CNBC has just issued a Tweet claiming its sources have indicated that Apple will indeed be launching a quad-core iPad 3 next with 4G LTE cellular data capabilities next week. Interestingly, the tweet claims that the unveiling will take place in New York, a departure from the company's typical major announcements that have taken place either in San Francisco or at the company's headquarters in Cupertino. A full report from CNBC is presumably forthcoming.
Bloomberg issued a nearly identical report about the iPad 3 specs in mid-January, but the recent revelation of an A5X system-on-a-chip has led to questions about whether Apple will be utilizing a beefed-up version of its dual-core A5 chip found in the iPad 2 instead of a quad-core processor. Apple does appear to have been simultaneously working on A5X and A6 chips, so it is unclear exactly how and when Apple is planning on utilizing the two chips.
Update: The reliable Jim Dalrymple has Tweeted to say that CNBC is wrong about the event being held in New York.
Update 2: CNBC had posted a breaking news banner on its main homepage touting the information, but the banner has now been removed. CNBC's Tweet remains, however, and we are still awaiting its full report.
Update 3: Jon Fortt is currently on CNBC discussing the source's claim that New York is a "key location for an upcoming product launch" without specifically claiming that it will involve the iPad 3. He appears to be hedging significantly about whether New York will be THE location for the media event (as opposed to "a key location"), and is trying to avoid "conflating" what he is hearing about the media event with the iPad 3 specifically.
Update 4: CNBC continues to backtrack a bit with a pair of Tweets clarifying that there is an unspecified "Apple product launch slated for next week & key location will be NYC". The specific claim on LTE quad-core iPad 3 is now being tied back to iMore's report from two weeks ago.
