Digitimes recently reported that their supplier-based contacts say that Apple is currently prototyping two versions of the third-generation iPad. The site says the iPad 3’s are codenamed J1 and J2 and Apple has not yet decided which model to launch. Based on code strings I have seen (shown in screenshot above), the J2 iPad mentioned in the Digitimes report is definitely an Apple device. Based on Digitimes accurately predicting the iPad 3’s codename, it seems at least somewhat plausible that the site’s attached rumors of a Retina Display and a dual LED-bar system to power this ultra-high-resolution display are accurate (or at least planned possibilities).

What Digitimes said about the J1/J2 (and more device findings):

Since Apple demands that the new iPad model will need to be thinner than the iPad 2, while raising the machine’s screen resolution to 2048 by 1536, upstream component makers have been working aggressively to adjust the device’s LED and panel module designs to satisfy these demands, but the work has affected the launch schedule of the new tablet PC. Apple is currently giving two tablet PC projects codenamed J1 and J2 to its upstream partners for development. The sources revealed that the major differences of the new tablet PCs compared to the previous model are their size, specifications and technologies. Since the new tablet PCs have a higher resolution, Apple has demanded the design of the light source to be changed from a single LED light bar to two LED light bars on the left and right sides of the machine, but since the method of adopting two LED light bars has created difficulty in shrinking the machine’s thickness, some vendors have come out with designs that only adopt one light bar, but are packing two LED chips into one package. The sources pointed out that the J2 project seems to be an upgrade version of the J1 and although Apple has not yet decided which project will be used for the final launch, Apple is likely to make the final decision based on its needs. As for the upstream side, the component suppliers have already conducted pilot production and prepared for mass production.

The report said Apple is yet to choose between the J1 and J2 model, but it seems like the J2 is actually just the 3G model (the J2 reference was found alongside other CDMA iOS devices) and it is possible that there is a J1, but that has not been found in the iOS 5 code. The J2 iPad 3 being found in iOS 5 code means the device is actually in testing right now against an iOS 5 software release. In fact, the J2 codename has been floating around since the initial betas of iOS 5.0. In addition – as you can see in the screenshot above – there is an unknown T39 device also in testing. I’m not sure what the T39 is but it likely is a device that can connect to cellular networks.

Let it sn0w.

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