Three Singapore carriers - SingTel, StarHub, and M1 - have confirmed that they will be offering the new 128GB iPad model, presumably a cellular version with a data plan.

Rumors of a fourth-generation iPad with Retina display and 128GB of storage spread like wildfire recently, and confirmation by Apple sparked off all sorts of mixed reactions.

Apple announced on Tuesday, Jan. 29, that it was launching a 128GB version of its fourth-generation iPad with Retina display.

"With more than 120 million iPad sold, it's clear that customers around the world love their iPads, and everyday they are finding more great reasons to work, learn and play on their iPads rather than their old PCs," Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing Philip Schiller said in the press release. "With twice the storage capacity and an unparalleled selection of over 300,000 native iPad apps, enterprises, educators and artists have even more reasons to use iPad for all their business and personal needs."

With twice the storage capacity of existing models, the upcoming 128GB iPad is aimed at business and professional users who need more storage capacity. While some people are thrilled to have a larger-capacity iPad, others are puzzled and believe that 128GB is an overkill since the iPad is not a real PC.

The carriers did not offer details regarding the availability or the subsidized prices for the larger-capacity iPad, but Apple said the tablet will go on sale starting Feb. 5 (U.S. time) on its online store and authorized resellers.

The 128GB Wi-Fi-only iPad will cost S$1,048 (US$799), while the cellular version will go up to S$1,218 (US$929). With a nearly $1,000 price tag, mixed reactions were expected. AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel all confirmed they will carry the 128GB iPad.

Aside from the higher capacity, the 128GB iPad sports the same features, i.e. a 9.7-inch Retina display, a FaceTime HD camera, and a powerful A6X processor. Apple's share in the tablet market is still dominant, but the company is facing increasing competition from lower-priced devices such as Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. Apple even unveiled an iPad mini to better compete with rivals, but the 128GB iPad now aims to boost the iPad's role in the business world.