Third-Generation iPad Coming in 3-4 Months, Supply Chain Says

Apple’s third iPad will be released in the next three to four months, according to sources in Apple’s supply chain quoted in Asia.

Makers in the supply chain have already started delivering parts and components for the new tablets to OEM contractors, Digitimes reports, while parts for the iPad 2 are slowly fading away.

Yet production of the second-gen tablet will continue to remain at high yields (14-15 million units) in the fourth quarter of 2011. Production will then steadily decline to reach 4-5 million units in the first quarter of 2012 as the iPad 3 gets prepped for launch.

Apple’s longtime partner Foxconn Electronics is said to begin assembly of the third-generation iPad in January. The company run by magnate Terry Gou expects to ramp up the production volume starting February.