Digitimes on Monday delivered the latest iPad 3 rumor, claiming that the tablet will launch sometime in the next three to four months.
But if you follow Apple's product update cycle, this tidbit isn't really groundbreaking. Considering the iPad 1 launched on April 3, 2010, and the iPad 2 launched on March 11, 2011, the iPad 3 will presumably launch around that time in 2012. The only time in recent history that Apple has broken this habit was with the iPhone 4S, which was released about 16 months after the iPhone 4 was unveiled and about four months later than expected.
Digitimes' sources said production of the iPad 2 will remain high in the fourth quarter, putting it at 14-15 million units. In the next quarter, production will reportedly drop to 4-5 million units, as Apple makes way for the third-gen iPad.
Similar to a claim Digitimes made last month, in the most recent report, the frequent purveyor of Apple rumors said Foxconn, Apple's primary iPad manufacturer, will start production on the iPad 3 in January, and will ramp it up in February. Digitimes said production on the new device will reach nearly 10 million units in the first quarter of 2012, according to supply chain sources.
Last week, Citi analyst Richard Gardner said according to "several sources" that Apple will launch the iPad 3 up to a month earlier than it launched the iPad 2. That means we could see the next-generation tablet in February.
Gardner also chimed in on a much-debated feature of the new tablet–its display. He said the iPad 3's screen will have twice the resolution of that on the iPad 2. At between 12 and 13 million units, Gardner's prediction for iPad sales in the final quarter of the year was slightly lower than the forecast from Digitimes.
Digitimes estimated that iPad sales would total 40 million units for 2012, but Apple won't report on those stats until its January earnings call.