iPad Frame Leak Shows Webcam-Sized Gap

The omission of a front-facing webcam from the Apple iPad has been a point of criticism by many over the past week, but judging by some photos of internal components the Cupertino company may be planning to address that.  Mission:Repair, who specialise in repairing electronics, claim to have received their first batch of iPad parts, and spotted that a MacBook webcam assembly fits perfectly into a gap in the iPad's frame.

The frame has a space in the middle at the top, with a large central hole that's perfectly sized for the MacBook webcam lens, and a smaller hole on either size that line up perfectly with the status LED and ambient light sensor.  The obvious conclusion is that the iPad was designed with a webcam in mind.

It seems unlikely that Apple will add a new feature to the first-gen iPad before it has even launched, at least not when it comes to hardware, leaving the possibility that they plan a second-generation version using the same frame assembly.  Of course, we'll have to wait for the inevitable teardown post-release to know what's inside for sure.

[via Everything iPad]