Apple at Work on iPad 3; Expect Higher-Res Display and Early 2012 Release Date

Just in time for the weekend, a new iPad 3 rumor has surfaced. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is gearing up on production of its next tablet, with orders already placed for display panels and chips. The company will apparently begin trial production on the tablet starting in October.

According to the WSJ, the iPad 3 will boast a high-resolution Retina 2048 x 1536 screen (compared to 1024 x 768 on the iPad 2) and maintain the 9.7-inch display size. Anonymous sources say the tablet will launch in early 2012, though no one has spoken on the record about the official release date.

As the tablet market continues to heat up, Apple is clearly mindful of the competition, and a higher-res display certainly ups the ante. While this latest report merely confirms the rumored Retina display, the timeline for the iPad 3′s path to market is firming up—and we’re sure more news won’t be far behind.

via The Wall Street Journal