Next iPad to be Thicker, and Next iPhone all Metal?

According to a new post in the Apple news site the third-generation iPad will be 0.7mm thicker than the existing model in order to include the dual-light bar backlighting system that will enable a higher-resolution display. Another important change announced in the site is that the next iPhone which is expected next summer will be redesigned, the body will be all metal with a bigger screen.

ILounge's source offers that Apple is making a move to a bigger screen and a metal body for the phone. That was another popular rumor mill item in the run up to the iPhone 4S. Apple has used metal in the casing of all its iPhones thus far, going from using it around the edge of the screen as a bezel, to an external antenna band that makes up the side of the iPhone 4 and 4S. But during the company's unveiling of the 4S last month, Apple made a point to note that it was still using glass.

Last but not least, iLounge throws in that we can expect an overhaul of Apple's MacBook Pro line next year. The site is scant on offering up any features, except to say that we should think thinner. Rumors have circulated for months now that Apple's Pro notebook line is jumping generations in 2012. The last big shift in that line was in 2008, in the move to unibody construction.