It’s anticipated that Apple will roll out a new iPad — the iPad 3 — next month — and perhaps a new Apple TV as well, according to several sources, including “9to5Mac” (http://www.9to5Mac.com) and “MacRumors” (http://www.macrumors.com).
The next gen iPad is expected to boast an ultra-high resolution 2048 x 1536 display (a retina display) that exceeds the resolution of 1080p content. However, Apple only offers a maximum of 720p HD content on their iTunes Store and the current Apple TV maxes out at that resolution.
A retina display iPad would be a good launchpad for 1080p iTunes Store offerings. If this happens, an Apple TV update with 1080p support would only make sense.