Apple to add 5 new features to iPad 2, says paper
A Chinese-language Economy Daily News (EDN) report citing industry sources claims Apple will add five new features to the iPad 2: video phone, better mobility, USB port, new display technology and 3-axis gyroscopes.
Context & Ripple Effects
The iPad 2 rumor cycle has been building all autumn: in late September, Goldman Sachs reported Apple was planning a thinner iPad with a camera and mini USB, and this Economy Daily News item extends that list with three more items — video calling, new display technology, and a 3-axis gyroscope — again attributed only to unnamed industry sources.
The claim remains unconfirmed, but its travel matters: Silicon Alley Insider's same-day pickup under a headline bundling 'Gyroscope, Retina Display, USB?' shows the supply-chain rumor ecosystem feeding US consumer-tech coverage directly, weeks before any Apple announcement.
First-order effects
- Apple's component suppliers stand to gain display and motion-sensor design wins if any of the five rumored features ship, making the gyroscope and display claims worth watching in Q1 2011 order books.
- Prospective iPad buyers heading into the December quarter face a timing decision: buying a first-generation unit now versus waiting for a refresh that two separate sourced reports say includes cameras.
Second-order effects
- Android tablet vendors launching for the holidays are forced to compete against an unreleased product: if the camera-and-USB package lands, their current spec sheets lose the differentiators they were marketed on.
- Accessory and peripheral makers get a signal to hold USB-host accessory roadmaps until Apple confirms the port, since the first-generation iPad's dock-connector-only design constrained that category.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern of successive supply-chain leaks holds through launch, tablet hardware settles into an annual spec-bump cadence resembling smartphones, with each refresh resetting the competitive baseline rather than expanding it.
- The DigiTimes/EDN sourcing model — anonymous Taiwan component-makers feeding global headlines — becomes an institutionalized pre-launch channel that Apple neither confirms nor controls.
The trend: Supply-chain leak reports are setting the agenda for an expected spring 2011 iPad 2 refresh, turning tablet launches into rumor-cycle events months before Apple says a word.