Edible Apple

With an iPad 3 launch likely on track for the first quarter of 2012, Apple component suppliers this past October already shipped 1 million high-res display panels with another million set to ship in November.

The report comes courtesy of Digitimes which notes that Apple has tapped Samsung, LG Display, and Sharp to supply the displays for the iPad 3. Assembly of the new iPads is expected to begin in January 2012, and if Apple’s past iPad launches are any indication, a release will likely come sometime in April.

As for the displays themselves, expect to see the iPad 3 sporting a Retina Display. There had been a few reports suggesting that manufacturers were having trouble producing said displays in sufficient volume so we imagine that whatever roadblocks were initially present have now been surpassed.

Interestingly enough, the report als notes that Apple has taken shipments of new iPad panels that measure in at 7.85-inches. While it’s unclear if Apple has plans to release a smaller form factor iPad, it’s worth nothing that there have been rumblings of a smaller form factor iPad, pre-emptively dubbed the iPad Mini, that would be positioned to take on the Kindle Fire. But with critics of the Kindle Fire taking swipes at the devices screen size – and a whole lot more – we wonder if Apple will really release a tablet situated between an iPod Touch and an iPad.