It’s just a barebones, nondescript piece of internal hardware, but Chinese website Apple.Pro, a previously reliable source for Apple hardware leaks, claims it’s the docking connector for a redesigned iPad 3, due out this fall.
The article claims that the images, which come from a source cheekily labeled “Deep Throat in California,” show an iPad docking connector that is completely redesigned from the one in the iPad 2. The article speculates that the next iPad won’t be an iPad 2 upgraded with a Retina Display, as a recent rumor has indicated, aka the “iPad 2 Plus,” but rather a completely redesigned iPad 3.
The source notes that the new docking connector’s part number, 821-1259-06, differs from the one used in the iPad 2, 821-1180-A, and offers that as proof of an upcoming redesigned iPad 3. The article also points out the connector’s end is white, indicating there will be both a white and black version of the iPad 3.
