iPad 3 battery to be thinner and lighter, cost Apple 20-30 percent more than current battery

OK, enough about the iPhone 5. Let’s talk about the other unannounced next big thing, the iPad 3! According to the Taiwan Economic News, investors who somehow know these things say that the iPad 3 battery is up for a redesign. It will be thinner and lighter than its predecessor, with a longer life, but will cost 20-30 percent more to manufacture.

Two Taiwanese companies, Simplo Technology Co. and Dynapack International Technology Corp. will be tapped with making the iPad 3 batteries, according to the article. They currently manufacture the batteries for MacBooks and the current generation iPad 2.

The article also points to these two companies as being the only ones at this time capable of manufacturing batteries that meet the new CTIA IEEE 1625 standard for safety and reliability, which outlines design methodologies for lithium-ion or lithium polymer batteries in mobile devices. Since adherence to this standard is quickly becoming mandatory for devices in the US, it’s further evidence that these two companies will be the ones to make the next iPad 3 battery.

But what will Apple do with the extra thinness and lightness? I hope they don’t make the iPad 3 any thinner than the iPad 2. It’s thin enough. In fact, I already have trouble holding on to the iPad 2 with my big man hands (they’re not really that big). My hand gets into a cramp if I have to hold a bare iPad 2 for too long, it’s so thin.

But lighter? I’ll take it. Not that the iPad 2 weighs a lot, but if it could be even lighter, that would be really nice. A lighter weight iPad 3 would probably alleviate some of that hand discomfort when you’re trying to one-hand hold it.

What do you think? Does Apple have more to do to improve the iPad’s design? Or should they take that extra space and cram more goodness in the iPad 3?

I have a feeling we’ll have to ‘weight’ until next year to find out.

Via: MacRumors
Source: Taiwan Economic News
Image Credit: iFixit

Eugene Huo is a Juno Award winning recording engineer, video editor, photographer, and all around Mac geek. His first Mac experience was with the Macintosh Plus. You never forget your first. You can follow him on twitter @gamerparent, and check out his video game blog at gamerparent.net.