iPad 3 – smaller dock connector planned?

Late yesterday there were reports that Apple were set to release the iPad 3 as early as March, but with a smaller dock connector. This would lead to issues with a plethora of existing products. I decided to try and get confirmation from a source I have, close to Apple.

Japanese blog site Macotakara are citing a ‘reliable Asian source' who says that the next generation tablet is being rushed into production soon our sources in Taipei have not heard about a new connector dock being incorporated into the iPad 3.

Rumors circulated that the new dock will be smaller, but will have the same number of pins as the current iPad. This would obviously effect all products that slot into this port, including chargers and other peripherals.

Our source in Taipei says the dock connector has not been listed as having changed in size and that it would be a bad move for Apple to change this as many customers might halt on a purchase if they had to replace all their partnering devices.

The release date does seem set for March 2012, and there is still an ongoing discussion on whether Apple will release the iPad 3 with the 2048×1536 Retina display. This would be a huge selling point for Apple, and we know that they have already worked out a deal for the new panels.

Will Apple change the dock size? Obviously nothing is confirmed, especially by Apple, but our sources seem to know nothing about the move and it would seem unlikely for Apple as it could alienate a huge portion of the audience who rely on the connector to work with various peripherals.

Kitguru says: We do hope the iPad 3 makes it out of the gate with the super high resolution screen. We wonder how it will affect the price points however.

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