WSJ Confirms Reports of an iPad Mini

The WSJ is corroborating reports that Apple plans to release an iPad mini this October.

Apple Inc.'s component suppliers in Asia are preparing for mass production in September of a tablet computer with a smaller screen than the iPad, people familiar with the situation said, suggesting a launch for the device is near.

Two of the people said that the tablet's screen will likely be smaller than eight inches. The iPad's screen measures 9.7 inches, unchanged since the first model was released in 2010.

The WSJ's sources say that they've been told to prepare for mass production of the device.

Yesterday, Bloomberg issued a similar report saying that the smaller iPad may be announced in October.

iPhone 5 Mockup Created From Rumored Specifications

An iPhone 5 mockup rendering has been created by Techno Buffalo using the recently leaked schematic depicting a taller device.

We decided to take all of the leaked information we've seen so far and investigate each part, piece by piece. Surprisingly, we were able to build and render an image of, what we believe to be, the iPhone 5 from all of this data. There is a caveat, of course. Someone, somewhere, could have drafted up the schematics and a manufacturer could have used those plans to build the leaked back parts we saw this week. That seems like an expensive and intricate endeavor with no true purpose, however. Worse, it would mean that every seemingly legitimate leak we've seen is fake.

Most interesting is the photos that show how a taller device with its 4-inch display would look in the palm of your hand.

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Are These Pictures of the Next iPhone?

A series of pictures have surfaced that claim to show parts of the next iPhone in both black and white colors (iPhone 5, iPhone 6, call it what you want). The most notable images are of the rear shell of the alleged next-gen iPhone, where the Apple  logo and “iPhone” tag are printed, and show what looks like an all new aluminum unibody construction. The device also appears to have sufficient room to accommodate the larger 4″ display that has been heavily rumored.

The images were obtained and published by 9to5mac apparently from supply chain sources, though the machine cut lines shown inside the shell could indicate these are prototype pieces and may not precisely resemble the final shipping device.

Other notable features shown in the photos are a smaller power adapter port at the bottom of the device, redesigned speaker grills, and the headphone jack appears to have been moved to the bottom of the device.

The redesigned enclosure and 4″ screen fit nicely within our recent list of likely rumors about iPhone 5, other expected features include 4G LTE support, a faster processor with more RAM, iOS 6, and a better camera.

The next iPhone is assumed to debut in the fall of this year, sometime in the September or October timeframe.

iPad 3 Release Set for March 16?

The next iPad may be released to the public on Friday, March 16, just 9 days after the products launch. It remains unclear whether pre-orders will be possible before then.

This information comes to us from 9to5mac, who cites a reliable source within Apple Stores who noted that significant preparations are being made for an event on that date. Additionally, two new Apple Stores are expected to open ahead of schedule on the same Friday, providing further evidence of a meaningful Apple event occurring that day.

iPad 3 is anticipated to have a high resolution retina display, much faster processors, improved graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. Pricing should be the same as existing iPad models, starting at $499 and going up incrementally from there.

There is some question regarding the actual name of the device, with some rumors surfacing yesterday that the next generation iPad may in fact be called “iPad HD” rather than “iPad 3″, though the naming convention is largely irrelevant beyond marketing of the device and is not expected to have any impact on the feature set.

Stay tuned, we’ll know more tomorrow.

Next Generation iPad to be Named the 'iPad HD'?

Apple may be planning to name its next generation tablet the 'iPad HD'.

Gizmodo has received word that part listings from Griffin and Belkin refer to the new device as the 'iPad HD'. They've also heard from a read who says a device called the 'iPad HD' has appeared in his web analytics.

A reader reports that a device called iPad HD has been appearing occasionally in their web site analytics since April 2011. However, device names can be easily simulated using Chrome or Firefox browsers. His data also list a 2048 x 1536 device accessing the site during the same period, which coincides with the rumored resolution for the new iPad.

The iPad HD sounds like a feasible name for the new device. What do you think?

iPad 3 Shipments En Route From Foxconn to the U.S.A.?

Shipments of the iPad 3 are reportedly en route from Foxconn to the U.S.A., according to a poston WeiPhone.

The poster said initial deliveries will be made by Friday, March 9th:

Friends broke the news: Chengdu International Airport at major international cargo charter flights, cargo owners demanding security, from CTU takeoff by stop PVG Shanghai, and then directly to ORD Chicago, the JFK New York, LAX in Los Angeles, March 9, completed before transport. According to the privately disclosed the Chengdu F production for the U.S. A company's latest products…

9to5Mac posted a translation from another Chinese-speaking reader:

Our company started undertake a load of top-secured cargo. The owner has extreme requirements for the security. In order to prevent the cargo from being dragged on the airport ramp for too long, as well as shortening the time the cargo stay on the airport ramp, we hereby require XXXX to schedule all the XXX cargo planes from Feb. 26 to Mar. 9. to XXX slot.

The site has also heard that Apple could be launching two major products this month. The second product could very well be an updated Apple TV as recent rumors have suggested. A faster processor, 1080p video support, and Bluetooth 4.0 support are expected.

Finally, Apple is thought to be dropping all iPad 2 models except the 16GB WiFi iPad 2 when it announces the next generation iPad on March 7th.

High Quality Photos Show Subtle Changes to iPad 3 Back Enclosure

M.I.C. Gadget has posted some high quality photos comparing the iPad 2's back enclosure to the expected iPad 3's back enclosure.

Highlights:
● iPad 3 camera lens is noticeably larger than its predecessor.
● The unit is about 1-1.5mm thicker depending on your model. Also it does fit inside some iPad 2 cases despite this.
● The edges are tapered, we have heard as said previously that the bezel is narrower, and we have confirmed there are volume keys.

Take a look at the photos below...

Read More

Leaked Photo of iPad 3 Logic Board Shows 'A5X' Chip

WeiPhone has leaked a photo of an iPad 3 logic board with an 'A5X' chip; rather than the expected A6 chip, reports MacRumors.

A date code of "1146" on the A5X indicates that it was manufactured in the 46th week of 2011, which would have corresponded to November 14-20. An "A5X" as a step-wise upgrade to the A5 corresponds with progression of processor part numbers as revealed by BGR in February. At the time the A4 was known to be the S5L8930X, the A5 as the S5L8940X and the new iPad processor as S5L8945X.

The photo also shows two 16GB flash memory chips form Hynix and an Apple branded power management chip with a newer part number.

Its unclear if 'A5X' will be the final designation for the new chip or whether it was just used during prototyping. Apple is rumored to be announcing the iPad 3 around March 7th.

iPad 3 to Get 8MP Camera, More Tapered Back Enclosure?

NextMedia/Apple Daily has posted photos comparing the back enclosure of previous generation iPads with the purported back enclosure for the iPad 3.

The iPad 3 appears to taper more gradually with the camera on the taper itself.

MacRumors relays the Chinese language report:

The iPad 3 enclosure seems to have a more gradual taper to the edges than the iPad 2. The taper is seen better on the top overview photograph. As a result of this longer taper, the iPad 3's camera rests on the taper itself. We saw this before but due to the dark lighting of that image, the taper seemed more exaggerated.

The absolute positioning of the camera doesn't seem that far off from the iPad 2, but the lens does appear larger. According to NextMedia, the new iPad 3 camera will see a significant upgrade to 8 megapixels. The current iPad 2 back camera is 1 megapixel in resolution

Recently the site also posted microscopic images of the purported iPad 3 LCD that showed it to be a Retina Display.

Apple Releases OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview With Over 100 New Features

Apple today released a developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the ninth major release of the world's most advanced operating system, which brings popular apps and features from iPad to the Mac and accelerates the pace of OS X innovation. Mountain Lion introduces Messages, Notes, Reminders and Game Center to the Mac, as well as Notification Center, Share Sheets, Twitter integration and AirPlay Mirroring. Mountain Lion is the first OS X release built with iCloud in mind for easy setup and integration with apps. The developer preview of Mountain Lion also introduces Gatekeeper, a revolutionary security feature that helps keep you safe from malicious software by giving you complete control over what apps are installed on your Mac. The preview release of Mountain Lion is available to Mac Developer Program members starting today. Mac users will be able to upgrade to Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store™ in late summer 2012.

"The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world's most advanced personal computer operating system."

The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today Lion users can download a beta of Messages from www.apple.com, and the final version will be available with Mountain Lion. Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your devices. Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they're on a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Mountain Lion presents notifications in an elegant new way, and Notification Center provides easy access to alerts from Mail, Calendar, Messages, Reminders, system updates and third party apps. System-wide Share Sheets make it easy to share links, photos and videos directly from Apple and third party apps. Twitter is integrated throughout Mountain Lion so you can sign on once and tweet directly from Safari, Quick Look, Photo Booth, Preview and third party apps. Mountain Lion also introduces AirPlay Mirroring, an easy way to wirelessly send a secure 720p video stream of what's on your Mac to an HDTV using Apple TV.

More than 100 million users have iCloud accounts, and Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to set up iCloud and access documents across your devices. Mountain Lion uses your Apple ID to automatically set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime and Find My Mac. The new iCloud Documents pushes any changes to all your devices so documents are always up to date, and a new API helps developers make document-based apps work with iCloud.

Gatekeeper is a revolutionary new security feature that gives you control over which apps can be downloaded and installed on your Mac. You can choose to install apps from any source, just as you do on a Mac today, or you can use the safer default setting to install apps from the Mac App Store, along with apps from developers that have a unique Developer ID from Apple. For maximum security, you can set Gatekeeper to only allow apps from the Mac App Store to be downloaded and installed.

Mountain Lion also has features specifically designed to support Chinese users, including significant enhancements to the Chinese input method and the option to select Baidu search in Safari. Mountain Lion makes it easy to set up Contacts, Mail and Calendar with top email service providers QQ, 126 and 163. Chinese users can also upload video via Share Sheets directly to leading video websites Youku and Tudou, and system-wide support for Sina weibo makes microblogging easy.

Hundreds of new APIs give developers access to new core technologies and enhanced features within OS X. The Game Kit APIs tap into the same services as Game Center on iOS, making it possible to create multiplayer games that work across Mac, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. A new graphics infrastructure underpins OpenGL and OpenCL and implements GLKit, first introduced in iOS 5, to make it easier to create OpenGL apps. Using Core Animation in Cocoa apps is easier than ever, and new video APIs deliver modern 64-bit replacements for low-level QuickTime APIs. Enhanced Multi-Touch™ APIs give developers double-tap zoom support and access to the system-wide lookup gesture. Kernel ASLR improves security through enhanced mitigation against buffer overflow attacks.

Read More

Apple to Announce the iPad 3 on Wednesday, March 7th?

Apple will reportedly hold an event on Wednesday, March 7th to announce the iPad 3, according to iMore.

According to sources who have been reliable in the past, Apple currently plans to hold their iPad 3 announcement on Wednesday, March 7, 2012. Along with the 2048x1536 Retina display, the iPad 3 will feature a quad-core Apple 6 system-on-a-chip, and possibly 4G LTE networking.This date falls in line with an earlier prediction from AllThingsD that claimed the announcement would take place during the first week of March.iMore's sources indicated that device would be quad-core despite recent reports from The Verge that claimed it would not.

Leaked Photo of iPad 3 Rear Shell Reveals Various Changes?

RepairLabs has posted a purported photo of the back housing for the iPad 3 which shows that various changes are in store for the upcoming device.

A. You can see here that the mounts for the logic board are very different, which means the logic board shape will be different allowing for . . . .

B. More battery. The width of where the logic board sits on the iPad 2 appears much larger than that of the iPad 3. We have long heard that the iPad 3 was going to provide longer battery life, and this back housing seems to support that.

C. The camera is different. It is hard to make a judgment just by looking at the casing, but what we can expect is a different camera on the iPad 3 than what we had on the 2.

D. LCD will be different than what we have had before. Whether or not it will be the super screen we have seen reported will have to wait. But the different mounting does mean that the LCD has been redesigned at the very least.

RepairLabs says that their insiders found the housing to be about the same thickness as the iPad 2. They also noted they've not received the LCD yet which could be due to secrecy or because the final product has not been signed off on.

Source: MacRumors

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