We break down the new screen resolution and how it will change watching films on a tablet.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Apple CEO Tim Cook presents the iPad 3 on March 7th
Photo: Getty Images

For its third incarnation, Apple's iPad is going high-definition.

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the new tablet in front of a crowd of industry insiders and bloggers Wednesday (March 7) in San Francisco. One of the biggest updates to the gadget is an upgrade to a retina display with double the resolution of the iPad 2, touting a 2048x1536 screen and 264 pixels per inch. With such a significant change to the tablet's screen, the new iPad is sure to change the way we watch movies on tablets.

With the iPad's display upgrade comes the possibility of 1080p screen resolution, something that has, up until this point, never been done on a tablet before.

The move to 1080p on the iPad coincided with a much larger upgrade across the iTunes Store. Movies purchased or rented from the iTunes Store not only come in the up-scaled 1080p resolution, but also are shareable across Apple devices with the help of the file-sharing service iCloud. Movies and TV shows are now shareable through iCloud and can be re-downloaded across all devices.

This includes an updated version of Apple TV, which brings your iTunes-purchased video to your home entertainment system, now in 1080p. The Apple TV interface also added a recommendation feature based on what you've previously bought and viewed.

The new iPad also upgraded the back camera, now called the iSight camera. The new lens and features will allow 1080p video recording. Additionally, Apple 4G LTE capabilities to bust download speeds.

The new iPad will be available for purchase in the United States on March 16 in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models.