Top Rumors We Heard About iPad 2 So Far

Apple's original iPad

There’s something about the iPad that keeps the whole media talking about what the next generation iPad will be like, how much the original has sold, how many iPad 2’s Apple plans to sell in 2011 and so on. We’ve heard so many rumors regarding this product so far that we can even make a sort of top out of them.

Actually, that’s exactly what we’re here to do. It’s not exactly a top, it’s more of a list of all significant rumors in no particular order. PcMag has recently gathered up all of these rumors and classified them and we’ll list them for your enjoyment. There’s so many of them that we’re willing to bet at least a few are true. This will serve as a good indicator to what you can expect to see from Apple’s upcoming tablet. Industry analysts are already talking about how this particular tablet will ship in great numbers (roughly 40 million) next year. Other sources report that Apple is already ready to order 65 million iPad screens for 2011. While this number sounds completely unrealistic, I guess you never know until you live to see it.

Three Different iPad 2 versions

As most of you know, the original iPad comes in two versions, one with WiFi and one with WiFi and 3G, each of which come in multiple storage capacities. The actual 3G part on the tablet is limited to AT&T’s service. DigiTimes has recently reported that this is bound to change and the iPad 2 will actually be released in three versions: WiFi, GSM and CDMA. There’ll apparently even be a shipment ratio of 3:4:3. That would make sense. Apple should start shipping all of the previous in January which basically means that the devices will start selling in stores in April next year. The timeframe seems about right but we can’t really confirm this information and while we can all agree that DigiTimes has often proved a reliable source of information, when it comes to rumors it’s sometimes hit and sometimes miss.

How does this tie in with other rumors? Well, with the tablet becoming available through multiple retailers (which will probably include carriers with CDMA technology such as Verizonand Sprint), that large number of iPad devices that are expected to ship during 2011 is making a bit more sense. What Apple may have also learned is that it’s a bad idea to impose silly limitation upon potential customers. They should get to choose their network and they should get to choose their preferred technology. Nevertheless a CDMA iPad will be interesting to see. We’ve yet to see an iPhone of the same flavor, since the handset is only sold through AT&T, unfortunately for people who don’t like that particular wireless carrier very much.

iPad 2 To Borrow Some Features From Its Smartphone Brother

This is probably one of the most believable rumors we’ve heard so far. Yes, the following version of the iPad will most likely have two cameras. We’re somewhat surprised that the first one didn’t. Well, in a way it makes sense because Apple can now add a camera as an improvement and all current iPad users will want an upgrade. This means that the company would be selling the same product all over again, with more excitement on the part of customers, strictly for adding a camera. The camera on the front is said to be VGA while the camera on the back will apparently be a 5 megapixel one. No talk about extra stuff such as flash or what kind of video it can pull. The info comes from several sources, including Reuters, who reported that the Cupertino-based company has already ordered parts from Taiwanese camera component makers Genius Electronic Optical and Largan Precision. The report didn’t mention for which device the components were being purchased, however. For all we know, it could be anything. Then again, adding all these pieces together, it’d be semi-safe to say that they in fact are for the iPad.

On top of that, other publications suggest that the new iPad will feature the three-axle gyroscope found in the iPhone 4, which is in more simple words a set of spinning wheels that’s used to detect the orientation of tilts and spins. So how do we feel about this whole bi-cam thing? Well, Apple is trying to add FaceTime to nearly anything it can get its hands on. We’re surprised we didn’t see some of the competition’s smartphones running the software. Joking aside, Apple can’t afford to not put a camera on a new iPad. All people want one.

An USB Port will be added

This one, I’d definitely like to see but I’m not holding my breath to be honest. According to DigiTimes the IPad 2 will feature a MicroUSB port which will mean that users will be able to connect it to different types of devices as well as computers. My personal view on this is that Apple seems to have trouble in adding USB ports even to its computers, so can we expect something different from a portable device? Some reports suggest that the European Commission will require all smartphones and regular mobile phones to adopt a standard micro-USB charging connector since January 2011. Even then though, the iPad doesn’t exactly fit in the “smartphone” category so I’m not sure how this is relevant.

A 7 Inch Flavor

I’m tempted to go ahead and rule this one out immediately but I’ll talk about it strictly because it was a major topic of discussion for a long time. Some people were actually quite fond of the idea that there might be a smaller, more portable iPad. Several iPad owners complained that the device is slightly on the large side. The rumors regarding the 7 inch iPad were virtually pouring all over the web for months. Then Steve Jobs came along in October to share his view on the 7 inch form factor. “The 7-inch tablets are tweeners,” he said which meant that they are too big to compete with smartphones but much too small to compete with the tablet standard Apple has already introduced on the market, of 10 inches.

He then proceeded to speaking about how people would need to sandpaper their fingers down to a quarter of their size to make use of a screen that’s pretty much half as big as the iPad’s screen if you were to split it’s screen in half while it’s horizontal. Usually when Jobs says something about something and it’s negative, then you probably won’t ever get to see Apple release a product with that characteristic. I’ll tend to rule this one out as there’s little chance it will happen. But who knows, maybe it was all a stunt to mislead readers and keep them from knowing that the Cupertino-based company is actually working on a smaller iPad. Take the later phrase with a huge grain of salt, please.

Apple Ordered 65 Million Screens

We’ve talked about this yesterday. The rumor started from DigiTimes who claimed that the company was getting ready to order 65 million iPad screens to have them ready for next year. Shortly after Fortune posted its opinion on the matter. The publication mentioned that DigiTimes is a pretty reliable source of information regarding Apple because of its ability to keep in contact with the company’s Asian supply chain but this recent report is definitely not credible. We even got to set our eyes on some charts showing just how much growth the iPad would have to record for Apple to manage to sell 65 million units in 2011. For the record, the iPhone sold roughly 41 million units in several years, since its release. Other sources expect Apple to sell around the 40 million mark.

In this case, maybe the publication actually meant 6.5 million displays? It would make some sense tied with this following piece of information : Daniel Tello predicts sales of about 6.541 million for the first quarter of 2011. Maybe somehow things got mixed up and there were actually 6.5 million iPad screens Apple was planning to buy, strictly for the first quarter.

Wide-Range Speakers on the Back and SD card slot

This is coming from a Chinese source who told Japanese blogger Mac Otakara that there’s a hole in the lower right side of the rear panel which is neither a connector nor a SD card slot. Reportedly, it is a large, wide-range speaker unit that’s covered with metal mesh. There was a mockup photo accompanying this information but we can’t really know for sure whether the details are accurate.

Another source claims that the iPad two will include several pretty significant improvements. Amongst them will be a dual-core processor with a pair of 1Ghz ARM Cortex A9 cores and an SD Card slot. Again, I wouldn’t hold my breath on the inclusion of any connectivity/expansion technologies that Apple doesn’t commonly use in its product devices. While it may happen, it’s highly unlikely. The dual core processor, however, is pretty easy to believe. Several other tablets that will be released on the market soon will have significantly higher performance than Apple’s iPad. That’s why for the next generation of the tablet, better hardware has to be in the mix.

Anti-Smudge, Anti-Reflective Screen

As I write this I can’t help but giggle because I tend to remember a recent Kindle commercial where Amazon tried to point out that people can read books on their e-reader outside, in the sun, while iPad users can’t see anything on the screen of their device. That’s one of the main advantages people give when they talk about the Kindle. Well, this may have caused Apple to want to change the type of display on its upcoming tablet. Anti-smudge is quite likely, anti-reflection not so much. The iPad doesn’t really “want” to be an e-reader and I doubt it will act like one. For this particular reason Apple will probably be more preoccupied with delivering a screen with better image,

You can already find cases

A site called Alibaba.com from China (where fake iPhones come from) has displayed cases and leather bags for iPad 2 already. Naturally, this made people look into things and wonder what the tablet will look like and what its measurements will be. PCMag has also learned about a popular silicone case that has a horizontal slit cut-out on the top of the backside which is said to be for the camera and speaker on the back. Accessory makers often came up with products before the release of one of Apple’s new generation devices. That’s sometimes how the media figures out what we’re supposed to expect. Sadly none of the products displayed so far mentioned anything regarding size or specs.

That pretty much sums up all of the important rumors that became available on the web so far. We still don’t know when the iPad 2 will make its appearance and wow us all with its new and highly exciting specifications (we hope), but expect it will happen right on schedule (Apple’s schedule) which means sometime between January and April of 2011.11