Are the photos of the iPad 3 that were leaked a fake? Maybe a rejection of a prototype. Doesn’t matter. What’s important is that spring is just around the corner and Apple will surely be releasing a successor to the iPad 2.

Rumors about the iPad 3 specs say to expect a new camera, larger battery, running a much faster chip, improved graphics, slightly revamped logic board and a different screen with double resolution Retina display (2048 x 1536 pixels). Style wise not much is to chance but you can expect the new iPad to be about a millimetre thicker.

Looking at the release date of March 11th for the iPad 2, if things remain on the same schedule we should see the announcement of the iPad 3 the first week in March and shipments being made to select markets start mid-march.

The leaked photos were originally released by RepairLabs.