Seventeen days to go still before the real information will be released the specs for the new iPad. Until then, the rumor mill is in full swing.

The above photo, taken by Sas126 and posted to the Chinese website, Weiphone, indicates that the new iPad 3 chipset will include the A5X chip, not the rumored power hungry quad-core A6.

The photos shows a stamp of 1146 which represents the date it was supposedly manufactured; the 46th week of last year or somewhere around November 14-20, 2011.

The iPad 3 is rumored to also have an 8MP camera and a 9.7-inch 2048×1536 pixel display.

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.