Ipad 3

If you want to believe the insiders, the iPad 3 plans to take the tablet experience to a whole new level. Apple usually releases an iOS device roughly a year after its predecessor, but several rumors have suggested we may see a third-generation iPad launch sometime this fall.

Both the iPad and iPad 2 were introduced early in the spring and shipped around the end of March. That places the iPad 3 release date on track for around March 2012, unless something goes wrong, and from previous Apple releases, you know things are never set in stone. The arrival of the iPhone 4S this October, after years of summer iPhone launches, demonstrated that things can in fact go wrong with Apple's annual upgrade calendar.

iOS 5.5: The iPad 3 will have a revised version of the current iOS 5 operating system.

Screen: Rumors here and there have Apple's inability to get the iPad 3 up to retina display quality as the reason why the device hasn't arrived yet as of late 2011. Whether it can be pulled off by March 2012 is anyone's guess. The new MacBooks that were released this year included the Thunderbolt port which helps assist data transfer at an impressive speed. Also, given the fact that Apple doesn't seem to be interested in the USB slot anymore, you might just see a Thunderbolt port as one of the new iPad 3 features.

One of the most eagerly anticipated iPad 3 features is the retina display. It was highly awaited when the iPad 2 was about to be launched, but much to the user's disappointment, it wasn't introduced in that release. So, it is highly likely that one of the new iPad 3 specs will be the inclusion of the retina display.

Recently, there has been some talk doing the rounds regarding an HD display being introduced in the iPad 3. There also has been some talk that an iPad 2HD will be introduced this year, and the iPad 3 in the first half of the 2012. One of the disappointing aspects of the iPad 2 was its camera and it is expected that the new iPad 3 will feature a much better camera and it is expected to include a flash for those darker moments.

Other specs: The iPad 2 marked the debut of the dual core A5 processor, which has since also found its way into the iPhone 4S. The year before, the iPad 1 marked the debut of the A4 processor. The safe-ish bet has the quad core A6 debuting in the iPad 3, giving the new tablet a level of computing speed which will finally begin to rival the horsepower found in desktop and laptop computers, bringing the late Steve Jobs' vision of tablets eclipsing home computers one step closer to reality.

Carriers and colors: Apple finally managed to deliver a single device in the iPhone 4S which can talk to all AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon networks. The iPad 3 could do the same, eliminating the current carrier-segregated 3G models which has been a problem in the past. That should open the door for Apple to offer the iPad 3 in more colors than merely the boring white and black.