Can't wait until Wednesday for the big debut of Apple's iPad whatever-its-called? The jury might still be out on whether Apple's officially going with the "iPad 3" or "iPad HD" moniker, but at least we now know what the iPad 3 will look like come Wednesday.
At least, that's if the pictures provided by the China-based gadget blog M.I.C Gadget prove accurate. The site allegedly got its hands on the front glass, front case, and rear shell of Apple's next iPad. And before you ask the $64,000 question, here's the answer: According to M.I.C Gadget, Apple has not removed the home button from its yet-to-be-released iPad. It's still every bit as physical and centered on the bottom of Apple's tablet as the home button found on preceding models.
Phew.
So, what can we learn from M.I.C Gadget's pics? Apple's pre-existing Smart Covers for the iPad 2 still fit the iPad 3, but additional tapering of the edges on the newer iPads allegedly means that some iPad 2 covers might no longer fit the newer tablet. The iPad 3 is also allegedly going to be a little thicker than the iPad 2 – hence the additional tapering, which gives the illusion that the new tablet is actually thinner.
M.I.C Gadget hasn't mentioned a word about the double-resolution Retina Display that's expected to appear in the iPad 3. But the site does confirm earlier rumors that the iPad 3 will ship at the same size capacities – 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB – as the iPad 2. The site also confirms that the launch prices for the iPad 3 will be identical to the iPad 2's non-discounted prices.
What remains up in the air, however, is the supposed inclusion of LTE capabilities on the iPad 3.
"As indicated in our previous in depth article to Apple's mobile strategy, we said there was a very limited market for LTE at this time. Also, the LTE chipset adds an extra cost to each unit, which the normal Qualcomm 3G chipset does not incur," writes M.I.C Gadget's Steve Lo. "We also feel that it will most likely be added to the next model, as opposed to this one. Our sources concur with us on this as well."
For more, see PCMag's full review of the iPad 2, as well as our latest rumor roundup about what the iPad 3 might include.
For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).