Toshiba has unveiled the world's thinnest 10-inch tablet, heralding a 3-inch thick body and weighing just 1.2 pounds.

Toshiba introduced the Excite X10 at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Since the recent release of the ASUS Transformer Prime Eee Pad tablet and the Kindle Fire, the tablet market has become more competitive than ever.

Toshiba's Excite X10 has been unveiled ahead of the highly anticipated iPad 3. The current iPad 2 is 4 inches thick and weighs slightly less than the Excite X10 at 1.35 pounds. The tablet is light but not flimsy, according to Mashable's Lance Ulanoff.

Not only is the Excite thin, but it is also powerful with a TI OMAP 4420 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. It is expected to ship with the Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS or the newer Ice Cream Sandwich, according to Tech Crunch.

The X10 also heralds a 1280x800 screen, with a 2-megapixel-facing camera and a 5-megapixel camera on its backside, which can also be used for video chat.

The ultra-light tablet has also made room for many ports including: a USB port, mini HDMI out and a micro SD card slot.

The price has not yet been revealed but it should be between $499 and $599, according to Mashable.

While the iPad 3 probably won't be as thin as the Toshiba Excite X10, it is rumored to be thinner than its predecessor with an improved display screen.

As far as rumors go, the initial production of the iPad 3 is thought to have begun with around 1 million to 1.5 million units, according to a report obtained by the Daily Mail. It is expected to come out by March.

Ipad Android Ipad Consumer Electronics Show