iPad 5 Could Arrive as Soon as March 2013

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Thinner and lighter tablet will apparently resemble iPad mini.

Barely anyone was surprised when Apple announced the iPad Mini at the end of October. However, many were surprised when Apple announced that it was also updating the regular iPad line with the addition of the brand new iPad 4. The iPad 3 had only been released six months previously. As you can imagine, some consumers who had purchased the iPad 3 were none too pleased to realize their tablet was already out of date. Now it seems those that bought the iPad 4 when it was released last month might soon feel the same way.

Rumor has it Apple is currently working on the newest iPad and it could be released in the first quarter of next year. Japanese news blog Macotakara cites Chinese website ZOL in reporting that the iPad 5 will have a thinner, lighter design as well as a small form factor. Apparently, the new design will be similar to that of the iPad mini and could shave 4mm off the height of the iPad as well as 17mm from the width and 2mm from the depth. There's also talk of a second gen iPad mini complete with Retina display.

Macotakara cites its own source that says the fifth generation iPad will go on sale in March 2013. If this proved to be true, the current generation iPad, the iPad 4, will spend just four months with the label of 'latest iPad' before being pushed out of the spotlight by a newer model.

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Jane McEntegart
38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mayankleoboy1
    isnt it being unfair to people who just got a iPad4, maybe for Christmas.
    Reply
  • I had planned to purchase my daughter the new iPad for her birthday at the end of January. Thinking I might just get a nice android.

    Nothing says suck more than spending $600 on hardware and applications to have your hardware be obsolete 6-8 weeks later.
    Reply
  • freggo
    One company manages to get chip structures down to 14nm, the other shaves 17mm of the width of it's newest "innovation". Any questions?
    Reply
  • jay_nar2012
    I was wondering why Cex, a second hand shop in the UK, were selling the Ipad 4.
    Reply
  • juanc
    point is. what can you do with the new one, that you'll miss having the previous model?

    There's no one forcing you to update. It's good that the device is continuosly enhanced, but you don't need to step each 6 months from one model to another. If you do, you are a consumist, and that's your problem... if you don't then skip a couple of models... because now you know that in 6 months you'll have iPad 6, with new colors available.
    Reply
  • jay_nar2012
    Why don' t the idiots at Apple use their brains and release one new ipad every one or two years, not every 6 months.
    Reply
  • jay_nar2012
    A lot of people want the latest tech, if Apple keep releasing new products ever few months people are going to get pissed off as they have to keep wasting money.
    Reply
  • Brands like AMD/Intel/Nvidia have been doing this consistently for at least the past decade.

    Samsung has released a new Galaxy device every few months.

    But of course, since it is Apple...we have to make a huge deal about it.

    Reply
  • notsleep
    the only people who buys need apple product every 6 months are apple fans and people with too much money and time on their hands.

    i like the quick release cycle though. it brings new tech to the market. which means it'll drive down the cost of the components for everyone else since the rich folks will buy them. i can then afford a nexus 10. :)

    competition is good folks. :P
    Reply
  • CaedenV
    jay_nar2012A lot of people want the latest tech, if Apple keep releasing new products ever few months people are going to get pissed off as they have to keep wasting money.most of my friends are mac users, and they are already pretty ticked off about the ipad 4 because most of them had just gotten the previous one a month or two before, and there was a HUGE difference in performance between the two. If this new one is more of an incremental update (bigger storage and a few tweaks) then they will just accept it, but if it is another big jump in performance or battery life then that just might be enough to push them away from apple.
    Reply