Hardware vendor combines and evaluates leaked iPad 3 parts

Feb 13, 2012 14:05 GMT  ·  By

iPad parts reseller Eye Lab Factory has put together a leaked Sharp display with a leaked iPad 3 dock connector and back plate and concluded that the parts match. Based on the results, Apple’s next iPad should be slightly thicker than the current-generation model.

iLab.cc “combined and evaluated the quality and integrity of an LCD panel by Sharp Corporation, […] a back plate and a dock connector cable” and assembled the back plate of iPad 2 and iPad 3 into the display.

“The points which the arrows indicate just the right size as screw holes,” according to the iLab Factory. “Now, it became clear that the LCD panel made by SHARP was designed for this back panel.”

Various comparison shots are offered at iLab.cc

The reseller also noticed that there was a slight difference between the camera holes found on the back plates designated for the iPad 2 and iPad 3.

Per the original (poorly translated) English version of their analysis…:

“Another point is the difference of a hole of a camera. If the back plate which we got this time is compared with the plate of iPad2, although we could see the difference in the form and size. If we see it from the outside, a diameter of a hole is about 7mm and an inside diameter is about 4.5mm, those are not so much different from iPad2. However, we believe that it is certain to be equipped with a different camera lens from iPad2 as a mount form of a camera is different when we see it from the back side.”

The lab admits these could be prototype parts in the midst of trial production, but considering that the year of the iPad 2 has long ended, it wouldn’t be too farfetched to assume that Apple is already producing hundreds of iPad 3 tablets by the hour.