Apple

Related Apple to Announce iPad 3 First Week in March AllThingsD

Apple is expected to hold a media event during the first week in March to introduce the iPad 3, reports AllThingsD. The article cites unnamed sources as saying that Apple will unveil the new iPad in San Francisco; if the event truly takes place the first week in March, that would peg it on either a Thursday or a Friday.

According to the article:

As for the next-generation iPad itself, sources say it will be pretty much what we’ve been led to expect by the innumerable reports leading up to its release: A device similar in form factor to the iPad 2, but running a much faster chip, sporting an improved graphics processing unit, and featuring a 2048×1536 Retina Display — or something close to it.

The 2048×1536-resolution Retina Display is the big story here, and has found itself the subject of rumors stretching as far back as early 2011, though the original rumors suggested the screens would make it into the iPad 2. It was an implausible theory back then, as such a screen would have been prohibitively expensive in a product that’s supposed to have a $500 starting price.

Today, however, a high-resolution tablet screen isn’t such a stretch. Samsung has been rumored to be working on a similar screen for its own tablets, and we’re seeing screens with 720p resolutions (1280×720 pixels) stuffed into smartphones—Samsung’s 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus being one of them. If Apple sticks with a 9.7-inch iPad screen, a 2048×1536 resolution doesn’t seem quite as unbelievable anymore.

Take this news with a grain of salt, of course, though AllThingsD has a pretty good track record.

(MORE: Latest Apple Rumors: iPad 3 in March, iPhone 5 in June, ‘Strange’ Event Soon)