If you’ve been following the iPad 2 rumors the last couple of months and are drooling in anticipation of what Apple might be announcing on Wednesday, March 2 -- well, let’s just say you might want to temper those expectations, if rumors are to be believed.

Engadget is now reporting that the amazing iPad 2 we’re all waiting for may not be incoming at next Wednesday’s Apple event in San Francisco. While there’s never been any real confirmation that the iPad 2 will come packing an SD card slot and high-resolution “Retina-esque” Display, the website is now attempting to temper expectations, with their sources claiming that these features are essentially off the table for now.

“Just as we'd heard about last minute alterations to the Apple TV before it hit the market, we've gotten word from sources that the iPad 2 slated to be announced next Wednesday will be sans a few of the features we'd previously reported,” reports Engadget. “What's the cause of the switch? Well our sources weren't crystal clear on the exact reasons, but the gist of what was explained to us centered around vague "engineering issues" which may have forced some changes at the eleventh hour.”

While Engadget claims that their sources have been “dead right on specific Apple plans and specifications for unannounced products in the past,” it seems unlikely that Cupertino decided at the last minute to yank such key hardware features -- although it wouldn’t be the first time. As you may recall, the third generation iPod touch was widely expected to have a rear-facing camera (and teardowns revealed it indeed had a space for one inside), which didn’t actually appear until a year later.

For what it’s worth, Engadget claims that the next iPad will mostly be a spec bump -- same screen size, same resolution, but more RAM (they’re saying 512MB) and more power in the CPU (possibly an upgrade to the A4 processor, think A5). The biggest changes are expected to be at least a front-facing camera for FaceTime, and likely a thinner body.

Finally, Engadget is claiming that next Wednesday will show a sneak preview of iOS 5, which is anticipating in June alongside an iPhone 5. So if you already own an iPad and were warming up your credit card for next week, sounds like you might want to slip that little guy back into the wallet -- for now.

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(Image courtesy of Engadget)