iPad iPad 5 coming in March 2013?

[WT Sharpe]

I can't believe no one's posted this yet. I've been hearing this for several days now.

RUMOR: A lighter, thinner iPad and an iPad Mini with a Retina display to be released in March 2013.

One link among many:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/techn...0,3451520.post

[WT Sharpe]

Oh, and for the Dick Tracy aficionados out there, an iWatch is in development that will allow you to perform certain computer functions and make phone calls via voice command.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...our-wrist.html

[tubemonkey]

November releases are great for holiday sales and maybe the iPad 4 was an aberration to get some of that action; or not. So, is Apple going back to March releases or do they plan on doing two releases per year now?

iPad Release History

• iPad 1 -- Apr 2010
• iPad 2 -- Mar 2011
• iPad 3 -- Mar 2012
• iPad 4 -- Nov 2012
• iPad 5 -- Mar 2013 ???

[pastanley]

I heard September 2013. Apple loves to give misinformation

[WT Sharpe]

According to the macotakara blog from whence all this originates, production has already begun for the next generation iPad Mini.

www.macotakara.jp/blog/

[WT Sharpe]

According to the aforementioned blog, Apple's reasoning appears to be that they needed a quicker cycle to compete with the Nexus 7 and Microsoft's Surface. The Nexus may be a threat, but from what I've seen, the Surface seems to be underwhelming users and reviewers alike.

[Faterson]

iPad Mini with Retina display is long overdue; I avoided buying the current one because "going back" from Retina (on iPad 3 and even the 2-year old iPhone 4) to non-Retina is unacceptable to me.

The current iPad Mini price is way overblown, so I trust they will keep (or even lower) the price for the Retina version. In fact, that's the only justification I can think of: that Apple set the price so high because they knew all along that a Retina version would be coming.

[Quake1028]

If they go to 6 month refresh cycles, I am out.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Quake1028

If they go to 6 month refresh cycles, I am out.

I don't follow their calendar, anyway. I'm still using the original iPad. I think I'll take the plunge again, though, when the iPad 5 comes out, as at least 3 of my apps, while they still work, are only being updated on devices running iOS 6, and the original iPad wasn't built to run that.

Part of me is considering the iPad Mini 2, but for what I use it for, I think the iPad 5 will better fit my needs, even if they do make considerable improvements to the Mini in the second generation.

And yes, if they're going to update their line every 6 months, that would suck. Who wants to buy devices that are outdated so quickly? I'm hoping this is just a thing to get them back on an annual March launch date.

[Graham]

Originally Posted by Quake1028

If they go to 6 month refresh cycles, I am out.

Why?

At most, surely you should only be 'out' for six months.

Graham

[Cheeky1]

They need to slow it down.

[afv011]

There was quite a backslash when the ipad 4 was announced, as folks found themselves with an obsolete (in their minds) device after only a few months. Might change people's buying patterns if they change to a 6 month cycle; people might actually hold out buying, delaying until the next one comes along as 6 months is not that long of a cycle.

[forsooth]

not translate well
try again

[robertc88]

Obviously all rumor.

Be happy you don't look on Apple Forums. It is the most discussed topic for weeks and weeks with multiple threads.

[HistoryWes]

Originally Posted by afv011

There was quite a backslash when the ipad 4 was announced, as folks found themselves with an obsolete (in their minds) device after only a few months. Might change people's buying patterns if they change to a 6 month cycle; people might actually hold out buying, delaying until the next one comes along as 6 months is not that long of a cycle.

I love my iPad 3. It does what the iPad 4 does, but uses all my old peripherals. It replaced my iPad 1, and under the old refresh schedule, I'll be ready to replace it with the iPad 5. If they go to a faster update schedule I'll just wait till the iPad 6 or 7. I think it's great if they want to improve their products faster. I personally don't have to have the latest one all the time.