“Rumors have been swirling about Apple working on an iPad that falls inbetween the 9.7-inch and 12.9-inch sizes they currently offer in the Pro lineup. John Gruber and Jim Dalrymple briefly discussed this on the latest episode of The Talk Show, with Gruber saying: ‘It doesn’t make any sense to me,’ Dan Provost writes for Studio Neat. “There is, I believe, one explanation that makes too much sense not to be true.”
“When the original iPad Pro 12.9-inch was introduced in September 2015, Phil Schiller demonstrated the reasoning for that sizing by illustrating that the width of the new iPad is the exact same dimension as the height of the 9.7-inch iPad,” Provost writes. “This has the advantage of essentially having two full height iPad apps, side by side.”
“Now, imagine Apple doing the exact same thing, but with the iPad mini,” Provost writes. “The math works out perfectly. This new 10.5-inch iPad would have the exact same resolution as the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2732 x 2048), but the same pixel density of the iPad mini (326 ppi instead of 264 ppi). Crunch the numbers, do a little Pythagorean Theorem, and you end up with a screen 10.5-inch diagonal (10.47-inch to be precise, but none of Apple’s stated screen sizes are exact). In terms of physcial dimensions, the width of this 10.5-inch screen would be exactly the same as the height of the iPad mini screen.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: An iPad with the resolution of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but the physical dimensions of the 9.7-inch iPad Pro would be very compelling – properly priced, of course. (And we’re on record that Apple needs to bring down prices across the board on iPad, as they’re pricing themselves out of too large a market.)
SEE ALSO:
Ming-Chi Kuo: Three new Apple iPads on the way, including new model with 10-10.5-inch display – January 9, 2017
Interesting geometric analysis. Appears to have merit in terms of iPad utility, IMO.
Here’s a concept: make the resolution and screen ratio consistent with the other products Apple sells or the industry sells. The accepted ratio for consumption is 16:9. For creators, additional screen space is desireable for the toolbar, which means a 16:10 ratio in many computer displays.
http://blob.pureandapplied.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/All-the-resolutions-1.svg
4:3 is much better for vertical usage.
Good point. I suppose it depends on the size of your screen. At 27″ and above, it’s very easy to see letter sized documents and other vertical content very nicely.
We have folks on our team with large monitors rotated 90 degrees for long form content. Eliminates tons of scrolling for poorly formatted webpages too.
I don’t recall the study source, but I recall some firm determined that increases screen area was the biggest productivity enhancement offered by computers in the last several years. All the software changes and GUI tweaks have accomplished less. It goes without saying that Macs will always outperform iOS when it comes to screen size, unless of course Apple decides to reverse direction and chase after Microsoft hardware now.
Following the current trend of ‘merging’ macOS and iOS it wouldn’t surprise me if Mac screens got smaller to match iOS devices for ‘feature parity’.
ya but who does that : )
Actually not most, according to Apple “usage collection” statistics
Never, ever, clutter up your product line…keep it simple and powerful with an edge always. Don’t become Epson.
Make your product line easily distinguishable by simple people, not geekazoids.
Nah, I’ll stick with my surface pro 4 at: 10.5″. 😂
The iPad is not going anywhere. Tim Cook could have made it a great device for casual users as well as professionals. All it needs is mouse support, a file system, and the ability to run full scale programs.
Instead, some 7-years later, all the iPad can do is be a giant iPod Touch.
All it needs is
1. mouse support,
2. a file system,
3. the ability to run full scale programs
I agree with all but three of the items on your list.
Agreed. Another reason to fire Timber and the entire BOD on my proxy.
So this is all about what is convenient for Apple?
Maybe the bezel will be much thinner but the actual body / casing about the same or similar as 9.7″. same size iPad but screen is bigger ? Can we live without the bezel ?