RUMOR: Apple to unveil ‘iPad HD’ along with pro iOS apps this fall

“Our sources are saying that not only will there be a newly designed iPhone coming in the fall, but there is going to be a new entry into the iPad family as well,” Joshua Topolsky reports for This Is My Next.

“As hard as it might be to believe, the new tablet is said to sport a double resolution screen (2048 x 1536), and will be dubbed the ‘iPad HD,'” Topolsky reports. “The idea behind the product is apparently that it will be a ‘pro’ device aimed at a higher end market — folks who work in video and photo production possibly — and will be introduced alongside something like an iPad version of Final Cut or Aperture.”

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Topolsky reports, “This product is specifically said to not be the iPad 3, rather a complimentary piece of the iPad 2 line. Think MacBook and MacBook Pro.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]

43 Comments

  1. I don’t believe Apple would fragment their products like this. Also, can people PLEASE learn the difference between “complimentary” and “complementary”??

        1. Are you nuts? Complimentary and complementary are two different words with different meanings. When you say ‘pointless’ should we guess you mean ‘correct’?

        2. Although the mistakes can be funny and the snarky corrections can be annoying, I am strongly in favor of increased focus on improving spelling and grammar. The current negative trends in both areas demonstrate laziness, IMO.

      1. Then could somebody please make it known that using more than one question mark is grammatically incorrect, in addition to being just plain silly? (?????????)

        1. There are people in this world who use question marks UPSIDE DOWN! Those people are even worse than the ones who go like this”!!!!!!”!

  2. I don’t buy it. A “pro” iPad would need a significantly faster processor to run FCPX or Aperture. Plus, 64GB of memory just won’t be enough for those apps.

      1. Not exactly. The extra pixels come into play when displaying graphical elements, including icons, photos, games, and videos. But the overall OS is still running at the same “resolution” as before; Apple did not redo the OS at double resolution. So although it does use more processing power to take advantage of those higher resolution graphical elements, it does not take 4x the power to do so, compare to iPhone 3gs.

        The next big leap in iOS for iPhone will come when the original screen resolution no longer needs to be supported (because the iPhone 3gs is no longer supported). When the oldest supported hardware has an A4 with a Retina Display, Apple will completely integrate the higher resolution into iOS, not just use it for showing graphical elements.

    1. hold on,
      “64GB of memory just won’t be enough for those apps”

      Ok, i had a Guiness tonight.. but i don’t think it hampered me that bad. I’ll take 64GB or ram.

      But beyond that, I give the iPad Pro/HD/Whatever a 10% chance of being real. and i’m being generous.

      If that article is correct, and thats what the new iPhone looks like… i think i’m waiting till iPhone 6. I don’t like the teardrop look.
      Like the front view, do NOT like the side view.

    1. Bollocks? No, just bucks to do it.

      Wouldn’t be surprised to see the iPad cost what a MacBook 13 costs, though.

      But again, I can see people using it for the wow factor in promotional work. You would be able to zoom in to a photo and see the cloth weave on clothing or hair on skin.

  3. That’s NOT going to happen. A 10-inch touch display at 2048×1536 would be a VERY expensive component, and we have not heard any leaks about such a component being manufactured in iPad quantities (they would have to be stocking up right now). That’s about 85% of the pixels on a 27-inch iMac screen, squeezed into about one-tenth the surface area.

    I think the next step for iPad’s display is NOT going “HD” with a doubling of resolution. Just because it was done for iPhone, it does not have to happen that way for iPad. An iPhone has a small screen that is held close to the eyes. An iPad is used closer to laptop distance. It does not need microscopic “retina” pixels (at least not during the next few years).

    Here’s MY totally made-up speculation on the next step for iPad’s display. Apple will release a second model (not this Fall), with a 12-inch display at 1600×1200 resolution (“iPad HD” is a good name). The “regular” model will shrink to about an 8-inch display while maintaining the current 1024×768 resolution, and become MUCH lighter. Both of those pixel densities are 160 PPI, which is the original iPhone (and current iPhone 3GS) PPI number (and higher than any current MacBook).

      1. That’s true, but who doesn’t believe iPad will eventually come in more than one screen size? And the smaller size will not add to fragmentation because it has the same pixel resolution as the current iPad.

        I think iPad will go through three generations with the current screen specs (like iPhone’s three before going “retina”), then there will be a major change. It makes more sense to me that this major change will be a second screen size for iPad.

        If Apple does this “retina” resolution doubling with iPad first, that will make it much more difficult to go to more than one screen size later.

  4. IPad HD. Aimed at video and photo pros. Hmmmm, interesting. I certainly can imagine this being used like the device James Cameron used while making Avatar. It combined the multiple elements of CG, motion capture and so on to give a live preview of what the film would look like. A bit like an AR device for film makers.

  5. Gruber predicted the same thing a few months ago.

    I believe they will do it just because they can, and because people will buy it. And I think the resolution increase, same physical size, with resolution increase is spot on.

    Apple has been investing in display technology for years, and whether the difference is minute or gargantua the display is everything on iOS and higher resolution is better for games and better for text.

  6. Gruber predicted the same thing a few months ago.

    I believe they will do it just because they can, and because people will buy it. And I think the resolution increase, same physical size, is spot on.

    Apple has been investing in display technology for years, and whether the difference is minute or gargantuan the display is everything on iOS. Higher resolution is better for games and better for text. Plus, Apple has to stay ahead, way ahead.

    iOS is the future for Apple. At least, the current future.

  7. Don’t know about the rumored screen resolution
    as I’m well satisfied with the present video
    display. If however they made an iPad Pro edition
    with more memory (128 or 256GB) and a much
    better rear camera, I’d line up with cash in hand.

  8. I’m waiting for a large iPad, 12 or 15″ because i need to control many buttons, sliders and parameters in my musical applications.
    I think we can imagine many applications benefiting such a large touchscreen (photography, drawing, CAO…)

  9. I really hope this rumor is true and that Apple releases a larger screened ipad in the fall. I think it would work if it was big enough to have a somewhat larger pixel density than the current ipad with double the pixels. Then, in 2013 or 2014, Apple could double the pixel density once more. Obviously this is a bit optimistic/ambitious, but is it plausible?

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