iPad 3 Rumor - iPad 3's Retina Display

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Pictures of purported parts of upcoming iPads, iPhones, iPods, and iAnythings are the norm, but perhaps not quite as interesting as this latest one.

MacRumors posts what it says is the screen that will be in the iPad 3. That iPad 3 Retina Display is not attached to an actual iPad 3 unit, but instead sits atop a table with a ruler on top to show its scale, which the outlet says iPad 3 Retina Display is the same 9.7 inches as the one on the iPad 1 and iPad 2.

However, when comparing the iPad 3 Retina Display to one from an iPad 2 under a microscope, the difference in resolutions becomes readily apparent, with the iPad 3 display's pixels appearing to be one-quarter the size of those on the iPad 2.

Since we only had a raw iPad 3 Retina Display with no method to power it, taking high quality photos of the pixels was difficult. Still, even with the relatively poor lighting, you can easily make out the pixels on each display (made up of red, green and blue elements). We highlighted a cluster of 4 pixels (2x2) from the iPad 2 to compare it to the same area on the iPad 3. On the iPad 3, the same cluster was occupied by 16 pixels (4x4) -- exactly twice the resolution in each direction.

Extrapolating out, the iPad 3 screen should carry the 2048x1536 resolution, exactly twice the linear resolution of the iPad 1 and iPad 2 which is 1024x768 resolution. Such a screen should be able to display much sharper images as compared to the previous generation iPads.

While these iPad 3 Retina Display weren't directly sourced from Apple, they are labeled as OEM replacement parts for the iPad 3 and are apparently in mass production. The difficulties of any 3rd party in mass producing 2048x1536 resolution - 9.7-inch iPad 3 Retina displays make us quite confident that these represent legitimate iPad 3 parts.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPad 3 with a media event on March 7, and the device is rumored to be carrying this high-resolution display, a new A6 system-on-a-chip, and LTE support for models with cellular data capabilities.