Details of the iPad 2's design leaked out as early as December 2010, nearly three months before Apple officially unveiled the updated device in early March. Three employees of Taiwan-based Foxconn, Apple's manufacturing partner, have been arrested and formally charged for leaking details of the design to accessory companies.

One of the earliest leaks of case designs purported to fit the second-generation iPad popped up in early December. More rumors based on alleged iPad 2 case designs came later in the month, noting details of the device's size and design that turned out to be fairly accurate. Foxconn suspected a leak from the inside, and three workers at its Shenzhen, China plant where iPads are assembled were arrested on December 26, 2010—just days after the newest batch of rumors surfaced.

According to DigiTimes, a local Shenzhen news source reported that the three employees were formally charged by police with violating Foxconn trade secrets in late March. Foxconn may have been prompted to act on the suspected leak either directly by Apple or in an effort to maintain its relationship with the company, which has a legendary reputation for the effort it puts into keeping products secret until they are official released.

This isn't the first time Foxconn has acted to maintain the secrecy of Apple products. "Extreme pressure" to keep product details under wraps is believed to be part of the reason behind the July 2009 suicide of Foxconn worker Sun Danyong. Twenty-five-year-old Sun was responsible for shipping 16 iPhone 4 prototypes from the factory to Apple. After he discovered one of the prototypes went missing, he reported the problem to his superior at Foxconn only to find himself being accused of stealing the prototype.

Foxconn security staff raided Sun's apartment and reportedly questioned him under duress, both verbal and physical. "Even at a police station, the law says force must never be used, much less in a corporate office," Sun wrote after the incident. "I was just a suspect, my dear head of security, so what reason and right do you have to confine me and use force?"

Less than two days after the incident, Sun lept out of the window of his factory dormitory to his death. "Thinking that I won’t be bullied tomorrow, won’t have to be the scapegoat, I feel much better," Sun wrote to a friend shortly before committing suicide.

Several worker suicides followed in the months after Sun's death, prompting Apple COO Tim Cook to visit Foxconn with a team of executives and suicide prevention experts. "The team commended Foxconn for taking quick action on several fronts simultaneously, including hiring a large number of psychological counselors, establishing a 24-hour care center, and even attaching large nets to the factory buildings to prevent impulsive suicides," according to Apple's 2011 Supplier Responsibility Report.

Poor worker conditions in China are well documented, despite the efforts of foreign companies to ensure that minimum levels of safety, wages, and law compliance are observed in their suppliers' factories. Given this situation, it is little surprise that Foxconn workers might leak details of Apple devices to Chinese accessory manufacturers, who in all likelihood offered them money in exchange for the advance specifications.