Apple’s third generation iPad will keep garnering rumors until its release. This time it’s about the tablet’s fateful release rumored to take place by February next year. Richard Gardner at Citi reports that according to several sources iPad next generation will launch in February and it will feature a high resolution Retina Display screen. Company’s hugely successful tablet series is set to welcome a new member to their clan.

Gardner emphasized, “There do not remain any significant technical hurdles to stop iPad from an early 2012 release,” along with quite a possibility of display with double the resolution of a current model. His analysis comes from findings within Apple’s Asian supply chain that are witnessing increased iPad parts orders for the March quarter. This hike in production is attributed to the release of next iPad. Apple will sell 12-13 million iPads in December quarter as assumed by Gardner.

Those who have doubt iPad 3 is coming anytime soon have their own reasons. Many believe Apple has faced technical setbacks in combining high resolution  panels with LED backlighting. But news from past week has it that iPad screen’s production has been handled over to Samsung, LG and Sharp  ahead of final assembly of tablet parts at Foxconn next month. Analysts asserted that Cupertino company might plan on getting dual-LED backlighting  for the next gen iPad to overcome brightness issues. Retina Display iPad 3 has been associated with many rumors in the past. A recent cover says next generation iPad is coming enabled with LTE technology. Reports read that apple will be bringing both LTE iPad 3 and LTE iPhone 5 to NTT DoCoMo next year.

iPad 3 To Have Same Screen Size But Thicker Body!!!

A Wednesday’s report revealed that Apple’s next iPad may be thicker for an unknown reason. The Japanese blog Macotakara referred to an Asian supplier who is allegedly making components for Apple’s new iPad. Which means all those who have been involved in making designer covers for the iPad 3, better take a back seat as the device, if thicker, will not be compatible with the back side covers anymore.

Apple’s first party magnetic Smart Cover makers can continue manufacturing for the 3rd generation iPad as this one, though thicker in body, will have the same rounded edges as iPad 2. According to latest circulations a few iPad back covers were discovered for sale on the global commerce site Alibaba.com and were claimed to be from prototype iPad 3 by the developers. The back of the case bears no Apple logo and so has been developed by third party case makers.

Why does this information gain a foothold? Previous updates on high resolution Retina Display have revealed that heavier parts and dual-LED panels might be required to make it a reality and so to be able to incorporate these a thicker frame is essential. Apple had first introduced the Retina Display in iPhone 4 by packing more pixels in the same area. It had then said the individual pixels were so small that couldn’t be distinguished by the human eye. And this time the producers may opt for a completely new technology to bring Retina Display to iPad 3. The technology is called as IGZO displays from Sharp that can reach a 330 dots-per-inch screen resolution.

We had first covered this fact last month when it was being speculated that iPad 3 will be thicker and will release by March 2012.