“Citing ‘a reliable Asian source,’ the Japanese blog site [Macotakara] said that the next generation tablet is being rushed into production due to Chinese New Year celebrations running from January 22-28. Factories in China are gearing up to produce the iPad 3 by the end of January,” Lance Whitney reports for CNET.
“Assuming Macotakara’s source is reliable, the new iPad will also include a redesigned dock connector that features the same number of pins but a smaller shape than the one on the current iPad,” Whitney reports. “As a result, the new connector could pose a problem with existing products that plug into the dock.”
Whitney reports, “The tablet’s screen will also remain the same size, though the source didn’t know if Apple would bump up it up to Retina Display levels or stick with the current resolution.”
Read more in the full article here.
After all the iPhone 5 rumors, we shouldn’t believe anything.
AMEN.
Especially from Asians.
“Me Lie Long Time”
i loled hard =P
Different dock connector??? What a load!
I call bullshit!
+1. Apple is all about building the ecosystem, which this would do major damage too.
That’s not to say they don’t ditch stuff when it’s time. Maybe they’ll use thunderbolt eventually 🙂
I agree but they have changed it before.. Same pin # but the old stuff don’t work with the newer devices.
I have a 1st gen dock remote that will not work anymore, I plug it into my old iPod I have… Works fine.
Not the “this accessory” message.. Nothing works.
I doubt apple will change the actual connector though. Everyone claimed they had to with Europe forcing them to have a mini USB connection, until apple released the new plug. Dock connector with a mini USB to full size USB cable. Problem solved with none of the rumors being correct.
Didn’t this occur when they standardized on USB and dropped Firewire? They changed the pin order so that the power pin moved and something went from 5V to 12V or vice-versa. You needed to get an adapter from Scosche for about $20 basically rewiring the pins so that your expensive car stereo adapter would still work, like I had to.
There’s no such thing as a reliable Apple source. Particularly from Asia.
Agreed. I can’t believe that they would make all current dock connectors obsolete. I could imagine them adding a Thunderbolt port for fast syncing though.
It would be a big, BIG mistake to change the dock connector without some major feature improvement, and frankly I can’t think of what that could even be. It’s already bad enough that I have to find different adapters for my iPhones depending on which one I want to plug into a speaker system, etc. Just had to order an iPhone 4 adapter for my DICE module in my BMW because I upgraded from a 3GS to a 4S, and the universal dock adapter is so loose as to be useless. Plus, I could get it in black from iHome to match my interior.
Maybe the dock connector had to be smaller because the next iPad is incredibly thin and Apple plans to make it even thinner in the near future.
Thinner than an iPod touch?
(which sports the current dock connector)
Yeah, I didn’t think so either 😉
Yes, Apple could definitely make an iPad thinner than an iPod touch. In fact I’m confident they will someday.
Shit, for all you know the iPod touch (and next iPhones) themselves could be thinning out to the point that they also warrant a smaller connector. You don’t think Apple has reached their limit on thinness, do you?
They certainly wouldn’t let a little thing like a dock connector get in their way, especially since we’ve proven that we’ll bitch and moan for a couple days before we all go out and buy the accessories to accommodate our new iProducts.
Oh Puh-lease, thinner than the current touch?
Have you handled one?
They couldn’t possibly get the iPad that thin for at least several years (and then there is no saying that they can’t get the current dick connector into a thinner chassis, that was a straw-man YOU created)
Besides, it makes no sense to change to an incompatible connector now, for a model they might create four years from now.
Wow…somebody makes a typo like that and nobody comments? Especially after the also mentioning the phrase “thinner chassis” in the same sentence? Slow night.
Haha 🙂
OOps… dock connector
“ You don’t think Apple has reached their limit on thinness, do you?”
Mebbe not, but there’s one crucial fact that always seems to be ignored when people start bleating on about thinner, tapered iPhones etc. Where, exactly, are you gonna put the fracking battery! Shit, it’s bad enough now, people bitching about the battery life of their iPhone or whatever, think how loud the whining will get with a smaller battery and shorter usable life. Battery technology is barely keeping up with the demands being made upon it now, I can’t see Apple fucking up by compromising phone performance like that. Can you imagine what the Fandroids would say?
I hope upon hope that apple HAS reached their thinness limit if just from a design stand point. The current form factors(iPhone 4(s) and iPad 2) are beautiful and effective. If they keep the same sizes from here on out, they have room to include new technologies and the current internal components get smaller. Plus, the iPhone 4 design is the most beautiful and dynamic I have seen on any product, ever.
Think about Star Trek. Those devices weren’t chunky due to sci-fi designers who underestimated the future, they are chunky because their always on the cutting edge of technology while maintaining a slim-enough form factor.
PLEASE GOD: NO!!!!
I think they should call this new, smaller dock connecter Thunderbolt. Great name, huh?
Instantly creating a market for 3rd-party dock connector adaptors.
——RM
Remember what happened when they switched the reliable big power plug in the gray 3g PowerBook to the smaller thinner plug in the Titanium? The reliability drop was a nightmare! At least until the magnetic power plugs came along.
Perhaps they are talking about docs and not the plug with a wire. That often changes when a new body comes out.
Think about it folks…. the “new” dock connector “according to a reliable Asian source” will be the same capability (same number of pins) but will be capriciously incompatible with every dock & accessory.
Oh yeah, that makes sooooo much sense…
Here’s a baseless rumor for you (one that you will not believe, ever): MDN isn’t going to print anymore rumors.
Are you sure that iPad 3 is not coming in Fall 2011? All the rumors were pretty loud about it.
So now it is being moved to Mach 2012. Ah I get it. It’s about one year after the release of iPad 2.
/sarc
If the next iPhone is thinner and the next iPad is thinner, then it kinda makes sense.
If they do, I am sure there will be an adapter so people do not soil their panties.
Uhhh… thinner than the current iPod touch? (which has the current connector)
Think before you post…
You may be quite right. I merely suggest it is plausible. Come March I will give you kudos if you are correct.
I have no insider knowledge, I am only saying that the “too thin for the current connector” construct, is complete nonsense
(as it is fact that they can get it at least as thin as a touch (which I think would be structurally unsound at 11″ anyway))
I hope they make a magsafe connection. I’d much prefer a connector that snaps onto the outside then messing with sticking a connector into it. it’s simpler, more efficient, more durable, and I think only a matter of time before apple does it.
Why on earth would Apple kill its billion dollar ecosystem by making millions of accessories obsolete?
Am I the only one that hates the Magsafe connector on the laptops?? I often accidentally disconnect the thing while working on my laptop in bed, one slightest tug and it gets disconnected. Sure, it has its advantages but I find it more annoying than anything.
Chris
You must be the only one. I kinda like the magsafe connector. Much better than the old connector.
Buddy take it from me: you only need to have your kid yank the cord out by force once, and see for yourself that MagSafe saved your laptop’s ass – and you will never say anything bad about it again.
Seriously, though, are you working with a Gen-1 straight-in plug? Or the new ones inspired by the MacBook Air with a 90º angle that then has the cord exit parallel to the side of the casing?
Chris, you are a case of one.
I would never go back to a PC laptop since none of them can have MagSafe. That is Apple patented technology that whey are unwilling to license to anyone else.
Recently I had an expensive Toshiba Windows laptop ruined by some college kids who borrowed it. They snagged the power connector and rally damaged the main board.
How are you going to get blood out of these turnips with little money? That type of common accident is impossible with a Mac Book Pro. Apple not only makes a better product for the price than is available in the Windows world but I fully expect these metal MacBook Pros to last far longer than the plastic junk they package windows laptops in. MagSafe is one of the reasons I have confidence Apple covered all the failure bases.
Um, a smaller dock connector.
On the iPad.
A device which has ample room for a standard dock connector.
Can I ask “Why”?
What’re the advantages to offset all the disadvantages?
Frickin’ asian rumors.
I think the only reason Apple would do that is if they already had the new connector designed for the next iPhone or iPod touch, and just happen to implement it in the next iPad first.
And Apple would do that
For…
reasons…
of…
STANDARDIZATION….?
And Apple would do that
For…
reasons…
of…
STANDARDIZATION….?