Apple has confirmed their iPad 3 launch event on March 7th at Yerba Beuna Center of Arts in San Francisco and the reports regarding upcoming iPad 3 are not stopping at all. It seems like Apple is planning to follow their trend with iPads as well, Digitimes is now reporting that Apple is planning to launch an 8GB version of iPad 2 alongside iPad 3 on March 7th. Apple didn’t introduce an 8GB iPad 1 when they launched iPad 2, however, they did introduce 8GB iPhone 4 when they launched iPhone 4S in October last year. Apple discontinued iPhone 4′s 16GB and 32GB model and only offered a smaller 8GB model for low-end customers.
The report also claims that Apple would launch only two models (16GB and 32GB) of iPad 3 in their media event next week. This report contradicts some previous rumors and reports which claimed that it is possible that Apple may introduce a 128GB version of iPad 3 alongside 16GB and 3GB iPad 3 this year.ac
As Apple has scheduled an event on March 7, sources from its upstream supply chain pointed out that the company is expected to launch two iPad 3 models – a 16GB version and 32GB version.
In addition to iPad 3, Apple is also expected to unveil an 8GB iPad 2, allowing the tablet PC series to cover different segments and to defend against Windows 8-based tablet PCs, the sources noted.
Eliminating 64GB version of iPad 3 won’t be a great move at all because 64GB variant of iPad 2 did really well in the market. Previous reports have confirmed that Apple would offer iPad 3 in 3 different storage capacities. However, an 8GB version of iPad 2 sounds like a good plan, we’ve not seen any report or rumor regarding 8GB iPad 2. A common belief is that Apple would cut the price of 16GB iPad 2 WiFi version to $399 for low-end customers after iPad 3 launch.
Digitimes has a very shaky “hit or miss” credibility record when it comes to Apple related reports and rumors so it’s really hard to put a weight on this report.
Here’s what you can expect from iPad 3 on March 7th:
A 2048×1536 high resolution display
Faster quad-core A5X/A6 processor
Up to 3x faster graphics
Same 10 hour battery life
New apps
Better 5/8 Megapixel rear camera and 1.3 megapixel front face camera for FaceTime
Slightly thicker outer shell
