Earlier today we heard that trial production of Apple’s rumored iWatch had begun and now we are hearing the same thing about the 5th generation iPad. According to a report from Digitimeswho has heard from the Taiwan supply chain, Apple’s trial production of the 5th generation 9.7-inch iPad will start soon, with volume production beginning in July. In September the fruit company will reportedly ramp up the production to 2-3 million units.
Although rumors about the production of future Apple products isn’t very exciting, the report went on to state that “the display of the new iPad, which will hit market shelves as early as September, will still be a 2,048 x 1,536 Retina display, the same as the one used in the 4th-generation model, except that the new display is built on a glass substrate of 0.2mm, thinner than the 0.25mm one for the 4th-generation device, the sources said, adding the new table will has a narrow bezel.”
The 5th generation iPad with smaller bezels (shown in center)
This lines up with previous reports we have heard that claimed the 5th generation iPad would see a smaller bezel and Digitimes even believes that the iPad will use only one LED light bar for backlighting, compared to two LED light bars used in 4th-generation iPad. With all of these internal changes to the iPad it is expected that the next generation iPad will be 25-33% lighter than the 4th-generation one.
One thing that a lot of these new reports have in common is they point to a release date in September/October. As such if you were expecting new hardware to be unveiled at the WWDC 2013, you will probably be disappointed.
