Rumors about an impending 7-inch iPad are nothing new, but today some interesting potential specs for the diminutive Apple tablet have come out. According to Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities, who has allegedly been tipped of by Taiwanese component manufacturers, the new, smaller iPad will launch in Q1 2011 and will feature a Retina Display, 128 GB of storage, micro or mini USB port, camera, and will end up replacing the current-gen iPad when it's released. White made no mention of a 9.7-inch second-gen iPad, although a previous rumor suggested that the 7-inch iPad will be released along with the 9.7-incher rather than replace it. Finally, Mission Repair has leaked a photo of what they believe is the next iPad and, as you can see in the photo above, it's rocking a landscape dock connector in addition to the portrait port.
Some of these specs for the new iPad have been rumored several times in the past (camera, micro USB, 7-inch size), but the 128 GB of storage is a new one. Considering that they stuffed 64 gigs of memory in both the current iPad and the iPod Touch, upping the iPad 2's storage to 128 GB doesn't seem out of the question. The Retina Display seems likely, as well, since it's been included in both the iPhone 4 and fourth-gen iPod Touch. When it comes to Apple replacing the 9.7-inch iPad with a 7-inch model, though, I'm not buying it. The 9.7-inch version has done extremely well and, while many of Apple's competitors are releasing 7-inch tablets, I see no reason for Apple to ditch the larger model. Assuming both sized models are made available, which would you rather have?
