The new Apple tablet already has a manufacturing date. It will be in January 2012 when the iPad 3, assuming that is what it will be called, begins to be assembled in Foxconn's Chinese factories. For now, the screens have already begun to be received, according to the specialized site DigiTimes.
From sources managed by that medium, up to a million touch screens would have already left the facilities of Samsung, LG and Sharp during the month of October, and it is expected that this November will close with the reception by Apple. of another couple of million capacitive panels destined to be installed in the future iPad 3.
By the way, the 9.7-inch screens would not be the only ones that Apple would be receiving these days. According hold DigiTimes, companies LG and AO Optronics have sent test samples to the multinational Cupertino based on a format of 7,85 inches, which would come to set the measures of a new edition, named by the rumor mill as iPad Mini.
However, there is no confirmation from suppliers that Apple has decided to start production of a new model based on a smaller size than the one it has been launching on the market since March 2010. That is why the sources managed by DigiTimes call for caution, since the Californian multinational has not yet given the green light to its manufacture.
We cannot over emphasize the fact that, according to DigiTimes informants, South Korean Samsung is one of the suppliers of screens for the iPad 3. Precisely, the company has spent months holding a heated judicial dialogue with Apple regarding the alleged misuse of patents; a crossfire that last September reached its peak of boiling.
In spite of everything, it should be remembered that in May a visit by the then acting CEO, Tim Cook (Steve Jobs requested a medical leave that would end in the resignation of the position in August), to the Samsung offices in Seoul, with in view of negotiating the purchase of AMOLED screens for the iPad 3. Given this new information, it is possible to think that the new tablet could have the powerful Korean- made panel.
