Friday those from Bloomberg announced that Apple's partners have started producing the iPad 3 tablet in their own factories and that it will come with a Retina screen and a quad-core processor. Leaving aside the Retina Display, the implementation of a quad-core processor represents an element of novelty even in the past information was discovered which indicated that Apple is testing iDevices with such processors. If it will have a Retina Display, then the iPad 3 will come with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels and here a quad-core processor plus a clearly improved graphic chip will make their presence felt. I for one understand the implementation of a quad-core processor at the moment only if Apple makes a tablet with Retina Display because such a resolution needs a powerful processor not only for games but also for applications, web browsing, etc.
However, the rationale behind the implementation of such a processor could also be related to other aspects. The dual-core processor in iPad 2 works very well, although it has a working frequency of only 1GHz, so lower than that of other tablets in the same category. For Apple now it could be a problem of hardware specifications and not necessarily the impossibility of providing satisfactory performance to its users. The iDevices recently launched by Apple offered the same or slightly better performance than the Android devices available on the market, but this had another reason behind it. Until recently, those devices operated based on dual-core processors, but quad-core tablets and smartphones are starting to appear, and Apple will have to implement the same technologies in its devices to remain relevant. Nokia, RIM and other manufacturers had a lot to lose due to the war of hardware specifications and I don't think Apple will go the same way.
Although it is said that Apple does not take these things into account, I for one believe that Cupertino must take into account the fact that people are looking for the most powerful products and the list of specifications is the first thing that catches anyone's eye. No one can say for sure if the iPad 3 will have a quad-core, but in March we will find out what Apple has prepared for us.
