More Rumors About the Next Generation iPads

According to an article published by Digitimes earlier today, Apple will launch the next generation of its iPad in the first quarter of 2011, about a year after the launch of the first generation of the device.

As we reported earlier (see here and here), the next-gen iPad will come in 2 flavors, sporting 9.7-inch and 7-inch screens, respectively. However, Digitimes is now expecting the next-gen iPads to sport processor upgrades, as both flavors will likely come with Apple’s own version of the ARM Cortex A9 processor – in comparison, the original iPad comes with a customized ARM Cortex A8 processor (dubbed Apple A4). When compared to the A8, the A9 offers more features, such as multi-core capabilities, as well as higher clock speeds.

The new 9.7-inch iPad will also come with a memory boost: the main system memory will jump from 256MB to 512MB, just like the iPhone 4. As for the 7-inch iPad, it seems that the possibility for an OLED screen has been abandoned, as it is expected to come with an IPS panel, just like the original iPad and the iPhone 4. Also note that despite the smaller 7-inch screen, the screen resolution will remain at 1024×768, which means that the 7-inch iPad will boast a much higher pixel density per square inch than the 9-inch iPad, just like the iPhone 4′s retina display.

As usual, these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt – note that they are coming from many independent sources though.