DigiTimes reports that Foxconn production lines in Chengdu are ramping up dramatically in order to satisfy both demands for the current iPad model for this holiday season and to get the iPad 2 ready to launch next year. Chengdu had been a much smaller facility but is expected to soon be able to produce 40 million iPads a year. The story reiterates widespread reports that the new iPad will launch around the end of Q1 next year and it even names some suppliers for component parts. The takeaway here: if you buy a current iPad at anything other than a screaming deal, you’re a sucker because new models are coming and they’ll be better.

Meanwhile, Apple is teasing a massive one-day Black Friday sale, presumably to choke the world with current model iPads before the new ones drop.