The Apple iPad 2 has been out for almost a year now, so it’s time to say hello to iPad 3 or iPad HD, if new rumours are to be believed. Apple this week officially sent out invites for its March 7 iPad event, means tomorrow, telling invitees that the company has “something you really have to see. And touch.”

It’s all but certain that the iPad 3 or iPad HD will have a better screen than the iPad or iPad 2. Most rumors point to a Retina display, similar to what’s found on the iPhone 4/4S. The iPad HD version will reportedly have a 2048×1024 resolution, twice that of the iPad 2?s screen.

Consensus says the iPad HD / iPad 3 will run the new A6 processor, which will be significantly faster than the A5 CPU found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, and use less power, which would help in the battery life department.

One of the best reasons to buy the iPhone 4S is its fantastic 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. And it seems increasingly likely that Apple will upgrade this lens in the iPad HD.

A variety of reports suggest that Apple plans to make its first 4G LTE-enabled device the iPad HD or iPad 3.

It’s essentially guaranteed that the iPad 3 will come loaded with iOS 5.1, beta versions of which have been available to developers for some time. So far, the upgrade to iOS 5 offers nothing much new.

References to the iPad HD have also been found in a data usage application called Taptalk, although the guys from Gizmodo do point out that this data can be doctored.
We suspect that the iPad 3 will end up being called the iPad HD, as this will allow Apple to continue to sell the existing iPad 2 as simply the iPad at a lower price than the new model which will be announced next week. (Gizmodo)