iPad 3 to Gain Improved Cameras? iPad 2 to Carry On at Lower Price?

ipad 2 cameraiLounge offers a new series of notes sharing information from a source about Apple's plans for the iPad 3. Among the most interesting notes is the claim that the next-generation iPad will carry significantly improved cameras on the front and back, moving to a FaceTime HD camera on the front and a higher-resolution iPhone-like camera on the rear.

The source also reiterates iLounge's earlier claim that the next-generation iPad will be slightly thicker than the iPad 2 while retaining the same general form factor.

1) A few next-gen iPad notes, ahead of the show. Both cameras are getting upgrades. Front goes HD, rear becomes iPhone 4/4S-like (bigger).

2) Body of the next iPad is, as we previously reported, getting just a little thicker to accommodate new parts - little = 1mm give or take.

3) Curve radiuses on the body will change only a little to accommodate the added thickness, not dramatically. Think iPad 2 Pro, not a redesign.

iLounge's source also follows some other current lines of thinking in reporting that Apple will continue to offer the iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3, dropping the price of the current model in order to tackle increasing competition from lower-priced competitors such as Amazon's Kindle Fire. Horwitz offers a $399 base price for the iPad 2 as a possibility, although that number appears to be pure speculation.

Finally, the iPad 3 is said to be in line for another March release, similar to that seen with the iPad 2 last year.

Related Roundup: iPad
Tag: iLounge
Buyer's Guide: iPad (Neutral)
Related Forum: iPad

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
maxresdefault

iOS 26 Code Leak Reveals Apple Smart Home Hub Details

Thursday December 11, 2025 4:02 pm PST by
Apple is working on a smart home hub that will rely heavily on the more capable version of Siri that's coming next year. We've heard quite a bit about the hub over the last two years, but a recent iOS 26 code leak provides additional insight into what we can expect and confirms rumored features. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Macworld claims to have access to an ...

Top Rated Comments

firestarter Avatar
182 months ago
Improved cameras.

Shouldn't this be filed under 'obvious'? :confused:
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smulji Avatar
182 months ago
Not sure if they will go as high as 8MP for the back camera, but I think we all are expecting improvements in both the front and back cameras. They are mediocre at best right now.

The article did say the camera would be iPhone 4/4S capable so if true, at the very least it will have a 5 Mpixel rear camera.

As a side note, I'm actually more interested in what type of CPU / GPU Apple will use in the iPad 3.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
coder12 Avatar
182 months ago
I call BS on this one.

I call SARCASM in your comment!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BC2009 Avatar
182 months ago
These rumors seem so random. Honestly, its hard to imagine what great upgrade the iPad is going to get this year other than a Retina Display.

1) Assuming the A6 processor ready, then we should maybe expect a Cortex-A9 quad-core in the iPad 3 with improved graphics (probably obvious)

2) Bumping the resolution for the cameras is obvious, but by how much? Historically Apple has realized that only very strange people use their tablet as a point-and-shoot camera (though I did witness an iPad 2 being used this way at Disneyland in December -- the owner looked very silly snapping a shot of her daughter dancing with Disney princesses using her iPad 2 -- As an aside, I also witnessed a couple with his-and-her iPad 2s walking around the park with the iPads held just below the chests and their eyes on their screens instead of where they were walking -- very silly looking indeed especially with the crowds of people you could easily bump into -- yet some people are trying to use iPads like most would use an iPhone).

3) Apple could easily bump the RAM from 512MB to 1GB, but its kinda hard to tout this because they don't advertise the RAM in the iPad 2. Sure it could be filed under "faster". I know the iPhone 4S has RAM that can transfer data twice as fast as the iPhone 4, so perhaps this will be used at the very least.

What else? What more is Apple going to do with the iPad 3? They could make Siri available on it and exclude the iPad 2. They could add Thunderbolt to it, but if its really "PC free" then how much will this matter and how many have Thunderbolt PC's anyway?

It seems to me that the next iPad could be screaming fast with a beautiful screen and slightly to vastly better cameras. While the Retina Display is a huge deal for reading, I think the next great leap is when they merge the MacBook Air and the iPad into some kind of hybrid device that can run both iOS and Mac OS X. I believe Lenovo is attempting this with a Windows/Android hybrid and I think an OSX/iOS hybrid its something that many Apple users would want.

Personally, I am sitting back and waiting to see what Apple might do to surprise me on this one. Currently the iPad is the clear tablet market leader, but I'd like to see them keep raising the bar especially with Windows 8 on the horizon.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SuprUsrStan Avatar
182 months ago
Dropping it to 399 or even lower would put it in line to compete with the kindle fire and other low end android devices. It'll put the squeeze on the more expensive tablets as well.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Adidas Addict Avatar
182 months ago
i also hope it's quad core, then i can read books faster.
;)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)