14 DAY TRIAL // Speculation regarding a mystery port presumably found on Apple’s iPad 2 now includes the possibility of Apple building Light Peak support inside its next-generation tablet computer.
Light Peak is a proprietary optical cable interface designed by Intel to connect devices in a peripheral bus. The technology has a high bandwidth at 10 Gbit/s, with the potential to scale to 100 Gbit/s.
Several high-profile Mac-centric blogs and rumor sites have weighed in on the matter based on the design particularities of alleged iPad 2 cases.
The makers of these protective cases and sleeves, who are believed to have obtained accurate physical specs pertaining to the iPad 2, have been keeping themselves busy over the past few months, developing accessories that are said to fit Apple’s forthcoming tablet computer.
Many of these boast one or more openings, holes, or seams (whatever terminology you prefer) which seem to indicate the presence of new connectivity ports, in addition to the standard 30-pin Apple connector.
Most recently, speculation has centered around the possibility of a Light Peak connector making its way into the second-generation iPad.
MacRumors connected the dots, following reports of Light Peak-enabled MacBook Pros, and proposed a theory to justify the presence of a mystery port believed to be present on the Apple iPad 2.
The theory stems from analyzing "early iPad 2 case designs from third-party manufacturers” (image above).
With Apple reportedly planning to introduce its new Light Peak-based high-speed interconnect technology soon, this could help explain the presence of a new connector on the iPad as well.
The blog elaborates its theory while noting that:
- ‘the case designs have been remarkably consistent’; - the cases ‘seem to be clearly sourced from the same design document’; - all this while ‘early case designs have generally done a good job predicting upcoming Apple hardware.’
The theory also includes the possibility that Light Peak will adopt a smaller, mini USB-style form factor, as the iPad 2 isn’t likely to house ports the size of USB 2.0 or USB 3.0.