CDMA iPhone, AMD-powered Apple TV with iOS, 7-inch iPad rumored

Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes on Monday reported a lengthy list of potential future hardware from Apple. It made mention of a Verizon-compatible CDMA iPhone expected to start production in December, piggybacking on rumors that resurfaced over the weekend, claiming the iPhone 4 will debut on the Verizon network in the U.S. in January 2011.

"Pegatron is expected to start mass production in December and will supply to both US-based Verizon Wireless and China-based China Telecom," the report said. "The CDMA iPhone's back plate will be forged from metal materials and will feature an integrated antenna."

Sources also indicated to the publication that Apple will upgrade its 9.7-inch iPad to an ARM Cortex-A9-based processor, and also add 512MB of RAM in the first quarter of 2011. The current model has 256MB or RAM and a custom A4 processor based on the Cortex-A8 design.

The report also rekindled rumors of a smaller iPad with a 7-inch screen. The report claimed that the hardware will also sport a Cortex-A9-based processor, and like the 9.7-inch model, will have an LCD panel with in-plane switching technology and a resolution of 1,024-by-768 pixels.

Finally, the report also claimed that the Cupertino, Calif., company is working on a new Apple TV powered by AMD's Fusion package, dubbed an "accelerated processing unit," or APU. AMD's yet-to-be-released hybrid processor combines the CPU and GPU functions into one package. The ARM-based chips found in Apple's iPhone and iPad already accomplish similar functions with low power consumption.

AMD touts that its forthcoming Fusion product will offer strong HD, 3D and data-intensive performance on the single-die processor. "APUs combine high-performance serial and parallel processing cores with other special-purpose hardware accelerators, enabling breakthroughs in visual computing, security, performance-per-watt and device form factor," the company said.

DigiTimes claimed that the new Apple TV will "adopt a user interface similar to the iPhone with support for social networking websites, network multimedia and the App Store. Mass production of the device will start in December."

Aside from the inclusion of an AMD processor, the rumors largely reiterate what was stated in May by Engadget. That report indicated that Apple would release a new product that would offer 1080P cloud-based content streaming for just $99. However, it indicated that the device would run on a custom-built A4 processor, just like the iPad and iPhone 4.