AppleInsider Staff
The initial report was published this week by The Korea Times, but the story has since disappeared. Before it was pulled, a few other publications (1, 2) picked up on the story to reveal the details.
Citing an anonymous source, the Times initially reported that Apple is working on both a smaller iPad, with a 7.35-inch screen, and a larger iPhone, with a 4-inch display. The Cupertino, Calif., company was said to have planned talks with display maker LG in the coming days about a potential deal for LCD displays.
The source reportedly said that the next, sixth-generation iPhone will have the same screen resolution as the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, despite being a half-inch larger. It was said that utilizing the same resolution was seen as "the right solution to offer value" at a lower price.
That the report was apparently pulled from the Times website, in addition to the fact that its details came from an anonymous source, means the details should be taken in perspective. But some of the details to align with continued reports that Apple is working on a new iPhone with a slightly larger screen than the current iPhone display.
Those rumors led some to hope that the 2011 iPhone would feature a completely redesigned look, which led to some initial disappointment among enthusiasts when the iPhone 4S was unveiled with the same form factor as its predecessor, the iPhone 4. But since then, rumors of a new iPhone with a larger screen have persisted, despite a lack of hard evidence.
As for a so-called "iPad mini," reports of its existence are also not new. Last month, one report claimed that Apple was looking to counter devices like the new $199 Amazon Kindle Fire with a smaller and less expensive iPad set to be released in early 2012.
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Chip Loder
Wesley Hilliard
Marko Zivkovic
Malcolm Owen
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68 Comments
Apple has received world wide acclaim for its current iPad form factor and Steve Jobs unambiguously stated that the 7" form factor sucks. So this "new information" is highly suspect.
Apple has received world wide acclaim for its current iPad form factor and Steve Jobs unambiguously stated that the 7" form factor sucks. So this "new information" is highly suspect.
But Steve is no longer running the company...
But Steve is no longer running the company...
Steve was just talking trash. Nothing wrong with a smaller iPad. Apple just wasn't ready to release one at that time. Women will love it since it will fit in their purses.
But fragmentation is still a problem, and Apple still already makes a mini-tablet: the iPod Touch.
I?m certain that larger, and probably smaller, iOS tablets are coming. Eventually. Because iOS is the future for more and more tasks, as Macs slowly become ?trucks? over time. We?ll have multiple sizes as the market reaches the scale where meeting a real need is worth more than the fragmentation problem.
But it?s a question of time, and I don?t think there?s a ?need? for a 7-inch tablet yet (not even because they?re cheap). I predict that Apple feels the same way, without or without Steve.
I also guarantee they have all KINDS of iOS variations in the labs, and even in manufacturing tests; planning ahead as they did with the Intel-switch ?backup plan,? so that if/when they decide to move, they?re ready. If Apple sees 7? tablets as unnecessary now, but in 2012 things look different, they?ll be ready.
I for one think all kinds of sizes/shapes are cool, and I want one of each! At the end of the day, though, my pocket-size iPhone and paper-size iPad meet all my needs better than 7? medium-small option could.