You wanna see what the front of the iPad 3 is going to look like?
The iPad 3 is going to look a lot like iPad 2—until you turn it on, that is. If the purported iPad 3 front glass spy shot on the right is an indication, the third-generation iPad (rumored for the March 7 unveiling) will sport almost identical appearance to its predecessor. Discovered by Apple.pro, a usually reliable source for Apple hardware rumors, the front glass part shows literally the same 9.7-inch size and shape as the iPad 2, even down to the home button and the round bezel. Compared to the iPad 2 digitizer assembly seen below, iPad 3 clearly has a longer ribbon cable going all the way to the side of the display. Apart from this aspect, the iPad 3’s front is mostly indistinguishable from iPad 2. It is widely assumed the iPad 3 will rock a 2,048-by-1, 536 pixel resolution display, and a set of manufacturing spy shots suggest that—surprisingly—Samsung is manufacturing those high-resolution displays and not Sharp or LG Display, as previously thought.
As Apple does not keep all its eggs in the same basket, the company could (and probably will) source iPad 3 panels from multiple suppliers. Interestingly, Samsung’s board of directors approved plans today to spin the company’s LCD display business into a new entity. The wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, the new company is now called Samsung Display Company and it will merge with Samsung Mobile Display and S-LCD to improve competitiveness. The South Korean consumer electronics conglomerate said in a statement: “The display market is undergoing rapid chances with OLED panels expected to fast replace LCD panels to become the mainstream.”
Now, some media outlets speculate Apple will make a mistake by advertising iPad 3 as Retina-capable, arguing a 2,048-by-1, 536 display does not meet Apple’s Retina specifications. We deconstruct this myth right after the break.
