iPad 3 with quad-core CPU and 4G support?

We’ve already had our fill of iPad 3 rumours over the past few months, but that hasn’t stopped further speculation this week as major US news channel, Bloomberg, gets in on the gossip.

Bloomberg cites “three people familiar with the product” as revealing that the iPad 3 will be powered by a quad-core chip, sport a high-definition screen and run on LTE ‘4G’ networks.

Bloomberg’s source also claims that production of the iPad 3 is in full flow and will peak by the end of February before it goes on sale in March.

The new display of the iPad 3 has been subject of much debate with many sources claiming that it will sport a 9.7in HD screen (1,536 x 2,048), an improved camera and a longer lasting battery.

iLounge goes one step further than Bloomberg claiming that it saw the iPad 3 at the Consumer Electronics Show last week, stating that it was about 1mm thicker than the iPad 2 and didn’t look much difference.

“Switch, button, speaker, and other elements located on the side edges are all the same, as are the headphone and Dock Connector ports,” wrote iLounge editor, Mr Horwitz.

Sadly, the UK won’t see the benefits of 4G until next year with a country-wide rollout not expected to be complete until 2015. Nonetheless, Apple fanboys will probably still welcome a faster processor and an upgraded screen.

Apple has refused to comment on speculation.

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I think I will only consider spending serious money on ANY tablet once you can actually upgrade the memory. With RAM prices so cheap,it is shocking how artificially limited in RAM quantity ARM based tablets are TBH.

It might be not so much of an issue now,but give a few OS updates and newer apps,they will start to slow down after a while. Of course with laptops you either have loads of RAM anyway,or can easily upgrade so the systems last longer. However,with tablets this is not the case and the device will essentially be very limited after a few years.

Quite a cunning ploy on the part by many companies, as it means people are hooked into shorter upgrade cycles,unlike with modern laptops and desktops.

CAT-THE-FIFTH
I think I will only consider spending serious money on ANY tablet once you can actually upgrade the memory.

I seen something like this with some of the Samsung TVs on one of the CES coverage programs, where you can upgrade the CPU + RAM of the TV with new add in cards, because the panels are capable of much much more than the CPUs at the moment.

I see no reason why this couldn't be carried over to other technologies..

Deleted
I seen something like this with some of the Samsung TVs on one of the CES coverage programs, where you can upgrade the CPU + RAM of the TV with new add in cards, because the panels are capable of much much more than the CPUs at the moment.

I see no reason why this couldn't be carried over to other technologies..

They are trying to hook people into the shorter upgrade cycles you see with phones. Upgradeability is not what they want. Modern desktops and laptops - even the cheap ones - will last you years. They have much longer upgrade cycles.
Hence,the new cash cow is tablets.They could easily have modern tablets shipping with 2GB of system RAM, and that would mean with OS and application updates you will be fine for yonks. I can understand low end tablets,but many of these devices are well over £300 at launch and are using relatively low cost SOCs too. The whole point of the ARM architecture was for low cost and low power consumption.

Hate to sound like I'm pouring scorn on iPad3 (as I'm sure it'll be a wonderful product … with a price tag to match), but surely Apple is more or less forced to go for quad-core and high res screen because other people are doing this already?

Witness last weeks CES where Asus had to launch an upgraded version of a model they just launched - the sole difference being a high-res screen.

I'm not in the market anyway - I got a perfectly usable dual-core (Android) tablet last year, and I'm not intending to “trade up” until next year at the earliest. I don't want any truck with this “you need to upgrade every year” idea that the manufacturers seem to be on at the moment. That said, I'd dearly love an upgradable tablet - upgradable in the same way that most laptops are (Acer excepted).

Haven't we done the new iPad rumour mill to death. It isn't going to be anything ground breaking just a slight tech spruce up. Porsche haven't changed their car design for moons, Apple follow this simple design principle, if it ain't broke don't fix it, just a nip and tuck here and there. How much can you visually change on a tablet, it is just a screen at the end of the day anyway.

The tablet wars is purely down to two things, buttery smooth UI, quantity and quality of the tablet Apps and finally cloud support.

As an Android fan, I have to congratulate Google on the ground they have made up on Apple, but unfortunately they are still lagging behind.

I love my Asus Transformer, but the average Joe Bloggs who goes into a high street shop will prefer the hands-on experience on using the Apple device and that is where Google needs to focus its attention, in sorting out the UI. Sales are won and lost in just a few minutes of swiping fingers around the screen on the demo stands, hardware accelerated Apple vs CPU lagging Android has lost them a lot of sales. IMHO first impressions on using a tablet is more important than cosmetic looks, which differs greatly from that of a netbook or laptop purchase.

A tablet is just a screen, therefore how you feel when interacting with it is the most important thing.

My only hope is that Apple don't introduce multi-user support into the iOS for this forthcoming iPad as this is something we want google to be first to market on!

Don't forget to vote up the android enhancement here:
http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=15030

iPad 3 with quad-core CPU and 4G support?

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