Wall Street Journal Confirms Early 2012 iPad 3 with Retina Display

123254 ipad 4 2 profile

In case you still had doubts, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is indeed working on its next generation iPad for early 2012. The newspaper also seems to confirm the 2048x1536 Retina display that has been long rumored.

The next generation iPad is expected to feature a high resolution display - 2048 by 1536 compared with 1024 by 768 in the iPad 2 - and Apple's suppliers have already shipped small quantities of components for the sampling of the iPad 3. Suppliers said Apple has placed orders for a 9.7-inch screen device.

According to "people familiar with the situation", Apple is aiming to launch the iPad 3 in early 2012.

The Wall Street Journal's sources also indicate that a trial run will begin in October and that Apple has already started placing orders for many of the key components for the next iPad.

While the report doesn't seem to add much new information, it does add a more credible voice to the rumors coming out of China about Apple's iPad 3.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

miles01110 Avatar
180 months ago
At this point I don't know why anyone would expect there to not be a retina display.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jmpnop Avatar
180 months ago
New iPad featuring a higher-res screen in early 2012? Thats obvious...
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FrHa Avatar
180 months ago
and I was thinking of purchasing an iPad 2 this weekend...

You should buy one. I doubt the iPad3 is going to come out this year. I'm almost certain the iPad3 will be out next year in February or March. If I'm right, that means you'll have to wait six or seven months. And anyway, when the new iPad comes out, you can just sell the iPad2 you'd already have :)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tdream Avatar
180 months ago
Hardly a great leap of faith by WSJ to believe that. iPad 2 was out in March this year so 9-12 months later is perfectly fine for the next iteration.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mabaker Avatar
180 months ago
I also predict iPhone 5 this fall.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
santaliqueur Avatar
180 months ago

I'd expect the low-end Retina iPad 3 (16GB without 3G) to cost at least as much as the high-end iPad 2 (64GB with 3G). I mean, I'd love to see the Retina version to replace the current product line at the same price level, but let's be realistic here: That's just not possible.

Then you don't follow Apple very much. They normally keep prices the same, and introduce new features. Technology gets cheaper as time passes. How were they able to make the iPad 2 at the same price as the iPad, when they included 2 cameras, a much faster A5 processor, and made it 33% thinner? Same price as the older one. Magic, or simply the price of everything getting cheaper?

You seriously expect the base 16GB iPad 3 to be MORE THAN $829? Not being rude, but are you new to computers?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)