At this point, it’s starting to sound quite likely that Apple will announce the iPad 3 early next month. We’ve heard that Apple is scrambling to get together a perfect presentation with which to launch the tablet, but once the event is over, and sales of the iPad 3 have begun, what will Apple next turn its attention to? Speculation returns to the idea of a slightly-smaller version of the iPad, with one analyst suggesting that a seven-inch model is in the works.

Supposedly, this seven-inch iPad would be released in the months following the iPad 3. Rumors focus on the tablet’s form factor; we haven’t heard any thoughts about just what hardware may be under the hood, and if we’ll be looking at iPad 3-level components like the A6, or if Apple might stick with the iPad 2′s A5.

As far as news on the iPad 3 goes, we’ve heard a few rumors about possible support for LTE. AT&T stores have recently been receiving new shipments of LTE-compatible micro SIM cards. Admittedly, there’s other hardware that uses these SIMs, but AT&T’s big push to replace existing stocks of micro SIMs with these new ones might signal that the carrier is expecting the kind of mass activations that would follow the launch of an LTE-capable iPad 3.

Source: Computer World, phoneArena

Via: BGR