iPad 2 rumours: what you need to know

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Speculation around iPad 2 release date, specs and price

ipad rumors

The iPad 2 rumors are heating up

orlando, Florida, November 23, 2010 — The internet loves Apple and it loves ill-founded speculation, so it’s hardly surprising that iPad 2 rumours were flying before the first iPad even reached the UK.

As ever the iPad 2 release date, specifications and price are closely guarded secrets, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some juicy rumours, inspired guesses and possibly even Apple leaks to consider surrounding the next iPad.

Here’s our pick of the current iPad 2G rumours.

iPad 2 specs: cameras and a better screen

Gizmodo reckons that FaceTime support’s a given, and that means a front-facing camera like the iPhone 4. We’ll be amazed if the iPad second generation is camera-free.

iPad 2 specs: retina display

Will the gorgeous screen from the iPhone 4 make its way to the iPad? The Apple Blog thinks so: “You can be sure that Apple’s Retina Display, or something very close, will make its way to iPad”.

Then again, such a screen would massively increase the number of pixels, increasing the demands on both the iPad’s processor and its battery, so a nine-inch Retina Display probably isn’t imminent. A seven-inch might be possible, though, but that depends on

iPad 2 specs: no 7″ iPad

All of Apple’s rivals have plumped for 7-inch displays, which means their tablets are easier to hold and lighter to carry than the iPad.

Will Apple follow them into seven-inch territory? No.

Steve Jobs has slammed the idea of a 7″ tablet, saying “This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps, in our opinion.”

Jobs added: “While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.”

SMALLER IPAD: Want a smaller iPad with FaceTime and a Retina Display? Apple calls it the iPod touch

iPad 2 specs: a screen smaller than six inches?

Earlier this year DigiTimes predicted not just a seven-inch iPad 2, but a 5.6-inch iPad 2. Apparently the smaller iPads would target ebooks while the current iPad would target multimedia entertainment, “sources stated”.

But if Jobs says there won’t be a 7″ iPad 2, you can bet there won’t be a 5.6-inch one.

The same sources predicted an OLED display for the iPad 2, but the main supplier of AMOLED screens is Samsung – and even Samsung isn’t chucking OLEDs into tablets just yet.

iPad 2 specs: more memory

This is a no-brainer: the iPhone 4 has twice the memory of the iPad (512MB compared to 256MB), largely because the iPhone does multitasking. Come November, the iPad will do multitasking too and that 256MB is going to seem awfully stingy.

iPad 2 specs: a faster processor

KitGuru “has been hearing rumours from the Far East” that the iPad 2 will be a seven-inch job with a 2GHz processor and an HD video camera. It reckons the processor will be based on ARM’s Cortex A9, the 1GHz dual-core processor that you’ll find in the (possibly mythical) BlackBerry PlayBook.

iPad 2 features: printing. Hurrah!

We asked for it and Apple’s giving us it: November’s iOS update brings wireless printing to the iPad, solving a major omission.

The iPad 2 release date is probably in the Spring

Reports from Taiwan suggest that the iPad 2 release date is going to be unexpectedly early to cash in on Christmas but that seems like a reach: the first generation iPad is still flying off the shelves, so there’s no reason for Apple to rush. Early 2011 seems like a much better bet, and it fits with Apple’s annual product cycle: the first iPad was announced in January and shipped in the spring.

The iPad 2 price won’t change much

Unless there’s a new seven-inch model we’ll be amazed if the iPad 2 price is dramatically lower than the model it replaces: Apple isn’t struggling to shift units abd rivals are charging similar prices. Cheapo tablets do exist, but they’re rubbish.