14 DAY TRIAL // An analyst with Concord Securities has reportedly spilled the beans on Apple’s potential plans to release a low-end iPad, or a higher-end iPod touch - depending on how one looks at it -, as well as a high-calibre iPad 3, by fall 2011.
Clues pertaining to the existence of the so-called "tweener" tablet arrived last month, AppleInsider claims, when Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities informed the website of detailed component plans assigned to Apple’s second-generation iPad.
At the time, Kuo outlined Apple's expected production ratios of WiFi, CDMA and GSM/UMTS iPad 2 models.
Although Apple has been reluctant to throw in a 5-7 inch tablet, even vocally casting doubt that such systems would pose any real benefits, one such device could make good use of the company’s highly-scalable iOS.
For example, Apple could provide an enhanced iPod touch experience, rather than a reduced iPad experience.
The iPod touch is popular among casual gamers, therefore a bigger screen would only enhance its capabilities as a handheld gaming device.
The analyst has been accurate in the past, AppleInsider suggests.
Before the iPhone 4 was introduced, he reported that the handset would feature a double resolution, 960x640 display using IPS/FFS - technical terms for what is referred to as Retina Display.
Kuo also accurately predicted the doubling of RAM in the iPhone 4, though many could have guessed this one without the need of advanced research.
The analyst now claims that “iPad 3 will deliver a Retina Display-like quality and resolution doubling to 2048x1536, an enhancement originally thought to make it into the more immediate release of iPad 2,” AppleInsider reports.
Kuo also told the Apple-centric site that iPad 2 wasn't getting the new panel yet because of limited manufacturing yield rates.
Instead, iPad 2 screens will be thinner, and will have "anti-reflection" properties, the analyst claims.