A6 Chip Won’t Hit iPad 3 Until Later Next Year, Say Analysts [Analyst Reports Suggest That The A6 Won't Join The iPad 3 Until Late In 2012]

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Interesting reports coming out of the analyst quarter today, folks, as we discover that the A6 chip won’t be a part of the iPad 3 launch, but will rather show up in a later version. The reasons behind the delay make perfect sense, as it turns out, but will this halt the launch, delay it, or see something else?

Reports out of the Linley Group says that the A6 chip won’t be ready to hit the iPad 3 until June at the earliest, and that if there were an iPad 3 launch (which, from the look of their report, they’re suggesting will actually be before June), it will launch without the A6 powering it instead depending on the A5.

The big holdup appears to be one of chip development issues in general. While the A5 had two cores, the A6 will step up to four, plus include what’s being called 3D technology, which is said to be roughly comparable to Intel’s 3D technology. And considering that further reports say that Apple won’t be tapping Samsung to make said chip, means they’re not only bringing out a new chip but doing so with a new chipmaker. Combine all of the necessary shakedowns in either such process together and your end result looks like a freeway accident, thus pushing the launch time back.

Further speculation has led some to wonder if, come March when we’d expect to see a launch, we won’t see the iPad 3, but rather, the iPad 2 HD or the like, a placeholder geared to keep Apple fans interested until the later launch. This already does terrible things to Apple’s traditional product launch schedules, so we may well see something like that. Strictly conjecture, of course, but that’s the current word.

As is usually the case with something like this, any part of it could change between now and then, but still, it does make some sense if only in retrospect. What do you guys think about this? Figure that the A6 chip will turn out to launch when the iPad 3 does? Or will there be an intermediary version to hit around this March or so to narrow the gap in releases? Either way, we want to hear from you, so hit the comments section and tell us what you think!

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