The Linley Group, a chip consulting firm, believes that Apple’s “A6″ mobile processor will not make an appearance in the next generation iPad until late 2012.

The “A6″ processor will feature four processor cores (which is two more than the A5) as well as “3D technology,” something Intel announced in May, said The Linley Group citing a report in the Taiwan Economic News.

But why can’t it be done quickly?

For starters, the process of creating and releasing a new processor is an immense task for even the most experienced chip manufacturers like Intel.

Secondly, Apple is switching to a new contract chip manufacturer (previously was Samsung), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to create its chips which are said to sport next-generation 28-nanometer technology.

It turns out, this all takes time:

All of this takes time. “A final version of the chip will enter production in 2Q12 ‘at the earliest’… We believe this timing makes sense,” [Linley Group senior analyst Kevin] Krewell said. “This pace would make the A6 one of the first 28 [nanometer] mobile processors (along with Qualcomm’s MSM8960) to enter production. This schedule, however, breaks Apple’s annual processor-upgrade cycle and will delay any products using the A6 until at least June 2012.”

Furthermore, if Apple continues with its launch schedule, the iPad 3 will be launched in the first quarter of 2012 with A5 processors (like in the iPad 2) and a new high-resolution ‘Retina’ dis­play, says Krewell.

What do you think? Would you be okay with an iPad 3 with an A5 processor and ‘Retina’ dis­play? Let us know in the comments below!

via cnet