New iPad 2 Leaked Images Appear in China on Announcement Day

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Today is the day, folks, when Steve Jobs, or someone else, will lead Apple’s iPad 2 keynote and present the new tablet to the world. According to all estimates out there the next-gen Apple tablet will be still be the best sold among its peers for a couple of more years, as analysts seem to think that Apple will retain its lead in the tablet business, but will the iPad 2 be able to beat current competitors when it comes to hardware and software characteristics?

We have seen plenty of rumors suggesting various specs and features for the device, but some contradicted others, while some reports left us wondering whether we’re looking at a real upgrade here or just a mere refresh that would put the device on par with the competition. In fact the word on the street is that an iPad 3 will hit later this year and that device will actually be Apple’s finest tablet for 2011.

With a few hours to go until the official iPad 2 announcement, which we’re going to cover for you live, as it happens in California, we’re looking at more leaked stuff iPad 2-related. New pictures have emerged, all the way from China, of course, showing the tablet in action. We really have no way of knowing whether the tablet in the images below is indeed the iPad 2, but, on the other hand, we did see plenty of Apple-related leaks originate from Asia and so many of them turned out to be quite true.

The device in the shots above is a thinner and therefore lighter alleged iPad 2, which is what we expect from the iPad 2 in the first place. Among other things we noticed the dual cameras and a bigger speaker. The back is flat unlike the original iPad and the leaked iPad 2 seems to have all the original Apple markings on it. But on close inspection the model number turns out to match the Apple TV while the FCC ID matches a Wi-Fi iPad. And this one is apparently an iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G device. Or isn’t it?

No matter if the image above shows the real thing or not we’re still going to find out everything there is to know about the device later on today, so don’t forget to come back for our extensive iPad 2 coverage and follow us on Twitter for timely iPad 2 updates.