A price sheet leaked to a Chinese microblogging site reportedly shows pricing for the iPad 3. If the sheet is in any way legitimate, Apple intends to bring the iPad 3 to market with a slightly higher price of up to US$80 more per unit than the iPad 2. That higher price, however, is expected to come along with a marked increase in display resolution.
First noted by MacRumors, the pricing sheet was posted (registration required) to Sina Weibo, a microblogging site (similar to Twitter) that is popular in China. It shows Apple’s current pricing for the iPad 2 in one column, with another column listing prices for the as-yet unannounced iPad 3.
A Supposed iPad 2 & iPad 3 Pricing List
For those with images turned off, iPad 3 with Wi-Fi only is priced at $579 for a 16GB model, $679 for a 32GB model, and $779 for a 64GB unit. That’s $80 more than Apple’s current pricing on the iPad 2. The Wi-Fi+3G models were priced at $699 $799, and $899 each, which is $70 more than the current models.
The problem, of course, is that there is simply no way to know where the pricing sheet came from, let alone it’s legitimacy. It could be a hoped for pricing matrix from a retailer hoping to carry the device, or it could have been put together by someone with access to a spreadsheet, a printer, and a few extra minutes of spare time on their hands.
Apple is expected to announce the iPad 3 next week during a media event. Rumors for the last year have said that the device will feature a Retina Display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 - the iPad 2 has a resolution of 1048 x 768. That much more real estate for $80 could well be a hit with consumers.