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Apple Gearing Up for 'iPad 2 Plus' Release Later This Year?

I still thing the name will be iPad 2 Pro. Don't have any sources talking to me but my stomache.

Retina, better cameras and higher price will be what Santa Claus will give me for Xmas.

Storage I can't see getting increased. With iCloud at the horizon.
 
Could present some advantages.

The original iPad came in right at the end of the iPhone OS 3.x era, and the iPad 2 was released with iOS 4.3, with iOS 4.x already being quite mature. Shifting the iPad later in the year would align it to the start of an OS cycle; this may or may not be a factor for some parties.
Also, it baffles me that the iPad comes out with the same proc as the forthcoming iPhone but half the RAM. Wtf? Is this down to component cost? A shift to later in the year may help with this, but that's a fairly outside statement to make so I put the disclaimer here.

On the other hand, putting the iPad release alongside the iPhone releases causes congestion at the end of the year (along with iPods, in whatever form they take in the future) with virtually nothing in the Spring save possible Mac hardware updates. I can see the logic in the iPhone and iPod Touch releases being aligned since there isn't much difference between them and the iPhone had been taking up too much time at the WWDC keynote for too long, but the addition of the iPad doesn't make business sense when it's selling so well; the ideal situation would be to balance revenue across the year as far as you can control (excluding the obvious upturn in sales at Christmas).

Ah well. Another day, another iPad/iPhone rumour.
 
No more analyst 'news' items please...

Until a single one of these morons ever proves right about anything.

Thanks
 
300dpi?

You know all these games are now maxing out the new GFX chip in the iPad 2 by driving a big flat panel tv like Real Racing 2 etc... Will the current graphics chip be able to drive this new resolution and these tv's as promised or would they have to throw in a newer graphics board?
 
Stetrain said:
I wonder if this would be a case of selling both at the same time. The current iPad 2 stays at the current price or even drops a very small amount, the iPad 2 Plus would start at a higher price and maybe go up to 128gb at the top end.
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I've been pondering this exact idea for a while. Reduce the regular iPad2 just a bit, and offer the 2+ a bit higher. The retina display would inspire a lot of upgrades, even at a higher price. A lower-priced stock iPad 2 would put competitors further behind the 8-ball.

They could also do an iPhone-like maneuver, and limit the standard iPad2 configuration to just 16 gB Wifi at a lower price, and have the iPad 2+ offer the full suite of configurations, to push all but the most price-conscious buyers there.

Meanwhile, I can't help agreeing with those who say that Apple has no reason to do this given that they can't keep up with demand as it is. However, remember that Apple sometimes loves to replace products at their peak, see the iPod mini -> nano transition.

Doing this this year would be a serious knee to the groin of every other company that is trying to compete in the tablet space.
 
So I guess it's absolutely preposterous for theses analysts to assume that maybe Apple is shopping for iPad 3 screens? Every time Apple gets a quote for a part that means it's going immediately into, "Something"?
 
Does anyone perhaps think that what they're seeing may be Apple looking to get a head start on iPad 3 supplies? As others have already said Apple is still having difficulty keeping up with iPad 2 demand.

One thing that would make sense would be (after super secret apple number crunching) would be to get a jump on production to avoid the kind of back log and rather dangerous launch day/week of the iPad 2. Keep the skalpers from killing each other in line.
 
darthraige said:
"This is the year of the iPad 2." -Steve Jobs
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Why do people keep referring to this Steve Jobs quote? This from the same person who said 'no' to video on iPods...said that there is no need to "add new stuff" to the iPod Touch...who said "we need to look at the tablet, and we think it is going to fail".

Just because Steve Jobs said something doesn't mean that it will/won't happen.
 
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cameras?

theelysium said:
They better put real cameras in it this time!

These crappy .97 & .05 pixels are a joke!
Click to expand...

Who really uses these cameras? Definitely not the people that actually care about camera quality so I say keep the cameras crappy and concentrate on some more business oriented features.
 
darthraige said:
"This is the year of the iPad 2." -Steve Jobs
Click to expand...

"We will be at 3GHz in 12 months" - Steve Jobs on the G5
"...Nobody reads anymore" - Steve Jobs before Apple had an iBookstore

Things change. It's often the truth at the time, but the market can change quickly. If they are able to get a better price on an improved component, they will
 
Mba

I want to see the refreshed MBA, Mac mini, MacBook and Mac Pro

iPad is good for now, we can wait till next year March 2012.

Why so rush like Android tablets are selling like hot cakes. Android phones are different though. :D
 
I'm pulling for a iPad Pro with a higher-res (retina like) display and a switchable Wacom screen to allow either touch input and allow for touch to be disabled to use Wacom tech.

However, if this iPad Plus comes to fruition, it is most likely going to be a small spec change, going to Sprint radios or something like that.
 
quizdogg said:
Who really uses these cameras? Definitely not the people that actually care about camera quality so I say keep the cameras crappy and concentrate on some more business oriented features.
Click to expand...

Skype +Camera is good.

there are many who is using iPad as their only tablet or whatever ...
 
If they really released a "premium version" with a higher resolution screen but with the same CPU and graphics, wouldn't it affect performance and battery life?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I call iPad 2 Pro and a ton of mad iPad owners.
 
I truly believe an iPad 2+ will be released around the time of iOS 5.

The only major differences will be the Retina Display, and better cameras.

It will be a premium product with 32 and 64 gb capacities, and will start at $799 for 32 gb wifi only.

The 64 gb iPad 2+ wifi&3g will go for $929. :eek:

--

When the iPad 3 lands next far, it will have the same upgraded display and cameras, but drop down to replace iPad 2 in pricing.
 
Makes some sense.

I don't understand the need to stay on an annual mid-spring refresh. If anytime makes the most sense, it would be closer to the start of the back-to-school season and closer to the holiday buying season when the refresh seems, er, fresher on buyers' minds. :p

Further, with the competitors flailing as they are, better to capitalize on the iPad's current lead and leave the rip-offs further in the dust if components (ex. higher res displays) are more economic to incorporate.
 
mattwolfmatt said:
Who cares what he said? Do you really think one slide at a keynote will dictate a multi billion dollar corporation's product release schedule?

If it's the right time and they want to do it, they'll release it.
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No, but I think a multi billion dollar corporation's product release cycle can dictate a slide at a keynote.

Don't you think Steve would know a rough estimate of when a next generation iPad would be released at the time of the keynote? Of course he would! They outline these things in advance, and although things don't always go according to plan (White iPhone 4), I think he would know if his company was going to release the next generation iPad during the time of the keynote. Considering when the keynote was and when this RUMORED (rumor, not truth) next gen iPad is to be released, I'm pretty sure Steve would know if there will be an update within the next 9-12 months at the time of the keynote.
 
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