As we close in on the March 7 iPad 3 (or iPad HD) announcement, there is still time for rumors to fly. The latest one seems to refute an earlier rumor: it seems Apple won’t be changing the pricing of the next-generation iPad after all.
It had been rumored recently that Apple was going to increase the price of each iPad tier from $70 to $80. That would mean that the lowest cost iPad (wi-fi only, 16GB) would cost $569 or $579 instead of $499.
We could actually imagine Apple making such a change considering it is reported to be changing the screen resolution to a “retina display” of 2,048 x 1,536, along with other changes such as 4G LTE support, but it would also somewhat spoil the naturalness of a just below $500 initial price point.
9to5Mac said that their sources indicate that next-gen iPad pricing will stays the same across the board.
While we still don’t know any details about the new iPad, in addition to the retina display, other rumors include:
- Possibly dubbed the iPad HD, not iPad 3
- Dual-core A5X or quad-core A6 processor (of late, this has been leaning toward the A5X — an enhanced A5 processor)
- Slightly (1mm) thicker
- LTE-capable
- 8MP rear-facing camera
- HD Facetime camera
- Better battery life
- Nearly identical form factor to the iPad 2
- iPad 2 to continue to be sold at a lower price with lower storage
If you want to get a slight deal on an iPad 2 and don’t want to “settle” for the expected 8GB iPad 2 that Apple will continue to sell when the iPad 3 launches, you can head over to Best Buy’s website. The site has iPad 2 variants at $50 off right now, probably trying to move inventory ahead of the iPad 3 launch (for example, wi-fi, black, 16GB, $449).