“While rumors surrounding the 7th-generation iPad — non-Pro version, linear successor to the iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad 5, and last year’s iPad 6 — haven’t been as volumenous as your average iPhone, there have been several over the last few months,” Rene Ritchie writes for iMore. “December 20, 2018, The China Times: ‘As for the 9.7-inch iPad will also be revised in 2019, the expected size will be enlarged to more than 10 inches, will drive sales growth. In addition, the low-priced version of 9.7-inch iPad is also planning to launch a new version of the product, the frame is narrower, the size will be enlarged to more than 10 inches is expected to be mass-produced in 2019, the second half of the year.'”
“January 30, 2019, Mark Gurman and Debby Wu, writing for Bloomberg: ‘Apple plans to release an updated version of its lower-cost iPad with a roughly 10-inch screen and a faster processor as early as this spring, according to people familiar with the plans. That device is expected to retain the Lightning port, according to one of the people,'” Ritchie writes. “Faster… likely means an Apple A11 Bionic, the chip that debuted inside the iPhone 8 and iPhone X last year… Retaining Lighting isn’t a huge surprise either. Apple positioned USB-C as a decidedly Pro feature in iPad Pro and, besides, if Apple sticks to the original Pencil here, the only thing more awkward than the way it charges in the Lightning port would be trying to charge it with no Lightning port.”
“On February 17, 2019, supply chain exfilitrator Kuo Ming-Chi dropped his first rumor bomb of the year, including: ‘Existing panel size 9.7-inch iPad upgrades to 10.2-inches,'” Ritchie writes. “Why 10.2 and not 10.5 like the previous generation iPad Pro? …We’ll have to wait for Apple to explain the new sizes to know for sure.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As the entry-level “full-sized” iPad, the price will, of course, be key. Currently, Apple is selling the 6th-gen. A10 Fusion-powered 9.7-inch iPad in silver, gold, and space gray, at these prices:
• 32GB Wi-Fi: $329
• 32GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $459
• 128GB Wi-Fi: $429
• 128GB Wi-Fi + Cellular: $559
Why 10.2 inches? Likely because it will have the slimmed down bezels of the 10.5 inch iPad Pro in the same physical size of the current 9.7 inch iPad. I also think there is a good chance it will be an A12 Bionic. When the current A10 iPad was introduced the iPad Pro featured the A10X.
“the low-priced version of 9.7-inch iPad is also planning to launch a new version of the product”
iPads have become self-launching. The singularity is upon us.
iPad 6th gen 9.7 inch iPad is so much better