iPad 2 rumoured for April 2011

An analyst with Gleacher and Company said that the Apple iPad 2 might be on sale in April of 2011. This would tie in well with information from Taipei that Apple have already named three suppliers for printed circuit boards for the new product.

“TTM, Tripod and Ibiden have received their certification from Apple and will start shipping any layer HDI boards for the iPad 2 in small quantities in December”, said Jessie Shen for Digitimes.

Four additional suppliers could be added around February 2011, say various other sources, meaning that the product could very well be produced in the first quarter.

“Since I'm projecting that Apple will release a CDMA iPhone in March, both will help to equalize Apple's seasonality,” explained Gleacher & Company's Brian Marshall in an interview with Computerworld.

While this is all very interesting, the real meat and bones of the new product will be in what is added to the core design. We can expect a dual camera setup for video chatting as well as extra memory and the faster Cortex A9 CPU for more intense games. There is also a rumour that a mini USB connector might replace the current docking port. Many analysts expect that the iPad 2 will be lighter and thinner, however this is all just educated speculation right now.

Whatever happens you can be sure it will sell well, because a core portion of the Apple user base will purchase the new device.

KitGuru says: Expect plenty of eBay auctions in 2011.

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