iPad 3 in pictures: Our favourite concept designs

The iPad 3 is rocketing its way towards us, it seems, ready to provide us with all the swiping action we could want. But what might it look like? We've collated the wisdom of the Internet hive mind and put together a bunch of our favourite concept designs for your viewing delight.

Nearly a year on from the iPad 2 launch and with the sequel surely just around the corner, everyone with an ounce of skill with a graphics programme is busy concocting pictures of what they think the new slate will be like.

Happily, many of them are far too daft to be taken even a little bit seriously -- Mike James's iPad and iPen concept probably takes the biscuit though. Although we like the idea of a bigger iPad that can run Apple's desktop OS X software, we reckon the 24-inch screen with a 10,000x8,000-pixel resolution might be pushing it. As is the Quantum processor developed by Intel and NASA. That's saying nothing of the 4 petabytes of "light-speed RAM".

Guilherme Schasiepen's mockup is probably a little closer to the truth with its retina display and 5-megapixel camera. He reckons it's going to be thinner than the current model and have a curved glass back. We're not sure we're going to see such large swathes of glass covering the iPad, but we love the look.

Rumours are flying thick and fast about a higher resolution screen, quad-core A6 processor and improved camera -- read our complete iPad 3 rumour guide for the full, up to date rundown. We'll have to wait and see what Apple announces in March, when we're expecting to see the new slate arrive.

In the meantime, have a click through the concepts above and make sure to tell us in the comments below and on our Facebook page which ideas you want to see the most.