The new Apple iPad 3 could be announced in the first quarter of next year, and many reports are coming in about this tablet. DigiTimes has reported that Samsung and Sharp have already started shipping panels for the iPad 3 in October.

According to the source above Taiwan-based touch panel makers Wintek and TPK Holding will ship touch panels for the next-gen tablet to the supply chain in November and December.

There are many rumours at the moment in what specifications the new iPad 3 will have, we have reported on a number of occasions and said that the tablets could possibly get modified backlight for higher resolution displays, some say that they will not get Retina display but Cnet say different, they suggest that the iPad 3 could come with Retina Display with a 2048-by-1536 pixel resolution, which will be provided by Samsung and LG Display.

Cnet also suggest that Apple is apparently working on new dual-LED light bar design. Obviously all of this is hear say at the moment until official announcements come in, but it has been noted by sources that Apple have a massive stockpile of 4-5 million units of iPad 2 in the supply chain, they apparently ordered components for 15 to 16-million iPad 2’s but only sold 11.12 million iPads during the September quarter.

We will bring you as much news as possible on the Apple iPad 3, release dates, specs etc as soon as we know more. Please join Phones Review on Facebook, Twitter or my personal Google+ page (Mark Chubb) for instant updates.

Source — 9to5Mac