It seems that rumors of a fall release for the iPad 3 can finally be laid to rest.
Taiwan-based DigiTimes reported late Monday that the iPad 3’s supply schedule for the second half of 2011 has been canceled by Apple. A supply volume of 1.5 to 2 million units for the third quarter and 5 to 6 million units for the fourth quarter had been planned.
It seems that the delay is related to issues concerning the introduction of an improved screen resolution, what Cupertino-based Apple call the Retina display. The high resolution screen was first seen with the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010.
The DigiTimes report says: “The sources believe that the yield rate of the 9.7-inch panel that feature resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 may be the major reason of the supply delay since such panels are mainly supplied by Japan-based Sharp with a high price and Apple’s other supply partners Samsung Electronics and LG Display are both unable to reach a good yield.” The current iPad has a screen resolution of 1024×768.
Also, a higher-resolution iPad would require a significantly larger backlight source and “a single edge light bar is hardly able to reach satisfaction levels,” the report says.
So now that we can say with some assurance that the iPad 3 looks set for release some time in 2012, the rumor mill can once again give its full attention to the launch date of the highly anticipated next-generation iPhone. It’ll likely be happening in the fall but is still, of course, the subject of much speculation….and rumor.
