“Apple Inc.’s suppliers are preparing to manufacture the company’s largest-ever iPad, with production scheduled to commence by the first quarter of next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter,” Tim Culpan, Adam Satariano and Ian King report for Bloomberg.
“The new iPad will have a screen measuring 12.9 inches diagonally, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public,” Culpan, Satariano and King report. “Apple currently produces iPads with 9.7-inch and 7.9-inch displays. The Cupertino, California-based company has been working with suppliers for at least a year to develop a new range of larger touch-screen devices, said the people.”
“Apple’s suppliers recently started manufacturing an updated 9.7-inch-screen iPad, and were also set to enter production of a new version of the iPad mini, people familiar with the plans have said, with the devices set to be available later this year in time for the holiday season,” Culpan, Satariano and King report. “Potential customers for larger-screen iPads are businesses, where the device could take on more tasks of a traditional laptop computer. In July, Apple unveiled a partnership with International Business Machines Corp., and Cook said part of the pact’s rationale was to sell to corporations so they could ‘be a catalyst for future iPad growth.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: MaxiPad™! Bring it on – we’ll be first in line!
They’re like women. There’s only two kinds. Good ol big ones, and big ol good ones!!! This will def help enterprise gain traction!!!
Samesung to release a 13 inch tablet in 10..9..8..7…
Samsung already has a 12.9 inch tablet. Much like its flagship phone before the iPhone (the Crap…um… Blackjack), the Galaxy Note 12.9 will look like an absolute joke once Apple releases their rendition. BACK TO THE DRAWING (Copying) BOARD, SAMMY!
Indeed, and it was released when… Rumors that Apple would produce a larger screen iPad started to become consistent. Pathetic.
Just as long as it isn’t the regular iPad display merely blown up. More Windows area at the higher resolution would be nice. But I still think the current largest iPad size is pretty ideal for easy handling.
Apple will do this (a larger iPad) when the design weighs the same or less than the original 2010 iPad. Weight is the key consideration. It must be easily “mobile,” held or cradled in one hand, while using it with the other hand. It will not be propped up using a “kickstand” on a table, because it is too heavy to be held (comfortably) while being used.
Using a narrow bezel along the longer sides, like iPad Air and mini, it won’t be too much larger than the original iPad (and certainly thinner). I think the resolution will be something like 3200×2400, which puts the pixel density at about the same as iPad mini (Retina) and iPhone, smaller pixels than iPad Air’s Retina display.
I just measured my iPad 1 in its Apple rubber case, and to my surprise it’s about 12.5 inches on the diagonal. So you’re quite right: this 12.9″ one would be only slightly bigger than that.
I have an iPad and a Wacom Cintiq (a 21 inch monitor)
big advantage of the Cintiq is that is pressure sensitive. You can do a lot more if the surface can sense pressure. I use it for art, drawing lines can be thick or thin depending on how hard you push, on an iPad the line is just fixed (you can adjust it in some programs with ‘acceleration’ or use a pressure pen but the solution is not as good)
Wish Apple can somehow make a pressure sensitive iPad especially if they are coming out with big ones. Besides drawing, imagine game , music instrument controls etc with pressure.
Yours is a very narrow niche market. It is entirely unlikely that Apple would bother developing a pressure-sensitive iPad screen, only to be used by a fraction of the addressable market.
Drawing is an infinitely precise activity which requires a high level of accuracy for the sensor. I can’t imagine any games where this level of precision and accuracy would be required. Not to mention the games that would require a sharp stylus-type instrument to control them. In other words, as games generally require finger-touching for control, developing an algorithm that can tell, by the size of the touch area, how hard the user is pressing the finger against the surface, could substitute for pressure sensitivity perfectly adequately for all those other needs.
I agree that it’s doubtful pressure sensitivity is a high priority with apple. i agree what I’m describing is a niche.
but one can dream
your “Those that require pressure to control tone quality or volume seem to rely on the size of the finger surface touching the screen” seems not as precise as real pressure control.
What I can do with a Cintiq never stops to amaze me. You can get the finest lines, lightest shades by a light touch and than fan it out with more pressure. trying to draw with an iPad even with a stylus is night and day difference — never realized it until i tried both. ( Artists have done great stuff with an iPad as seen on Youtube but I suspect if they had done it on a Cintiq it would have taken a quarter of the time ) .
I agree art is a niche but I suspect app developers will jump on it for other things if pressure is available.
Still like I said I agree with you I doubt it’s going to happen anytime soon.
As far as musical instrument control is concerned, that seems to be working remarkably well with the existing displays. Piano-type instruments use motion sensor to determine the force by which the keys on the display are hit and generate corresponding velocity values, which in turn determine the volume of the tone for that specific key strike. It is actually quite impressive how well this works. Those that require pressure to control tone quality or volume seem to rely on the size of the finger surface touching the screen (the harder you press, the more squished your finger, enlarging the surface of contact).
Actually, there is a pressure sensitive stylus for the iPad. Can’t remember the name, but I think it’s from Wacom. Iirc, the only catch is that, while it can work as a regular stylus, the pressure sensitivity feature only works with apps that are written for this stylus.
In other news, Apple preps an 86″ Laptop! Whoo-hoo!
Ok seriously, the line “people familiar with the plans have said” should be replaced with “unconfirmed reports suggest”. I understand tech journalism has gone way down in quality since none of us want to pay for it anymore but some standards should remain. A source who won’t allow himself to be named, is by definition an unconfirmed source per standards.
I’ll believe it when I see it. I saw the Samsung one at Costco, it was a joke. You’re not going to carry it around like you would the current sized iPads, it is too big, too cumbersome, and too heavy.
A standard 8.5 x 11″ notebook measures 13.9″ diagonally. Nobody has trouble carrying these around.
I’ve been expecting larger ipads since the beginning! If Apple ever builds a real Apple TV it will be essentially a larger ipad!
With regard to the Davewrite Predrag discussion I used to use a wacom tablet not Cintiq for art on the Mac! I had hoped for ipad pressure sensitivity earlier!
I do art on the ipad and would find it great to have that feature!
Their are a zillion artists many who now only use traditional media but when pressure sensitivity and even more realistic simulated paints arrive on the ipad their is a huge market out there as ever more traditional painters are moving to the ipad! I don’t see it as a niche market at all! With 164B I think Apple can he either figure out how to do pressure sensitivity or develop a reliable stylus or lease it from or buy Wacom!
The other point is that Wacom is limited in other functions but an artist can do it all on the ipad so an ipad with pressure sensitivity would have a virtually unlimited market if the cost can be kept at an affordable level! With Apple’s huge scale amortizing the cost is probably not a big problem!
In any event I will continue to enjoy art on the ipad and expect ios 8 to kick it up a notch with current and new art apps!
Agreed! As Apple seems serious about selling more iPads to Enterprise (hence the tie-up with IBM), there are a number of features that imho they must include, if tablets are to be used for serious productive work:
• system-level generic drivers for pressure-sensitive styluses,
• enable wireless mouse and trackpad (why must one jailbreak the iPad to get this feature?!)
• bigger screen: 12.9″ sounds excellent.
• multiple windows on screen. For many routine office tasks, you’ve gotta have 2 or more windows in view at once.
• how about the ability to run a 2nd full-sizes monitor from the iPad? Failing that, how about enabling OS X-style Spaces in iOS?
• a proper filing system. Given the malware-infected swamp that is Android and Windows, Apple are to be commended for keeping iOS/MacOS almost entirely free of such crap. But they need to work out a way to let us move files esily from app to app, and device to device. Frankly, being forced to go through email/dropbox/itunes etc is a real pain.
• in the same vein, GIVE iOS A FINDER! and folders/subfolders etc.