resolution of the iPad 3's screen beyond HD, and it's also been rumored that the device will get a 3D display. There was also talk of a cheaper iPad 3.
A recent report from IHS iSuppli, meanwhile, said that rival tablets are no match for the mighty iPad. After completing a comparative teardown, pitting both the iPad 1 and iPad 2 against the Motorola Xoom, the BlackBerry PlayBook, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Asus Eee Pad, and the HP TouchPad, iSuppli concluded that in terms of design, the iPad is leading the tablet race.