Many rumors are popping up about iPad 2 specification in these days. It's pretty hard to believe that Apple would release a new version of the iPad without seriously updating the specs, especially now that there will be considerably more competitors in the tablet market by the time that the iPad 2 rolls around. As a royal iPad fan, I want to give my analysis about those rumors about iPad 2 specification.
9.7'' screen size
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As an iPad app developer, I can't see any info in iOS 4.3 beta that iPad 2 may have a different size screen. So I firmly believe that iPad 2 will keep 9.7'' screen.
2048*1536 resolution with iPhone 4 Retina display
No! I believe iPad's display will be improved in other ways - brighter, better power consumption, thinner, perhaps. But it's not 2048 × 1536 or any other "super high resolution".
Apple expects to sell approximate 17million iPads in 2011. It's impossible to expect a retina display at 9.7 inch with that many units. Keeping the screen at 1024×768 allows Apple to keep its price advantage over other tablet PC while keeping high margins. Though there are some other tablet PCs will have better than 132 dpi resolution, but Apple will beat them in other ways.
SD card slot in iPad 2
No! No any Apple products have ever SD card slot, neither will iPad 2. Apple needs customer to sync the data through iTunes. So SD card slot is really un-Apple!
Two cameras in iPad 2 - 5MP rear camera and a VGA quality front camera
I think it's reasonable to have front camera in iPad 2 to support FaceTime, which has been asked by lots of iPad users. But a rear camera seems not so necessary because it will be weird to use a 9.7'' device to take photos.
dual-core A5 processor with 1G RAM memory
iPad 2 will definitely have better processor and more memory for faster and more stable performance. Dual-core processor and larger memory may impose more pressure on iPad 2 sold price, but it will bring user better experience.
New material for half-weight iPad 2
No. Apple will introduce some new nutshell material in future iPad, but for iPad 2, I suspect that. Whatever my forecast it is, and whether it's wrong or correct. In the coming March, everything will be clear. For your reference, I list my iPad 2 spec forecast and other tablet PC specs below:
