iPad 3 with LTE, Quad-Core Processor and Retina Display Set for March Launch

[mrklaw]

I've been saying to my friends for some months that the iPad 3 will have the roughly the same form factor and battery life as the iPad 2; however, it will have a quad-core CPU, better cameras and a retina display. As for LTE, I think it is still too power hungry and Apple will not compromise and put that into their product until they can get a low-power LTE chipset.

That being said, I'm starting to cave a little on the quad-core CPU. I think Apple could release an iPad 2S with just the retina display and better cameras and get away with that for one more year. We shall see soon enough.



--DotComCTO

If its not quad core, I'm buying an iPad 2. Retina display plus same processor/GPU as iPad 2 means less power per pixel available for games. Thats bad news IMO for developers and consumers, as it muddies the waters for the addressable market.

ipad 2 brought lots more power which is only being leveraged by some developers, but I hoped that would continue with iPad 3. But if they suck up all that power driving a 4x screen, we're actually going backwards.

I can understand why they might do it, if retina is the main marketing point, but I don't have a problem with the screen on the iPad 1, I just want more power.

 

[ChrisSD]

Can't wait. Day one buy, especially if Apple launches a major textbook initiative for College students next week.

 

[justperry]

Processing power and RAM are unrelated. RAM is needed to store the data and the processor (CPU / GPU) are used to process the data.

More RAM is useful for lots of things. You can multi-task between more jobs without the OS having to kill and restart them. More tabs can be open in the browser without having to be reloaded.

Most importantly, more RAM also is better for future proofing devices. My original iPad worked fine until the iOS5 update. The reason it is sluggish now is mostly because iOS5 uses a lot more memory (about 200 of the 256MB are used by the RAM which only leaves a sliver for the applications). Often, old computers can have their life extended by simply adding more memory.

Higher resolution graphics do demand more RAM as well as the graphics need to be stored in memory (both the screen graphics by the OS as well as images that are being manipulated by the apps).

Well said, but as many members on this site tells us, more ram will decrease battery life.

What?
That is not true, they are related, ever tried to run OS X on 256MB, slow hey.
The speed of the processor is not affected but since it has to wait longer for the data it will be slower, reading from VM on the disk is a lot slower than adding more RAM so that it can read directly from there.

I have Leopard 10.5.5 running on an AppleTv with 256MB RAM, it works but man it is slow, so you are wrong.

 

[permol]

As for LTE, I think it is still too power hungry and Apple will not compromise and put that into their product until they can get a low-power LTE chipset.

--DotComCTO

You seem to know facts, so let me ask: what is the expected power consumption of an LTE-chipset? As compared to 3G/GSM chipset used in the iPad/iPhone? and what is the market for "low-power LTE-chipsets" and what are their specs?

 

[justperry]

With so many tiny pixels, how will the OCD people find the dead ones?

They don't need to since they are so small a human eye can't see.
So, even if there are dead pixels you won't notice.

 

[chochazel]

What?
That is not true, they are related, ever tried to run OS X on 256MB, slow hey.
The speed of the processor is not affected but since it has to wait longer for the data it will be slower, reading from VM on the disk is a lot slower than adding more RAM so that it can read directly from there.

I have Leopard 10.5.5 running on an AppleTv with 256MB RAM, it works but man it is slow, so you are wrong.

The reason that low memory slows down OSX is that OSX uses the hard drive as virtual memory. The less RAM you have, the more OSX uses the hard drive. Given that a spinning hard drive is many times slower than RAM, this slows down the computer.

iOS does not work in the same way. There is no swap file as there is on OSX. Developers must ensure their apps work within defined memory limits. Flash memory is used to store app states so you can restart at the same place, but this doesn't slow down general operation like a swap file does, and the iPad's flash memory is many times faster than a physical hard drive anyway.

 

[Exhale]

I don't know anything technical about display resolutions, but how would 1080p or a 720p video look on a Retina Display?
Would it become pixelated at all?

You should be far more concerned about the lossy compression.

Compressing a 1.11 gigabit stream to a maybe 5 megabit stream is not going to leave pixel quality undamaged. (thats 0.5% of the original filesize)

what is the expected power consumption of an LTE-chipset? and what is the market for "low-power LTE-chipsets" and what are their specs?

Its hard to give exact numbers, but every LTE device in existance has demonstrated considerably reduced battery life with the LTE ability activated. Note that its enough to just be in standby.

Theres a big market for lower efficiency LTE chips, problem is they're still being researched and developed. Its a matter of non-existing tech.

 

[Dr McKay]

Quad core make no sense. Are iPad apps hurting for processing power? Is the power consumption price of four cores worth paying for? The only reason I could see Apple doing this is because they need the extra cores to drive the GPU that's pushing the retina display.

No, but newer apps will arrive that utilize this new available horse-power, and expand in capability.

Even older ones will simply load faster, making your time spent on the iPad more efficient and speedier. Apple has been leading the tablet market in specs and features and they don't want to lag behind now Quad-Core rival tablets are soon to ship, with more on the horizon.

 

[igazza]

i want a 7 inch iPad.

 

[Speedy2]

Verizon has made LTE a requirement for all new products going forward. It is also assumed that they made such a requirement because they know that is in Apple's iDevice's future as well.

"From now on, nearly every smartphone, wireless hot spot, tablet, and Netbook that Verizon offers will come with LTE guns a-blazing. Yes, Virginia, that includes Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices, too. "

NEARLY every. They went on to mention 3G push-to-talk phones, but they didn't say that these would be the only exceptions. I would say that's a very nice loophole. Verizon has zero chance to ignore a 3G iPad 3 unless they want to hurt their profits.

Anyway, Apple doesn't give a rat's ass about Verizon's requirements. Tablets are primarily sold by retailers (Apple, BestBuy etc) and not by Verizon and you can use any network you like. There is also no requirement or even a habit of having 2 year contracts for a tablet.
Besides, it's not that Verizon suddenly has no 3G network anymore. The vast majority of their customers are still on 3G.

So, no, not a 'requirement' at all.

 

[janstett]

Quad core make no sense. Are iPad apps hurting for processing power? Is the power consumption price of four cores worth paying for? The only reason I could see Apple doing this is because they need the extra cores to drive the GPU that's pushing the retina display.

The iOS devices will continue their march towards desktop performance territory to the point where I forsee them cannibalizing the traditional Mac desktops within 5 years.

 

[NutsNGum]

For the first time ever, I'll be in the queue the night before.

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

I will probably be on board myself. I would like to see a thinner bezel.

Otherwise I am not exactly sure what changes they could make to a tablet. There really is not an unlimited amount of options for tablet computers.

 

[Luis Ortega]

The iOS devices will continue their march towards desktop performance territory to the point where I forsee them cannibalizing the traditional Mac desktops within 5 years.

Well, they will need to provide much better connectivity and a file management system if they ever want to be taken seriously as a computer replacement.

 

[Speedy2]

A15 chips, from what the makers are promising, are blazing fast and likely to easily triumph the quadcore A9s for the most tasks even with just two cores, especially for the tasks we normally use iOS devices for, such as web browsing and games.

Games care much more for the GPU and web browsing can hardly become any faster as it is already. At the moment the "worst" part of the iPad browsing experience is that pages have to reload quite often because the device is frequently out of memory!!

In the vast majority of cases, it doesn't matter one bit if it's an A9 or A15 core. You guys are thinking too much of tablets like they were desktop computers.

 

[patseguin]

My money is ready and waiting!

 

[Speedy2]

First of all, from an aesthetic standpoint Metro looks more fresh & modern. iOS was modern-looking for its time but it's starting to show its age.

Social network integration in Windows Phone & Win8 is second to none. There's no need for separate apps. All your conversations be it SMS, Facebook, Linkdn can be accessed in the People's Hub.

Inter-app communication or file / data sharing between apps (Win8 Contracts feature) is head & shoulders better than iOS. I don't think iOS even has this right now.

You are right. Office will probably be available for iOS, so I left that part out.

So basically you have two main selling points for Windows 8:
Integration into a few specific social networks and inter-app file sharing.
Wow.

I'm sure that's gonna get people to forget about the wildly inconsistent UI and the fact that there are no apps for it. /sarcasm

I do agree that the look of iOS feels a bit rusty, but that's nothing that couldn't be fixed with a few fresh widgets and UI elements. I disagree that the basic approach to tailor everything around apps is outdated. It's very easyto grasp for non-IT people and keeps things consistent and clear. They'll probably make the dashboard a little bit more flexible, but that's gonna be it. Everything else would be a mistake in my opinion.
But hey, you know what? If you don't like it, there's plenty of competition! Hooray.

----------

I'd like to see Apple deliver a sandbox friendly way to have applications communicate.

It's called the internet...

----------

Right now in the tablet space that product is undoubtedly the iPad but a Windows 8 tablet / ultrabook running on an Intel-based processor could trump that for the simple reason that a user will be able to run all the legacy apps they currently rely on plus the new Metro-style apps.

Right now, Intel is entirely unable to produce any competitive tablet processors. Based on their track record and their roadmap, this won't change for the next few years. Before the iPad became a success, they had been hoping for too long that, naturally, mobile devices would all be running Windows and that there'd be no competion for them. Well, they got that wrong, and now they have to start from the scratch to get it right since Atom is simply a bad design.

Anyway, legacy apps make no sense on a tablet, since using them with touch gestures is a massive pain.

 

[Exhale]

I'm sure that's gonna get people to forget about the wildly inconsistent UI

Wildly inconsistent?

this won't change for the next few years.

Depends on how testing of that mobile phone x86 processor goes that was demonstrated a few days ago. Odds are stacked against them though.

It's called the internet...

Who was it that was talking about inconsistency a minute ago?

Another example: locate a smooth flat surface. Now drop two grains of salt on it. Can your fingertip feel the difference in height?

Bad example, as you're introducing an immediate anomalous difference.

Can you tell the difference between 60 FPS and 120FPS on a film reel of a beach? No you can't. Can you tell the difference if the image is of a high motion action shot? Probably. Likewise, most people can extremely easily detect if the framerate is changing, thats usually actual disruptive effect that 'low framerate' causes in games. Consistent 30FPS is typically more enjoyable than a variable 30-60FPS.

 

[jlc1978]

Another example: locate a smooth flat surface. Now drop two grains of salt on it. Can your fingertip feel the difference in height?

If human hands and eyes were so poor in seeing small differences, there would be no brain surgeons on this planet.

While I agree with you on the ability to detect small differences; the real issue is will such a difference be noticed over time? In general, the answer is no - people become used to the new dimensions and they then feel normal. So, unless you use an iPad2 and the (mythical slightly thicker) iPad3 interchangeably and swap often enough to retain the memory of the iPad2's thickness you will not likely notice the difference.

For me, I'd like a retina display iPad that could act as a portable 2cd monitor for my MBP so I could display a whole A4 or 8x10 sheet of paper on it and edit documents a page at a time.

Well, they will need to provide much better connectivity and a file management system if they ever want to be taken seriously as a computer replacement.

While that would be nice, I'm not sure it is necessary as long as there is good file interoperability. Most people who I have worked with, over various industries, use their laptop to:

1) Check email (generally via Outlook)
2) Write using Word
3) Put together Presentations (Powerpoint)
4) Use Excel

An IPad can already do that, albeit without MS native aps. If the Office suite was available on an iPad, then an iPad would be a viable light weight, cost effective alternative. To me, the real limitation is storage memory; especially if you wind up storing an entire mail file, with attachments, locally. My work files backup, which includes a .pst file and all my work documents is pushing 30+GBs, so a low end iPad would not have the storage for me to replace my MBP. I could move to a different storage model, such as cloud/server/iPad but that negates the "I have it here, anywhere" factor.

Still, an iPad with 64GBs and Office would be a great "through in the briefcase and leave the MBP at home" device. If it had the ability to attach to a projector and do presentations like on the MBP w/Powerpoint it wold be even better. I'd probably toss a keyboard in my bag, for longer editing sessions, and would love Apple to add a mouse driver that mimics the touchscreen functionality.
While I am dreaming, why not add a virtual laser pointe - touch a location on the iPad display and the projected display highlights the chosen section. Write on the projected image by writing on the iPad display. Sort of an electronic white board.
Damn, I want one now.

 

[deconstruct60]

You seem to know facts, so let me ask: what is the expected power consumption of an LTE-chipset? As compared to 3G/GSM chipset used in the iPad/iPhone? and what is the market for "low-power LTE-chipsets" and what are their specs?

There seems to be lots of folks comparing apples to oranges. The iPad is not a phone. All it needs is a data modem. It doesn't do either legacy or LTE voice. There are already parts on the market that do that (e.g., power LTE modem products with a Qualcomm MDM9600 )

There is some credible speculation that Apple is waiting on the 28nm based LTE with voice solutions for the iPhone. For example:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4925/why-no-lte-iphone-5-blame-28nm-maturity
The MDM9615 also adds TD-SCDMA ( http://www.qualcomm.com/media/relea...-market-ltedc-hspa-chipsets-mobile-broadband- ) So , if pandering to the proprietary Chinese market is an issue, that would be another upside to waiting.


While it might boost Apple's profit margins to just use one solution for both (e.g., a MDM9615 in iPad3 and iPhone5), there is not a huge technical raise why. One of the factors of "LTE having power demands" is not that it is LTE radio per se, but the fact you need two solutions to the problem (both a LTE and legacy radio). In the modem, context you don't. Indeed, if both iPads and iPhones sell in huge numbers it might make sense not to soak up MDM9615 availability with iPads.

It is more a cost and time problem because Apple will have to build and qualify two different radios if go with a separate solution for the iPad3. That will cost them more money. Additionally, Apple can probably get the part, MDM9615, cheaper if buy it in larger bulk.

P.S. if people are worried about FDD-LTE vs. TDD-LTE ... gobi 4000 is available.

http://www.qualcomm.com/media/relea...-availability-gobi-4000-platform-4g-lte-conne

it is a modem looking for in iPad; not a phone.

 

[CJM]

I love my iPad so much I'll definitely be getting the upgrade.

 

[GeekLawyer]

For the first time ever, I'll be in the queue the night before.

Bring some eggs. Just in case.

 

[therockyroad]

.
While I am dreaming, why not add a virtual laser pointe - touch a location on the iPad display and the projected display highlights the chosen section. Write on the projected image by writing on the iPad display. Sort of an electronic white board.
Damn, I want one now.

No need the dream. Keynote for iPad already has a virtual pointer just like you described. I presented at a Hospital seminar recently - left the MBP at home for the first time and took the iPad and its VGA adaptor. It was great.

 

[ChrisTX]

I purchased the iPad 1, and though meh, no need for an iPad 2. But alas I purchased an iPad 2 anyway. Can't wait to see what the iPad 3 brings to the table!

 

[Kris400]

I would have a hard time believing it would be thicker, but it's definitely more likely now than it would have been a few years ago. Steve Jobs would never have let a regression like that happen. They made a huge deal out of the second one being so much thinner. Heads would have rolled if the engineers tried to tell him that they needed to make the new one thicker.

1mm is barely noticeable, if at all. Steve Jobs did let such a redesign happen - with the iPhone 3G, which was ever so slightly thicker than the original iPhone. Interesting that this was also when they introduced an ability to work with new networks (3G).