Apple, creator of the super successful tablet computer the iPad, is set to release a third generation of the device in early 2012, reports The Wall Street Journal. The Northern California company is currently engaging suppliers and assemblers in Asia to get a model ready to start trial production in October.

The iPad 3 is said to feature a high-resolution screen — 2048 x 1536 compared with the current 1024 x 768 — and will apparently have a 9.7-inch screen.

Apple in Beijing did not comment on the story, according to the WSJ, but a source at one supplier said: "Suppliers will ramp up production and try to improve the yield rate for the new iPad in the fourth quarter before its official launch in early 2012.”