The iPad 3 rumor mill continues to gain steam as we inch closer to the tablet's expected early March debut, and now a couple more reports claiming to have information on the new iPad have emerged. First up is the image you see above that comes to us from Taiwanese site Apple Daily. The top portion of the shot allegedly shows us the backside of the iPad 3, complete with the usual Apple logo, cellular antenna, camera and volume rocker.
Meanwhile, the lower part of the above image offers a comparison of the corners of the original iPad, the iPad 2 and what Apple Daily claims is the iPad 3. The new iPad's camera lens looks to be larger than the one on the iPad 2 in this image, and the original report alleges that the iPad 3's camera may be bumped to 8 megapixels, which is quite a jump from the iPad 2's 1-megapixel shooter. Lastly, the rear of this alleged iPad 3 appears to have a longer taper to its edges than what's found on the iPad 2.
Below we've got a photo of what is purportedly the iPad 3's logic board, showing a system-on-a-chip that's labeled "A5X." The original iPad featured an A4 processor and the iPad 2 was powered by an A5 chip, so many expected that the iPad 3 would feature an A6 chip. However, this photo of a prototype logic board suggests that Apple may have opted instead for an A5X chip.
The progression to an A5X core instead of an A6 seemingly lines up with a leak from earlier this month that showed an iPad 3 hooked up to the iBoot debug tool. One of the images in the leak revealed that the new iPad's processor may have a model number of S5L8945X. The A4 chip in the original iPad had a model number of S5L8930X while the iPad 2's A5 was S5L8940X, so the S5L8945X model number of the new iPad's processor could make sense with the A5X branding (rather than S5L8950X, which could indicate a full jump to A6).
So far we've heard that the iPad 3 could feature a form factor similar to that of the iPad 2, a claim that's supported by the image up above. Whether or not an 8-megapixel camera will be hosed in the body of the new iPad is still up in the air, but that'd be a pretty considerable bump from the iPad 2. Of course, a better camera may not convince folks to begin toting their iPad around to take photos on a regular basis, but it'd be nice for those occasions where the device is the closest camera you've got. The current rumor is that Apple may be planning to unveil the new iPad at an event on March 7th, so we may only be a couple of weeks from finding out which of the several rumors surrounding the new iOS slate hold true.
Via MacRumors (1), (2), Apple Daily, WeiPhone